Hanukkah, a significant holiday for the Jewish faith, is celebratedwith good food and family -- something everybody can enjoy.
The eight-day Festival of Lights begins sundown Tuesday. Some of my Christian friends ask me if I'm getting ready for the holiday. What's to get ready?
I pull out my childhood menorah, buy extra candles -- just in case -- and look forward to a week's worth of good food and wine. We invite friends and family in for potato latkes served with sour cream and caviar, blintz souffl�, Champagne and dessert during the Hanukkah weekend.
I am happy to report the publication of "Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family" by Judy Bart Kancigor. I just received a copy -- which is 656 pages long -- and it's a winner.
Kancigor is a cooking teacher in Southern California. About four years ago, she decided to gather her huge family's recipes (her mother is one of seven children), test them with the help of dozens and dozens of friends and relatives, and compile them along with stories about growing up in a large Jewish home.
As I looked through the photographs, I realized the kinship Jewish families share in America. Pictures of my family and my husband Edward's huge family could easily be substituted for the ones in Kancigor's book. Jewish family life is strongly linked to celebrations such as birthdays, bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and holidays. Someone always records the events for posterity.
If you're going to a Hanukkah party, buy a copy of the book for the host or hostess. And remember, you don't have to be Jewish to savor the food.
Here are recipes from "Cooking Jewish:"
Cheese Blintz Souffl�
Ingredients:
Directions:
Article:
Meating plans
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Dieting on Paula’s news
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Spicing up the Year of the Dragon
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Stocking up
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Delivering Aid from Aida
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Jazzed about 2012
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Sister act
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Igniting a Spanish spin
