Doughnuts to Celebrate Chanukah

Today is the first night of Chanukah.  When I was growing up, Chanukah meant potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce.  My mother would make them and then complain for days about the smell of oil from frying which lingered in the house for days.
My mother has an incredible sense of smell.  In our family, we joke that she can smell foul odours a day before they actually occur.  My childhood memories are filled with her going from room to room, sniffing and muttering, “What’s that smell?”  One of her least favorite smells was that of food cooked in oil.  She claimed that she could smell the oil for weeks afterwards.  Now I must be honest here and admit that I inherited my father’s sense of smell – that is to say,  his lack of sense of smell.  He had sinus problems and his nose malfunctioned often.
Read More