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Potato latkes made the traditional way by Eileen Goldfinger in our OG kitchen. All photos by Blogfinger.net.

 

Latkes became a tradition during Hanukkah in 16th century Italy invented by a rabbi.  The religious connection is that the latkes must be fried in vegetable oil to suggest the “miracle of the oil” which is part of the Hanukkah tradition.

Paul and I rarely eat anything fried, but we will make an exception once or twice during Hanukkah.  Here is Eileen’s delicious authentic latke recipe:

Ingredients:   

6 medium peeled russet or Yukon Gold potatoes

2 medium cooking onions

2 large eggs

2-3 tablespoons of flour

1 teaspoon of salt (add more or less to taste)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

vegetable oil

 

Preparation:

Line a large bowl with cheese cloth so that it drapes over the sides of the bowl.

Use a box grater and alternate grating  onions and  potatoes.

Grate the potatoes on small holes, and the onions on the large holes. Start with an onion. This keeps the potatoes from discoloring.

 

Gather the cheese cloth and squeeze as much liquid from the mixture into the bowl.

Allow the liquid to settle for at least 15 minutes.

 

Pour off the liquid leaving a starchy sediment at the bottom of the bowl.  Mix the potato/onion mixture into the bowl with the starchy sediment.

Beat two large eggs and add the eggs to the mixture.

Add salt, pepper and flour to the mixture.

Stir all the ingredients together.

 

Cooking:

Preheat 1 inch of oil in a 12 inch or larger frying pan.

When the oil begins to shimmer, form latkes in your hand as large as you like them to be, but flatten them and place them in the oil.

Cook them on medium heat  until the bottom of the latke has turned golden brown and then flip them over and repeat.

 

When they are done frying place them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Serve the traditional way with apple sauce and/or sour cream.

You can keep them warm in a 200 degree oven on a tray while cooking more latkes.

This recipe serves 4.

Mazel Tov!  You have participated in an authentic Hanukkah tradition.  Enjoy!

 

THE MACCABEATS.  “Latke Recipe.”

 

Paul Goldfinger photo. “Merry Christmas.”  OG beach. December 10, 2023. Blogfinger.net. Click once to enlarge.

 

JOHN LENNON AND YOKO ONO:

 

OG pier: Dec. 210, 2023. Blogfinger photo.  Click to read the rules.

 

COLDPLAY. “Viva La Vida”.  (Tr. “Live Your Life.”)

 

One minute, I held the keyNext the walls were closed on meAnd I discovered that my castles standUpon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

 

Paul Goldfinger photo on a rainy  Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023.  Heading towards Asbury he continues east while ignoring the disgraceful mess to his left. He’s focused, like Miles.

 

MILES DAVIS:   “Miles Ahead.”

 

Paul Goldfinger photo 12/09/23. Heading east on Mt. Hermon Way. Blogfinger.net. Click once to enlarge

 

THE KLEZMONAUTS:

 

Eileen (L), Mike, Hope and Chico. Ocean Grove, April 2014.

Eileen (L), Michael, Hope and Chico. Ocean Grove, April 2014.  Paul Goldfinger photograph ©

 

ALLISON ADAMS TUCKER  “Volver”

 

 

Red Head….

Ocean Grove. Paul Goldfinger   Click once  to enlarge.

 

BRIAN WILSON    “God Only Knows”    From the album What Love Can Do.

 

 

 

Asbury Park Lifeguards. By Paul Goldfinger

Asbury Park Lifeguards. By Paul Goldfinger ©. This photo was chosen for the cover of the book. “New Jersey 24-7.”

On July 30, 2002, Bruce Springsteen launched his new album called The Rising. The AP boardwalk was the place, and the beachfront, which usually was empty, became full of people.

This photograph was taken that morning when the Today show broadcast from the beach. You can see the bright television lights. Katie Couric was there holding a microphone standing in the surf. Danny DeVito was there also, schmoozing with the crowd.

Katie Couric in the surf. 7/30/02 Paul Goldfinger photo ©

Katie Couric in the surf. 7/30/02 Paul Goldfinger photo ©

 

Danny DeVito works the crowd. 7/30/02 Asbury Park. Paul Goldfinger photo ©

Danny DeVito works the crowd. 7/30/02 Asbury Park. Paul Goldfinger photo ©

 

Waiting for the concert. 7/30/02 Paul Goldfinger photo

Waiting for the concert. 7/30/02 Paul Goldfinger photo

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennett in Cyrano.  Paul Goldfinger still photos  from the movie.  4/29/22. Click all photos once to enlarge.

 

Haley Bennett as Roxanne. Paul Goldfinger photo from the movie.

 

An exterior set. Cyrano is seen in the foreground. Still photo from the movie by Paul Goldfinger.

 

 

 

Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.  Re-post from 2022.

 

Cyrano is a story familiar to most of us.  A homely man with a large nose ghost-writes romantic letters for an inarticulate handsome man who is trying to capture the love of a beautiful woman.  The setting is the 1600’s in France, but it was filmed in Noto, Sicily.

In this new movie version, Cyrano has lost his unsightly nose, but he also has lost his height.

The excellent actor Peter Dinklage, a dwarf who gained fame in Game of Thrones, plays the Cyrano part. Haley Bennett, playing Roxanne, is a gorgeous redhead with an ample bosom that has a life of its own, who is initially fooled by the charade, and her suitor is now a black man, so there is some tension with that component, although probably in the eyes of the audience, but not in the script.

I’ve never been enthused about the story line which involves a persistent lie to fool the heroine.

But the movie is very well done, and the settings and cinematography are beautiful.  Also there is music, and the soundtrack is lovely.   Peter Dinklage has never sung in the movies, but he does so here, and he has a fine baritone voice.

Cyrano is available for a fee, about $6.00,  on Amazon.  I don’t like those rentals when you only get access for 48 hours.

Here is Haley Bennett performing, with the cast, “Someone to Say.”

 

 

July 1, 2010. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net

There was a time, even in the recent past, when the Great Auditorium could have a full house.   I’ve seen it with the Choir Festival, but that was perhaps over 10 years ago.

The photo above was probably a concert for Independence Day, but I am not sure.

In the last few years, a number of people have said that the CMA is having trouble getting large crowds to their Sunday services. I don’t have any data on that.  But the Choir Festival has not lately been attracting  as large an audience as the past.  This may be related to COVID.

But if any of you think that the CMA couldn’t fill up that magnificent room, just look at the picture above.

I know that the CMA is no longer interested in large secular concerts, but you can imagine Springsteen or others like him easily filling the hall and bringing in big returns for the CMA.

 

Maybe you think that this idea is one of those foolish things, but imagine Dylan here singing  from his Triplicate album”

 

 

 

 

2016.

Hi Paul:

About 12 years ago, I was walking on the shore at Ocean Grove early in the morning, when I saw something in the surf nearby that gave me an insight into my work. Here is “Whirl of Hunger,” from my 2008 poetry collection, Father of Water.

Best wishes,
Charles Pierre

 

The Great Falls. Paterson, New Jersey. By Paul Goldfinger c. 2013. ©

The Great Falls. Paterson, New Jersey. By Paul Goldfinger c. 2013.   Click once  to seek “the shapes that sustain” the  poet.

 

Whirl of Hunger

By Charles Pierre

 

Just as a gull dips its wing

to a sudden rush of wind

and pivots on the whitecap,

extending its open beak to some

bit of the sea’s sustenance,

 

so I hover within this poem,

balanced only on a salt gust,

turning in a whirl of hunger,

as I stretch to the wave-tip

for the shapes that sustain me.

 

 

BILL FRISELL   “The Shadow of Your Smile”

To my dear sister with all my love—Adelaide

By Eileen and Paul Goldfinger  (Re-post from 2012, but timeless.)

We found this photograph at the Ocean Grove flea market, some years ago. At first, we were drawn to it because it was in a beautiful blue glass frame.

But then we noticed  the lovely portrait of an elegant woman who seemed mysterious.  The hairdo  is probably from the twenties or thirties and is likely an example of a “finger wave.”  She’s wearing lipstick and she probably has makeup on.  Her expression is blank except for the slightest suggestion of a smile.  It looks like she is wearing a coat or jacket with a fur collar. The material is shimmery.  What is it?

There was no date, but there was a little dedication at the bottom. It says, “To my dear sister with all my love—Adelaide.”

The inscription is written in a delicate ornate and crystal-clear style. She separates a few letters with tiny spaces between–sort of a combination of cursive and printing.  People don’t write on photographs anymore, and, in fact, they often take their own digital photos and then leave them in their cameras or on their computers, never to be printed or shared, except in the form of digital images on phones, iPads, or Facebook pages. No one can actually touch such a picture.

But Adelaide had her portrait done by a professional photographic artist. She probably was very particular in her selection.  Every town back-when had a photo studio.  Remember the work of Disfarmer which we presented on this blog?

Disfarmer. Portrait artist Blogfinger post.

An actual photograph, made on film and printed on paper by an expert, as in this case, is an object of beauty that transcends the actual subject matter. Some photographers today are learning old black and white methods such as platinum or albumin printing or silver printing in a darkroom with special papers  in order to capture those wonderful textures, tints and gradations of grey seen in photographs like this one.

The name Adelaide is from the Germanic and means “noble kind.”  It was popular early in the 20th century, but by 1950, girl babies were no longer given that name.  But then, as if rising from the dead, the name has regained popularity starting in 2005.  Now it is said to be quite popular.

On the Broadway stage (1950,) there is a character named Miss Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls.” She is a nightclub performer who is Nathan Detroit’s girlfriend.

If we try to dig down into the inscription at the bottom of the photograph, we sense a deep expression  of loss or distance between the writer and her sister. There is a sadness there, compounded by the fact that this image wound up for sale to a stranger at a flea market.   “To my dear sister with all my love–Adelaide”  seems so heartfelt, as if it is more than a sister would say to another.  We’ll never know what was behind that emotional inscription.    But the song captures the sense of it all.

Renee Fleming, the opera star, often steps over the line to perform music in other genres.  This was recorded by her for the soundtrack of The Shape of Water which won the Oscar in 2018 for Alexandre Desplat.

“You’ll Never Know” was written for a 1943 movie called Hello, Frisco, Hello.  The song is based on a poem written by a young Oklahoma war bride named Dorothy Fern Norris.  In 1943 it won the Oscar for Best Original song, one of nine nominated that year.  Harry Warren and Mack Gordon were the composers.

 

 

Mt. Hermon Way, Ocean Grove. Dec. 5, 2016. By Paul Goldfinger ©

Mt. Hermon Way, Ocean Grove. Dec. 5, 2016. By Paul Goldfinger

 

JOE BROWN: It starts with a ukulele and then picks up an orchestral component later. At times it sounds like a balalaika component.