Lesson #19: How do you even pronounce latke?

Gardeners who are incredibly skilled in their craft are known to have "green thumbs".  That doesn't make much sense to me but oh well.  What color of thumb would a gourmet chef have?  Whatever their color might be, I can assure you that my thumbs are that color but faded and dull at best.

I follow a recipe and don't divulge from the path.  The meals that I've made so far have been incredibly simple, so I haven't completely botched one.  Last night, however, was a different story.  Last night I attempted to make latkes.  The best way to put it is that they're fancy hashbrowns.  In Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Comfort Foods cookbook, they looked delicious and simple.  I was about to discover how wrong I was.

Putting all the ingredients together was fairly simple.  Getting them into mounds so they could be fried in patties was the problem.  I couldn't get one to stay together no matter what I did.  Half of them fell apart when they were put in the pan, leaving floaties in the oil that ended up burnt.  All of those had to be pulled out to make room, so I had a nice, giant pile of failed latkes on the stove.  What I was able to save I couldn't even get to cook all the way through.

The end result was funny looking latkes that tasted okay last night but a weird smell that lingers in the apartment today.