Happy Hanukkah

Making a paper menorah.

Hanging a menorah in the window.

Mixing doughnut batter. 

Decorating doughnuts. 

Helping to make latkes.

Cutting apples.

Mashing cooked apples.

All dressed up for dinner.

Our delicious latkes.

Our delicious dinner.

We celebrated Hanukkah last week. Just for one day. Penelope wanted to learn about this holiday, and I didn't know very much about it myself, so we headed to our library for a big stack of books. We also did some online research. We basically spent an afternoon on the couch reading stories about Hanukkah, both books about how families celebrate the holiday and tales such as The Golem and the Latkes, which Pen loved so much we had to read several times. Then we made our own paper menorahs to hang in the window. We also made doughnuts for a snack and the girls each got to decorate them the way they wanted. And for dinner we made latkes and applesauce.

When I was looking for recipes to make I was a little horrified about how many traditional Hanukkah foods are cooked in oil. Then I remembered that it's kind of about the oil in a big way with this holiday. Duh. Anyhow, the doughnuts we made were baked, not fried, but we did cook our latkes in oil. They were pretty healthy though, I found a recipe that had zucchini and carrots in addition to potatoes and onions, and used garbanzo bean flour to help hold it together. They came out great and we all loved them. Penelope made the applesauce all by herself. She cut the apples and after they had cooked she mashed them up and mixed in cinnamon. She was very proud of her dish and it was delicious. Big fun learning how others celebrate during this season of celebrating and tradition.