Festival of oil

To celebrate the arrival of Jillian's new baby boy (and Hanukkah), some of us gathered together at her home on Sunday for a little feast. Jillian made potato latkes, Flabs and her clan brought some rotisserie chicken and dessert, and I was in charge of a side dish.

Since it's the Jewish Festival of Lights, I started to research some appropriate side dishes. I decided against kugel because Puppy doesn't care for raisins, but there weren't many other options. Especially ones with vegetables. One item that kept coming up, however, was the donut. This perplexed me, because I had no idea what donuts had to do with Hanukkah.

So, I asked around and no one seemed to have a definitive answer, but people guessed that it had to do with the oil. In essence, anything deep-fried is a Hanukkah-appropriate dish!

Well, I didn't deep fry anything, but I did douse some vegetables in plenty of oil before roasting them in the oven. It seemed like a healthier alternative to bringing a bag of Dunkin' Donuts over.