Hanukkah with Martha Jew-art

Last night, I went home for a big family Hanukkah celebration, and it was fabulous!

For those of you who don’t know her, my mom takes hosting parties VERY seriously. We Silvermans have strict rules when it comes to how dishes are arranged, what we’re allowed to serve, how food is displayed, etc. God help you if you put a container full of hummus on the table without first scooping it into a crystal cut bowl in front of my mother. She may very well have a nervous breakdown in front of you.

I’ve decided to give her a new nickname – Martha Jew-art. HA! Isn’t that great?

Anyways, Martha Jew-art went all out for last night’s Hanukkah party. I’m talking regular latkes, sweet potato latkes, coconut chicken skewers, short ribs, roasted veggies, and chocolate/challah bread pudding. She even stuffed sherbert into mini hollow dreidels!


It was all served on this gorgeous table. You’ll notice Martha Jew-art went a little nutso with the blue and white tinsel. She even created her own gigantic menorah out of assorted candleholders! She’s very crafty, that one. (And intense. She made me stand on a stepstool to take these pics.)

Here are some pics of her and her little pals posing in front of her various Hanukkah-themed tableaus. (I may or may not have tried to teach them the whole you look skinnier when your hand is on your hip thing, to various degrees of success.)

As far as the gifts went, I scored big. Bailey got me these fabulous Kate Spade earrings. I opened up a new Northface coat (after mine was stolen out of my suitcase in Poland) and here is a pic of me wearing the Anthro shirt I wanted today:

And to top it all off, we finally gave Daddy his present! Months ago, a colleague of mine told me about the Penguin Water Carbonator from Williams Sonoma. It’s a little machine that instantly turns regular water into sparkling water! As soon as I saw it I knew this would be SO insanely perfect for my dad – he LOVES sparkling water. We go through dozens of bottles of Pellegrino every month! I couldn’t wait to give it to him and he obviously loved it!

Hanukkah is almost over and I’m a little sad. However, after this weekend, I’ll be blogging from my BIG Hanukkah present – a new Apple computer! I’m finally making the switch and I’m so excited!