This is wonderful, Lev. I couldn't believe you were writing about potato pancakes right now, when only yesterday I was looking up recipes for...potato pancakes! Maybe because I saw that it was Latke season and I remembered how much I loved those lovely things, but I suddenly had a hankering for some. I toyed with the idea of buying a bag of frozen hashbrowns but I have a bag of Russets in the cupboard so I really should just grate them up and try my hand at it.
I've made them before, years ago, and they tasted fine to us but then we don't really know what they're supposed to taste like!
As to your last question--about whether they were really that good or if it was the setting, the feeling that you were being loved and cared for--it had to have been both.
Now I'm dying for a latke. I've never been able to make one that tasted like anything but cardboard, and I've accepted I never will. So now I search for them in delis. I'll try Whole Foods.
Good luck! We had to order ours in advance, then got a call they hadn't come in, I panicked and ordered potato knishes from an online deli so now we'll have both. :-)
I love this piece! And of course it just makes me hungry for potato pancakes. This might be a controversial view, but I think the potato pancake may be the best use of the potato.
This is wonderful, Lev. I couldn't believe you were writing about potato pancakes right now, when only yesterday I was looking up recipes for...potato pancakes! Maybe because I saw that it was Latke season and I remembered how much I loved those lovely things, but I suddenly had a hankering for some. I toyed with the idea of buying a bag of frozen hashbrowns but I have a bag of Russets in the cupboard so I really should just grate them up and try my hand at it.
I've made them before, years ago, and they tasted fine to us but then we don't really know what they're supposed to taste like!
As to your last question--about whether they were really that good or if it was the setting, the feeling that you were being loved and cared for--it had to have been both.
Thanks for writing and bon appétit!
Lovely evocative piece. I am going to venture and say your dad's potato pancakes were excellent. Hold on to that memory.
Thanks!
The pandemic brought an onrush of memories and resultant memoir essay publications. That was a real surprise.
Now I'm dying for a latke. I've never been able to make one that tasted like anything but cardboard, and I've accepted I never will. So now I search for them in delis. I'll try Whole Foods.
Good luck! We had to order ours in advance, then got a call they hadn't come in, I panicked and ordered potato knishes from an online deli so now we'll have both. :-)
Your dad's pancakes were absolutely as delicious as you remember. They'll be on that pedestal forever.
:-)
I love this piece! And of course it just makes me hungry for potato pancakes. This might be a controversial view, but I think the potato pancake may be the best use of the potato.
Thanks! I could live on those and most forms of potatoes. And good bread.
Yes.