Pancakes

Since we've moved in here we've started a new breakfast routine: on weekdays we have oatmeal (with steel-cut oats!) or toast or some other every-day easy thing, then on weekends we do something more time-intensive (and usually less healthy).

When Ryan and I got married we were given a cookbook that I haven't ever used much. I've often looked through it, eyeing the sumptuous-looking dishes contained therein. But, most of them are intended to make enough for two people and many of them have very expensive ingredients. So I always figured I'd use it when we were empty-nesters and had more money. When we decided to try to make exciting weekend breakfasts, I needed ideas and thought it'd be worth a look.

Turns out their pancake recipe is marvelous. And the berry sauce/syrup that goes along with it as well. Ryan actually prefers the berries to maple syrup because they're not as sweet.

Melted Berries:

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

1/4 cup sugar, plus more as needed

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

pinch of kosher salt

fresh lemon juice as needed

Pancakes:

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp. granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp. baking soda

unsalted butter, melted

To make the berries you combine the berries, sugar, salt and butter in a small saucepan and cook until the juices flow (we use frozen, so we basically cook them until the berries are thawed.) I gave you the amount they call for sugar-wise, but we actually put in much, much less. Partly because the only frozen raspberries at our store are already sweetened and partly because that's just way too much sugar for our taste. We put in a couple of tablespoons, though I've also done it without any added sugar and it works fine that way as well. The lemon juice is optional.

For the pancakes: stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt (if I remember rightly, I use less salt than they call for) in a small bowl. Then whisk the eggs in a medium bowl and add the buttermilk (I use soured milk), sour cream, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture and mix it all up. Stir in 1 tablespoon of melted butter. To cook them, I melt a little butter on our griddle before spooning the batter on.

I usually double the recipe to make sure we have enough (depending on how much berry mixture people use you might or might not need to double that - one week we didn't need to, another we did). We usually have some leftover batter, which stores well in the fridge for one day, so we always make the leftover up either the next day or later the same day. Ryan likes them so much that he wanted me to be sure we shared the recipe with everyone. And, as you can see, Gareth loves them as well!

Zoo Playdate

First, I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. My excuse is that I've been practicing several hours a day the last few weeks, and, honestly, that takes priority over blogging. Hopefully as we shift and balance things I'll be able to find more time to update.

A few weeks ago Gareth and I got together with a friend who will be in his preschool class in the fall. We decided to meet at the zoo since they're having a dinosaur exhibit right now that the boys would enjoy. It turned out to be a beautiful day (one of the first really nice days we had this spring) and was perfect for spending at the zoo.

We let the boys each choose a couple of animals to see in addition to the dinosaurs. All our pictures this time are of them sitting on statues of the various animals we saw (though we also visited the elephants, orangoutangs, and a few others). Gareth loved the dinosaurs, of course, so we went through there twice.

Gareth's asked a couple of times since to go back (primarily for the dinosaurs, which won't be around forever), so we might have to get another visit in over the summer.

New Project

I've been hoping to start on a quilt for Gareth's bed for a while now (he currently uses his baby quilts which, while they still cover him, look a little silly on the bed). I'm planning on making a log cabin quilt and the one I like uses really small blocks. The center squares start out at 1 3/4" and the finished blocks are 3 3/4". I found a great quilt shop close by and purchased the first fabric for it the other day:

I've got limited funds each month to put toward this project, so I've got to buy the fabric piecemeal. I'm expecting to use sixteen or so fabrics overall. In order for this to not take forever, I'll probably do all the piecing and then pay someone to quilt it. I simply do not have the machine quilting skills (or the tools that'd make it easier) in order to do it myself, and hand quilting would probably leave me finishing it as he graduates from high school. Hopefully I'm not biting off more than I can chew!

Lettuce, Carrots, and Apple Blossoms

Our lettuce, chard and carrots are up!


Ryan was quick to tell me that he didn't think the lettuce would fill him up. The apple blossoms are starting to pop out as well - some of the blossoms on the upper boughs have actually opened, but all the lower ones are tightly closed still.

And, because I never got around to an Easter post, here's Gareth in his new apron:

Onion Easter Eggs

I just came across a couple of different methods for dying eggs with onion skins - here and here. We are definitely trying this out next year! Thanks, Kristine, for sharing the idea!

Birthday Time Again

Gareth was pretty excited for his birthday this year - now that he's fully aware of what presents are and that he gets them for his birthday and all that good stuff he gets way more excited for things like Christmas and birthdays.

We were debating whether to get him a bike or a small drum set, but the bike won out. We'll save up for a small drum set for him along with saving for Ryan's and buy that at the same time that we get Ryan's. Initially I was thinking he'd be too big for one of those balance bikes, but when we went to their site after everyone kept telling us that was the way to go, we discovered that we could purchase an extra-long seat which will hopefully enable the bike to last almost a year. Hopefully by that point he'll be ready to go to a regular bike (maybe even without training wheels).

We had a playdate/lunch with our friends from the summer a few days before his birthday, which was especially exciting for Gareth since it'd been a while since he'd had a chance to play with other kids. Then on his actual birthday we kept things pretty relaxed.

We gave him his helmet in the morning and helped him find the bike down in the garage. He hopped on and off we went to the park. (Notice the overgrown, nasty-looking grass to the right in the picture. Hopefully it'll be chopped back tomorrow.)

He enjoyed playing at the park with another little boy, who we discovered will be in his preschool class in the fall. After a bit, the boy's parents invited us over to their house for some coffee cake. We enjoyed chatting with them while the boys played. Then it was back home for a late lunch and some playing. Ryan took Gareth out for some more riding while I made dinner.

After chatting with family for a bit, he opened presents and we had some strawberry smoothies for dessert (I was planning on making pound cake, but it didn't happen).

As you can see, a couple of his other gifts were yellow rain boots and Cars. Oh, and he's really into crouching down when you take pictures of him. Gareth's been out riding every day because we've had an unusual entire week of sunshine. We'll pay for it this next week with an entire week of rain (not so unusual). All the good weather means that he's improved rapidly with the bike and can even coast for brief periods now.

Yard Clean-Up

I know some people reading might think I'm crazy, but I have missed doing yard work! Somewhere in all those childhood years of getting up at 6 am to work in the garden I grew to love it. There were always some aspects I loved - planting seeds was one of them. I remember looking at the seeds, fascinated that something so small could turn into a carrot or a beautiful flower. And, of course, eating what came from the garden was definitely enjoyable. Anyway, I haven't been able to do any of that yet, but I have had a chance to mow the lawn (it needed a couple of mowings since it hadn't been touched since the owners moved out, so for about 9 months), weed the existing beds, and start hacking at the pampas grass out front.

You might not be able to see so well in this picture, but our grass is now an acceptable length, except along the edges. I'm not willing to fork out the money for a weed-wacker, so I'll have to get some clippers or something to trim around the edge of the yard.

And I know the beds don't look super-clean, but that's because of the pine trees. I guess I'm just going to have to get used to them being full of pine cones and needles because otherwise I'd spend half my life out there trying to clean them out.

No pictures of the grass out front yet, but I'll take some before and after pictures before I finish with them. They look awful before, but don't look any better after. I'm hoping that after they grow back out a bit they'll enjoy a stage at some point where they look decent. But I've decided that I hate them and will never plant such a thing at any house we own (and felt even more justified in my hatred after the landlord told me that she didn't like them either, had thought she was buying dwarf plants, and agreed with my decision to chop them way short). Since I don't have those pictures, I'll share this one. Does anyone know what it is?:

It looked a little too like an intentional planting for me to be willing to pull it up, but there were some pretty large weeds in the beds...