Dancing Latke-Man, the Golden Latke Trophy

In celebration of Chanukah, which starts in a couple of days, our Temple holds a fun event called LatkeFest.  For the fourth year in a row, I have built the 'golden latke' trophy for the first place winner of this fun event.  Today was LatkeFest, and an assortment of amateur 'latke-chefs' served up their creations and assorted condiments, and attendees voted on which they liked best. 

Below, a young latke chef (his father was a 3-time champion) helps out.  He is modeling an apron designed by a religious school student.  They were made for the religious school cooking team by a parent, using the student's design.  

If you don't know what a latke is, it's basically a fried potato pancake, and is usually served with applesauce and/or sour cream.  Today's cooks offered interesting variations, from a crispy yucca latke (the winner) to gluten free latkes, to an 'apple pie latke' with a caramel sauce.  Toppings ranged from the traditional applesauce to the fun extreme, such as wasabi - my favorite!

A klezmer band entertained, and there was dancing and a fun atmosphere.  

So how does someone go about building a silly golden latke trophy, you might ask?  Here's the process: to make the latkes, I used a 'shredded paper clay'.  I got shredded paper from an office shredder, added a mix of Art Paste (liquid form; it had already been mixed up) and Elmer's Glue-All, and mashed it all together, making it into pancake shapes.

in the oven!

I knew I wanted arms and legs, so I shaped them out of armature wire and jammed them into the biggest mushy paper pancake.  It was very wet, and I was worried  'latkes' would take forever to dry, so I put them in a warm oven and 'cooked' them all afternoon, turning every so often.  By the end of the day, they were totally dry and ready for the next step. 

I bolted the wire feet onto a wood block, glued small latkes on top of the bolts for feet, and then fattened up the legs and arms a little, using newspaper and masking tape.  

Yes, my workspace is an absolute mess!

I built a spatula for his hand, and then covered the arms, legs, and spatula with a layer of papier-mache, finishing with paper toweling to make it form smoothly around the bends.

 Once the structure was dry, I sprayed the latkes with gold, and painted the rest with acrylic paints.  I made the plaque out of foam core, painted the lettering, and glued it on the front.

 I used a small hunk of gold-tone tooling foil to cut out the #1, and I glued it on the side.  (Actually, there's another #1 on on the other side, too.)

For a finishing touch, to make 'Latke Man' look like he was dancing, I cut a little cloth napkin and used my sewing machine to put a star of David on it.  If you've ever been to an Orthodox Jewish wedding, where there's Israeli dancing, you've likely seen a napkin used between the hands when a man and woman dance together. 

So here's the proud winner, with his new trophy!!

 And with his beautiful family. 

 

Note the klezmer band in the background.  The music was lively and fun. 

Goodbye, Latke Man.  

I hope you are happy dancing in your new home, with your new family!!

Here's the trophies from the past three years.

Happy Chanukah!

Thanksgiving, Chanukah, and latke trophies!

A belated happy Thanksgiving, and a Happy Chanukah, from my crazy family to you all!

Here's my hubby and son on midday Thanksgiving day, at our Adirondack 'camp' on Loon Lake; it was bitter cold and the lake surface was churning with the whipping icy wind.  We (hubby, son, and myself) were outside for, like maybe 2 minutes before we gave up! Hubs looks cold doesn't he?  But son's new hat was really warm! Here's our partially set mismatched Thanksgiving table, with a Chanukah menorah on it too!

After dinner and family fun, and after the company (stepdaughter, her husband, and two young boys) had left, the three of us spent the night at the lake, and when we woke in the morning, the lake looked like this: 

 

The whole lake had frozen over during the cold night!  But what is the strange message written in the ice?  We have no idea where it came from, but it is frozen into the ice.  Crazy, huh?

 My husband used the kayak as a sled and rode down to the lake!!

The photo of my son below was taken through the window, from the warmth of the camp.

Today was LatkeFest, a fun, lighthearted cooking competition and fundraiser.  There were 8 people who had signed on as latke chefs, each with totally unique recipes, and attendees got to taste-test them all and vote on their favorite!  The winner receives the Golden Latke trophy, which is made by... drumroll please... ME!  And there's a klezmer band, and dancing, and a dreidel competition for the kids, and more.  Fun day!!  Here's this year's trophy:

And here I am with all my creations:

 Above are the previous two years' creations, and below is the one I made for this year.  I already have a plan for next years' trophy!

So, tomorrow I plan to get back to posting about last week's wonderful conference, and another couple of workshops I taught.  Till then, Happy Chanukah!  And may your latkes always be golden!