We've all heard it before -- the "Mom-I-really-need-this" plea from our children. What exactly "this" is varies with age and influence, and sometimes, it really is a legitimate need. Yet more often than not, it's something that will occupy them briefly before being discarded in favor of a newer, more urgently coveted item. Materialism has become the scourge of American...

Confessions of a latke lover: There was a time that whenever we added a candle to the menorah during Chanukah, my secret yearning loomed large and lasciviously -- the desire to have hot, fresh, crisp latkes on my plate at the same time that everyone at the table has theirs. Sometimes, I would imagine my aspiring latke consumers refusing their...