Scotch Pancakes

No, there is no Scotch in them. These babies are in the Scottish style of pancakes, and they are damn good. Like the best pancake ever. Traditionally they are smaller than I have made them, so the next time I have a hankering I will make them ultra mini. But these, well they work in just plain small size too.


Make 'em!
(8 small pancakes or a lot of little bitty ones)

120g Self-Rising Flour (Roughly 4.2 oz or 1/2 C)
Small pinch of Salt
30g Castor Sugar (Roughly 1 oz or 1 Tablespoon)
1 Egg
1/4 C Milk

Sift flour, salt and sugar together in a medium bowl.
Beat egg and milk in a small bowl and pour steadily into flour mixture while stirring. The batter will be quite thick, but if you think it is just too thick, well... add another splash of milk.
Grease your griddle or pan with vegetable oil. Depending on your griddle or stove heat pan on medium-low or medium, mine if set to medium generally for these little gems.

I like to fry them in butter, which has a tendency to brown or burn if the heat is too high, to combat this a mixture of butter and oil is helpful, or if you don't mind wiping out your pan and starting with fresh better like me, go for it, use the butter straight up.

Drop a tablespoon of batter (or more depending on the size you desire) on the griddle for each pancake. Cook on one side until the pancake begins to rise and bubble and is browned on the bottom. Turn over and finish cooking, about one minute. Remove from heat and wrap in a clean tea towel to retain moisture.

Castor Sugar, you can make this yourself by grinding it in your blender.

Please do not use fake maple syrup on these.. They deserve more that that. I like to use Grade B, it has more complexity than Grade A Maple Syrup, it's darker and a little less sweet. Also wonderful - homemade jams and preserves and lots of butter.
If you want to feed more than 2.5 people, I suggest you double the recipe.

The Best Chicken Ever

Local, organic chicken from Olympia.

At the Ballard Farmer's Market the Stokesberry Sustainable Farm has a stand.
I think it was probably one of the best ways to spend 12 dollars.
This chicken is out of this world good. Indescribable. You'd have to taste it yourself.
I want more. I will get more. Good food is worth it when it's fresh, better for you, and happy.

The oldest man I know.

Grandpa Jim.

Birthday Cake For a 95 Year Old Man.

Another Risque cake seemed a little dangerous because he's old.

I didn't have the time, nor the energy to make it anything but simple.
But it was a 6 layer white cake with blood orange curd and vanilla buttercream.

Time off & We Grow

It's been a crazy month, I haven't had any energy these last few days for anything but me, my Maggie, and Brendan. So, I have blog posts in the works, but for now...

We are growing up.
Changes are happening, and I am excited! Full of future! Full of fortune!
There are things to look forward to.

We have grown.

2006

NAEROK DOOF SRDAWKCAB

That's Korean Food Backwards.

So

Much

Food

We're hungry!

This last weekend was way too much fun, too many late nights and go-karting. Birthdays should be celebrated in full force (3 days). So much moped riding, nature hikes and premium booze.

Breakfast is good for you.

Especially when you share it with friends.
Brendan's parents got me this for my birthday! It's awesome. Thank you so so so much.

JIHOO

It's this girl's birthday:



And I like her a lot!

Happy Birthday! I'm so glad she is in the world.

Oral Travel

Or Indian Food.
So good, so good for you, and so easy to make.



Do it!

Carrots Forever

My husband hates carrots. He cringes every time he sees them. I happen to like them a lot. They are a perfect food, crisp, sweet, bright and have fun little greens that come out of the top. How could you deny such a little beauty?
I sneak them into foods, grated so finely he can't detect them. I make him eat them and I love seeing the look on his face when they are on his plate. My mission in life is to make him eat as many vegetables as I can stuff into him, I love it. Luckily, it's not that difficult since he likes most of them and he is a trooper to put up with the carrot antics.
-
Last week I had nearly 3 pounds of carrots in my fridge and I had to do something with them, I hate letting produce go to waste, even if it is becoming compost. What do you do with that many carrots?! Well you eat a few as snacks while your husband watched in horror, and while he is away at work, you secretly concoct it into soup that you hope he'll like.

He really liked it. And if you want to be vegan for a day, use vegetable broth and no yogurt.




Indian Spiced Carrot Soup with Ginger
adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2008

1 Teaspoon ground coriander
1.5 Teaspoon ground mustard powder
3 Tablespoons coconut oil (or whatever you have on hand)
1.5 Teaspoons Madras Curry powder
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
2 C yellow onions, chopped
1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
zest and juice of 1 lime
5 cups (or more) chicken/vegetable broth
salt and fresh ground pepper
Greek Yogurt (optional)


Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add coriander, mustard and curry powder, stir until fragrant, no longer than one minute. Add ginger and stir one minute, add onion, carrots and lime zest, season with salt and pepper and sauté until onions begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add 5 cups broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until carrots are tender, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly. Puree with immersion blender or work in batches and puree in blender until smooth. If the soup is too thick, add 1/4 C broth. Stir in lime juice, season with salt and pepper.

Garnish with plain Greek yogurt if desired.

Pride & Gnudi

Things I did for my health yesterday, to my health:

• Added bee pollen and flax seeds to my fruit smoothie.
• Drank a cup of tea when I really wanted to have coffee (but then had coffee again later...)
  
• Continued on day 3 of cleansing my face with oil, experimental, my skin's lookin' good.
• Ate fruit for snacks, because fruit was made for snacking.
• Drank 3 cups of water with lemon at Moped Monday instead of 2 whiskeys.
• Walked a mile with Maggie.
• Let myself have a chocolate chip cookie, cause they are homemade with love, and that cannot be bad for you.
• And this:

Gnudi!
The pasta that makes itself!

I have wanted to try this out for a while but never happened to have a pound of ricotta hanging around, until recently. So I tried it, it's incredibly simple, and now I wait. They will be made into dinner probably, well, I have no clue when. I'm busy.

1 Pound Ricotta
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1/4 C Parmigiano Reggiano
Salt and Pepper to taste

Lots of Semolina Flour

Mix Mix Mix.
Grab your pastry bag, fitted with a large round tip, fill!
Make a bed of semolina flour in a large dish,
pipe little dollops into the flour,
cover them with more flour. Etc.

Refrigerate uncovered 24 hours,
use them in the best recipe you can find,
let them sit in the fridge, covered, until you figure it out, or
wing it!

To wing it:
Bring water to a boil in the pot you think seems fit, reduce heat (simmer!) gently place your Gnudi into the water,
simmer 3 minutes or until they float.
Remove with care and toss in your favorite sauce, crappy store bought sauce,
or whatever you come up with.

Good luck!