Blog #2 The Homecoming

There is something about a homecoming that demands a special meal. All the warm hugs and words are good, of course. But for the person coming home after an extended time away, the special meal says, “You are loved. You are cherished. We missed you,” in a way nothing else can.

For a parent, this homecoming meal is also a little extra insurance to make sure they KEEP coming home. As Kahlil Gibran so wisely explained in his classic, The Prophet:

“Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you.

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”

And boy, now that I’m a mother of a teen, that stuff is really starting to sink in.

We are weaned off of our kids gradually, for a reason. It’s bittersweet to see someone you carried around for a couple of years get to be just fine without you for say, all of last week.

My daughter Eva is coming home today. She spent a week in Orlando with her high school marching band. I got four texts, and a bunch of Instagram pictures that told me she had a hell of a good time frolicking around the Magic Kingdom without the likes of ME.

So this kid is getting a Homecoming Meal. She’s getting two of her favorite foods, a baked spiral ham and potato latkes. And not just any latkes. She’s getting

Estelle Colwin Snellenberg’s Potato Pancakes

From Laurie Colwins Home Cooking

1.       Put ¼ cup of chicken fat and ½ cup of vegetable oil in a frying pan on a low flame.

2.       Peel five medium Idaho (no other kind will do) potatoes and hold in cold water.

3.       Peel one medium yellow onion.

4.       Quarter the onion and the potatoes. Feed the potatoes into the blender a few at a time, adding the onions, one egg, a tablespoon of flour, or matzo meal) and ¼ teaspoon of cold water. Blend to a batter.

5.       When the fat is hot enough to fry a piece of bread start frying. Some like big pancakes and some like small. I like about a soupspoon of batter. Work fast, as potato batter has a dismaying tendency to start changing color – from pink to green to black.

6.       Fry the pancakes until golden on both  sides, drain on paper towels and keep on a hot  platter in a hot oven. It is best to make them at the last minute, keeping them in the oven for the shortest time possible. They are, of course, best eaten directly from the skillet without any thought of sharing them with others.

One of things I loved about the late Laurie Colwin was her directness: “It is silly to pretend that potato pancakes are dietetic or that they are good for you. If you are going to enjoy them, approach them as a rare delicacy, throw caution to the wind and have a good time.” We will definitely have a good time with these tonight Laurie, and thank you for sharing your mother’s stellar recipe with the world.

foodnetwork.com

Finally I have to acknowledge that the ham and latkes as a combo technically makes me what my wise-cracking sister-in-law Dee would call “a bad Jew.” But since I’m not Jewish I’m fine with this. My daughter will be more than fine with it. Welcome home honey!

Happy eating & thanks for reading !

Lisa Leary Gertz