Potato Pancakes

Or latkes, depending on what culture introduced you to them. But recipes, more than anything else, when passed down through the generations, bind us together as families, and as people.

I don't remember ever having my grandmother make potato pancakes for me. But when my Aunty Lou made them last week, she made them with a certainty and authority that could come from someone who not only had been taught how to make them, but had made them herself that same way many times before. She made them Grandma's way.

Something as simple as shredded potatoes, some dried onion, eggs, flour, and salt, when fried in a bit of vegetable oil, carried such a wave of nostalgia with it, that it was hard to take the pictures. I almost wished a had a video camera to record the whole process.

It's a simpler way to cook, but those potato pancakes sure weren't simple in flavor.