#StampingDiversity Blog Hop - Hanukkah

Welcome to the #StampingDiversity Blog Hop - I'm Kimberley Morris, a.k.a. procrastistamper! The purpose of this blog hop is to share and educate on occasions, celebrations, and observances that may not get the representation on store shelves or catalogue pages that they deserve. On this blog hop, you'll see posts from Stampin' Up! demonstrators around the world--I'm in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

(Note: I can only sell to customers in the US, so any prices mentioned are in USD)

The theme of our blog hop this month is Hanukkah, and my specific topic is Latkes!

I know you wanna see some paper crafting, and I'll get to that, but first I want to share what I learned while I was researching my topic. I found it fascinating...and then delicious. YES, I made my own latkes. I felt like I really didn't have any business writing about them until I experienced them for myself. I'll even share the recipe with you, but it's important that you hear the backstory that I discovered about latkes, so you'll understand why I chose this particular recipe.

Hanukkah is all about lamp oil (olive oil) lasting a miraculously long time during the re-dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem after the Maccabean Revolt. As part of the celebration of this miracle, "oily" (fried) foods are eaten, and one of the most popular of these oily foods during Hanukkah is the latke.

Having said that, there is another story that is considered by modern scholars to be contemporary, or even prior to, the Maccabean Revolt, and it adds to the celebration the element of cheese! The Book of Judith (which, to be clear, is not considered Jewish canon), tells the tale of a beautiful Jewish widow heroine who saves her village from invasion. She plied an Assyrian Army general with salty cheese, to make him thirsty, and then offered him wine to quench his thirst. Then offered him more wine. And more wine. Once he fell asleep in a stupor, Judith decapitated him with his own sword!

Early rabbinic texts purportedly document partaking of dairy during Hanukkah, to commemorate the salty cheese that Judith fed to the general. Potato latkes are heavily associated with modern day Hanukkah, but the earliest Hanukkah latkes are actually said to have descended from pancakes that were made in Italy, with ricotta cheese. The ricotta cheese pancake is the type of latke I chose to make!

I followed this RECIPE from Tori Avey, and I used Bread Flour because I prefer the taste of it to all-purpose flour. But my batter seemed way too thick, so added 2 tablespoons of heavy cream, and 2 tablespoons of whole milk. The batter was probably too thick because I used a lame ricotta cheese that was blended to be "creamy". If you get a high quality one, I bet it will have more liquid to it. I cooked them in a skillet - so no deep frying here. We recently got some new Green Pans, so they are uber non-stick and only need a very small amount of oil, or butter (I used the latter). The pancakes came out ridiculously perfect, even the very first ones!

They're delicious on their own, but I topped mine with a bit of Noosa lemon yogurt that I stirred up to incorporate that tangy lemon curd that sits at the bottom. And then I drizzled a quick blueberry syrup thing I threw together with couple handfuls of blueberries, a bit of water and sugar, and a splash of lemon juice, and then boiled down in a saucepan. Oh. Em. GEEEE. Sooo delicious!!!

Okay...finally, here is the paper crafting project you've been waiting for:

And on the inside...

Stampin' Supplies: Alphabest stamp set, Basic White Thick Cardstock, Lemon Lolly Cardstock, Boho Blue Cardstock, Countryside Inn Designer Series Paper, StazOn Jet Black Ink Pad, Pecan Pie Ink Pad, Blender Pens, Blending Brushes, Basics 3D Embossing Folders, Basic Rhinestones, Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Mini Glue Dots, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Simply Shammy (to clean photopolymer stamps), Paper Snips, Paper Trimmer, Bone Folder, Grid Paper, Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine. And don't forget your Basic White Medium Envelope!
{you'll find product purchase links for these supplies below the blog roll}

I hope you found latkes as fascinating as I did! Make sure to hop through the other blogs:

Stampin' Supplies Product Purchase Links:

Alphabest Photopolymer Stamp Set [158884]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [159229]	Lemon Lolly 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [161720]	Boho Blue 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [161724]
Countryside Inn 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [161467]	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [101406]	Pecan Pie Classic Stampin' Pad [161665]	Blender Pens [102845]
Blending Brushes [153611]	Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220]	Basics 3 D Embossing Folders [161598]	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [110755]
Mini Glue Dots [103683]	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108]	Simply Shammy [147042]	Paper Snips [103579]
Paper Trimmer [152392]	Bone Folder [102300]	Grid Paper [130148]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]
Basic White Medium Envelopes [159236]

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~Kimberley Morris Colorado Springs, CO
Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator since 1994
procrastistamper@gmail.com
http://kimberley.stampinup.net (SHOP ONLINE 24/7!)
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