hanukkah dinner

OK, we had the Hanukkah menorah and an appropriate holiday tablecloth; what to eat? B. wanted latkes; OK, I can make that. And matzo ball soup, well within my repertoire. Basic steamed veggies this time, and for an entree, breaded chicken fillets seemed to go well, perhaps because, like the latkes and soup, it's also made with egg. (Coat the chicken with egg before dipping in the breading.) And, apparently unlike a lot of people, I can cook chicken breasts so that they're still tender and moist, not dried out.

B. also said we should have challah bread. I'm not going to make that myself; I am not much of a baker. (And it would require more eggs; the above dishes cleaned us out.) Where to buy some, then? There are a lot of Jews around here, but it's not a Jewish ethnic neighborhood. I did remember, though, once buying a challah loaf at about the fourth-closest Whole Foods, but never having seen it at any of the others. An online check confirmed: they still carry it, none of the others do.

But with the covid in the state it currently is, I wished not, as I would have a month ago, to duck in to the store to grab a loaf. A pickup order seemed best, but this was hard to get. Unlike the regular market we use, available time slots at Whole Foods are scarce. I also had to fill up the order with other stuff to make a reasonable price minimum, and Whole Foods doesn't carry much that I want.

But it was done, and I drove there on Friday, which I could get a slot for, and they loaded, although they seemed puzzled that I hadn't checked in with their app (I don't do apps). The challah came from Wise Sons, which is a deli in San Francisco. The challah was still tolerably fresh when we had a few slices for dinner, but we're not big bread eaters; what to do with the rest?

French toast! B. likes breakfast food even for dinner, and day-old bread, especially challah, is perfect for French toast, so the next day's dinner is planned. But that does mean placing another order with the regular market for MORE EGGS.