#food processor

We had roast beef for Christmas dinner, along with - among other things - roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and roasted parsnips (if the oven is running, make use of it!) Very good they were, too.

Boxing Day was the usual grazing-on-leftovers, but next day, to break away from Variations On A Theme Of Roasting in E Minor, @dduane decided to do some frying instead, and made latkes.

I'm more familiar with hash browns and rösti, but I've had latkes before and enjoyed them a lot. This batch was excellent, so much so that I excused myself from the kitchen until she'd taken some photos, otherwise there'd have been nothing left to photograph... :->

"More-ish" doesn't even come close.

Her IBS meant she avoided the traditional apple compote accompaniment and went instead for sour cream - super-rich Lithuanian 40% in this instance - so the apples weren't missed.

The IBS also meant leaving out any onion, so these weren't as traditionally flavoured as the last time when IBS wasn't yet a problem, but when I suggested adding bacon lardons to the next batch instead, she rolled her eyes and muttered something about not getting that idea past even the most reformed of Reform rabbis *.

So, no.

Or at least not yet, because there are lots more potatoes and I'm not helpless in a kitchen...

*****

* I know the "Three Rabbis and the Hanukkah Bush" joke, and she knows I know, because she was there when I first heard it at a Discworld convention. This, much shortened, is how Professor Jack Cohen told it:

Q: "Rabbi, my kids' gentile friends all have Christmas trees. Would a Hanukkah Bush be okay?"

Orthodox rabbi: "No, certainly not!"

Conservative rabbi: "Just inside the house, and keep it small."

Reform rabbi: "Hanukkah? What's that...?"

*****

Something else which prompted comment, this time from me, was when using our Magimix (Cuisinart) to grate the potatoes. We've only got one grating disc (it came with the kit) and I wondered if its 2mm cut was too fine - no, it wasn't - so went looking for New Discs for Next Time.

That's when I discovered there'd been a design change. When we bought our processor back in the mists of time 30+ years ago, the cutting-grating disc that came with it, and all extra ones, were reversible doubles, like this:

It fits on the spindle one way up for slicing, the other way up for grating. Simple.

However, the modern discs AREN'T reversible, an idea no doubt put forward by some bright spark in Accounting...

...since now Magimix users need twice as many discs as they used to, and buying them costs twice as much as well.

(Sensible users also need twice as many boxes for safe storage, because these things are didn't-feel-it-happen sharp, and can easily exact Steel Fee from an unwary finger reaching for something else in the same drawer.)

On the bright side, we seldom need to grate / slice stuff in such large quantities that doing it by hand on mandoline or box grater is a serious chore, and doubtless the redesign has some sound mechanical reason behind it.

Despite that I can also hear the distant ka-ching of the corporate cash register, making this whole thing rather (cough) grating...

This absolutely counts! You saved money on an expensive appliance by making due with what you already had. That is a huge win! We're very proud of you, kitten.

This should be what you all do before making an expensive purchase: see if you can borrow, repurpose, or make do what what you already own. It's always saved me tons!

Here's more money-saving advice, my loves:

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about Saving Money and Being Frugal