Its Not About Naugthy or Nice but Stranded or Not

While some dreamed of a white Christmas B-Town was blessed with a shade of gray, a wisp of frigid wind and a field full of white geese doing their best to create an illusion of snow. To the Blogger's surprise many residents chose to travel to family and relatives outside the Jewel and leave our wonderful hamlet a bit desolate for those that remained. To top this off many that did leave have been unable to return as they are stranded in locations hit by this weekend's winter storm. The Blogger and family left on Sunday during the height of the storm to travel North to the City of Brotherly Love. While Dr. Mel reports that B-Town was spared any accumulation of white, the Blogger reports that they have 11.8 inches of white throughout Philadelphia as evidenced in the photo above.

City Council members want us to know of a good deed done by our water meter reader, who happened to notice icicles on the inside of a First Avenue home. She immediately contacted Councilman Zellers and with the aid of Karen Russo, the residents were notified of a massive water pipe burst within their home. While there was significant damage done, it could have been much worse if our meter reader had not acted as she did. We should all be grateful to those neighbors and friends who keep an eye out for the little clues that can catch a big problem. A word to the wise is that if you will be leaving your home, especially during these winter months, shut off your water or at least the valves that go to sinks and toilets as well as ask a neighbor to keep an eye open.

So what's your Christmas story and or adventure? Lets hear about it with a post below.

Tis the Season

While the sun was shedding its rays on the Jewel today the thermometer barely reached 40 degrees and this evening is expected to bring below freezing temperatures, so just in case you weren't aware winter is knocking at our door. For some the thought of cold is more than chilling but this holiday season offers warmth with friends, family, food and drink. While Christmas brings bells, holly and Santa, Chanukah brings the festival of lights and as last year's photo reminds us, Betterton is and will be a town of bells, holly and lights for all and if you listen closely perhaps you'll hear Santa's reindeer as they lite on our Community Center's roof, thank goodness its been repaired. Oh! have you seen the trees that have been planted around the Center thanks to the grant that Joe Stock helped us secure?

To get the holiday spirit into full bloom, the Blogger has decided to use this post as an opportunity to share good wishes and good food. So our readers are encouraged to post their good thoughts and hopes and offer up their favorite recipe. To get us started the Blogger wants to wish all his fellow Bettertonians much happiness and health in the coming year and may B-Town blossom in 2011.

Now here is the Blogger's favorite recipe for Latkes (pronounced LOT KA's), potato pancakes served during Chanukah.

Ingredients:
6 Yukon Gold Potatoes ( about 2 lbs) peeled and halved
1-2 yellow onions (finely chopped)
2 large fresh eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons of all purpose flower
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4- 3/4 tsp of ground black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying, or if your arteries can take it, Chicken fat

Chop the potatoes in a food processor to a slightly lumpy slurry, or grate them by hand like my grandmother did. Use cheesecloth to drain the water from the potatoes, give them a good squeeze. Place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl and add the onion, eggs, flour, and seasoning. Mix well.
In a large fry pan heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil or chicken fat until it bubbles
Use about 1 tablespoon of the potato mixture for each pancake and cook a batch at a time depending on the size of your skillet. Cook the each latke for 2-3 minutes on each side until it browns. It is ok to flatten the latke as it cooks.
Drain the hot latkes on paper towels and then keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

You can augment the latkes by adding applesauce or sour cream as a topping.