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This past weekend I made latkes for a smallish crowd, and they were disappointing in a number of ways. The Net provides some advice on doing better next time, but one matter leaves me stumped.

In making latkes there are two important steps that involve water. One is to grate the potatoes into ice water to prevent discoloring.

The other is to get rid of all that liquid so the latkes fry properly.

In the past I've always used my hands. I take some potato mixture into my hands and squeeze the lump over the sink until as much moisture as possible is squeezed out.

That produces latkes that are about 2½" wide. But I want to bring in enough latkes to go around; that means either doubling the recipe or making mini-latkes. I'm thinking of making latkes that are about 1½" wide.

Obviously my hands are too big to squeeze the potato mixture to the right size - and I have small hands! Any other ideas for this important step?

I have had great luck for projects like this using my salad spinner to get rid of excess water.  I have also used a tea towel to pat the water out or sometimes I spread my veggies out on the towel and roll it up while pressing gently.  The tea towel method can be a bit of a hassle to unstick everything but it does suck up all that water.  Or you could spread out several sheets of paper towels and use more paper towels to absorb the water.  I have used all three methods depending upon what I am trying to dry and the volume I am working with.  They all work really well for me.