Amy Guth's Virtual Tour!!!

Today, I'm part of Amy Guth's amazing Chanukah blog tour! For more on the tour, read about it here...

On to the meme...


1. Quick! You must turn a plate of latkes into an upscale gourmet delight
(as if they aren't already?). What would you add to them to dress them up,
flavor and/or garnish them?


OOF! As a rule I’m opposed to anything touching a latke that isn’t applesauce or sour cream. I’m a purist. One time an ex-BF tried to squirt ketchup on a latke and that was the end of HIM! So I’d add… fancy words. Fancy words+latke=upscale delight. I’d add these words, “A gentle saute of hand-grated new fingerling organic potatos and sweet Vidalia onions in cold-pressed Tuscan olive oil, served with crème fraiche and a rustic puree made from locally grown seasonal fruits. Bon appetite!


2. What is the dumbest thing you've ever heard anyone say about Chanukah?


I don’t know. Nothing outstanding leaps to mind. I guess just that it’s the “Jewish Christmas”.


3. What's the best possible use for olive oil?


Onions. I’ve been known to fry onions in oil just to make the house smell like I cooked.


4. Settle it once and for all. Latkes or hammentaschen? Which to you
prefer? What about pitting the winner of that contest against sufganiyot?


Latkes. No question about it. And Sufganiyot ha\ve no chance. I don’t know why people pretend to like hammentaschen. They’re heavy and doughy and there’s never enough fruit in em.


5. What's the best way to mix up a game of dreidel?


I’m sorry, but dreidel is no fun and never was. Hence… the best way to mix up a game of dreidel is with a LOT of wine. Last year I decorated dreidels, and that was fun. We decoupaged a bunch of them, and that was a good time, but then we had to deal with the fact that we’d made like, 20 dreidels. What were we supposed to do with them?


6. My novel, Three Fallen Women, shockingly enough, is about the lives of
three women. Which three women would you like to have over this year for
latkes and why?


I live really far from my best friends, so I’d pick Susan, Thisbe, and Emma. I love Atlanta, and have great friends here, but it’s different. I’d give up dinner with just about anyone to sit at a table with the three of them.


7. Other than Three Fallen Women (har har), what book do you think would
make a great Chanukah gift this year? What book would you like to receive
as a gift this year?


I really want to read Betraying Spinoza, actually. And it’s suitably Jewy. So I’d say that on both counts. But in general, I’ve been reading a lot of kiddie-lit. So if I’m being really honest… maybe The Treasure Seekers.


8. What bloggers didn't participate in Chanukah Blog Tour 5767 and you
think should have?


Tony Robinson— he isn’t Jewish but should be.
David Wilensky— a new find and a super Jew!
Josh Corey—I’d like to see him work literary theory into THIS!