Hump Day Blurb

Happy Hump Day, musers! How have you all been since I last regaled you with my wondrous thoughts? These past two weeks of relatively mild temperatures has been great! Given my love of everything fall, including the cooler temps, I never thought I'd utter such blasphemy. But last year's heating oil bills are emblazoned on my cerebellum like the Kenny Rogers Roasters Chicken sign:



I can hardly believe it's been a week since my last posting, but it's been a bit busy around here. This little fishy got a visit from her parents this past weekend and it was totally awesome, dude! I'd give it a righteous two thumbs up! Whoa... Alright the spirit of one Ted Theodore Logan has now left me.

I love seeing my parents and always enjoy our visits, but this one was particularly great. Mummy and Daddy dearest swooped in with their two adorable side-kick cocker spaniels in tow and for two days filled a void that we didn't know was there.

They arrived Friday night and we ate, chatted, and drank; and ate and chatted and drank, then went to bed. I went to work Saturday and Ben, Mummy, Isaac and Shiloh went out and procured a skeleton costume and candy bag for Halloween. When I got home with a wonderful red wine, we pressed the repeat button from the night before. The food Saturday night was especially scrum-diddly-umptious! Hubby-o-mine was the cast-iron grill master - those steaks were succulent, tender and perfectly seasoned and the grilled asparagus had the perfect amount of crunch. My twice baked potatoes were awesome, of course. Hubby also grabbed ahold of the dessert reins and whipped up some individual apple crisps that made my mouth salivate more with each bite! Mummy and Daddy raved about the deliciousness of dinner - the only sad thing about that for me is how little I had to do with it. Go, Hubby! But I wonder what happened to the remainder of my twice backed potato... Ben took it when I said I was done. I thought I'd be able to finish it the Sunday, but when I opened the fridge it was nowhere to be found. Hmmmmm.

I was actually in charge of breakfast for Sunday morning. Daddy hasn't been in the mood for eggs lately, which is Ben's breakfast specialty so I made pancakes and my signature red-potato home fries. This was an homage to the breakfasts Daddy made when I was growing up. My unsophisticated pallet would only have carbs for breakfast!  The pancake recipe is one handed down from Daddy's. I've tweaked it a bit over the years by using a blend of white whole wheat flour and whole wheat baking flour, as well as some home-made buttermilk. (I have SuperFriend to thank for letting me know this was something I could do!) Because ever since I started making the pancakes with buttermilk, they just weren't the same if I only had regular milk at my disposal.

But breakfast was a success - Daddy loved the pancakes. They packed up and left with full tummies within the hour. Isaac mourned the loss of the iPad - er - his grandparents for a while. I motored around the house for hours dusting, vacuuming and Swiffering. Ben shuffled between Civ and washing dishes. At 4:15 we got to watch the Pats win in amazingly unspectacular fashion. But at least they won.

While I wish I had the wherewithal to snap a few pics of the pancakes with Ben's phone over the weekend (the camera lens on mine has perma-fuzz since the case broke and it has since been dropped countless times.. I really need a camera... And one of those eye make-up goggle things Milla Jovovich used in The Fifth Element after strapping on her orange suspenders)



ANYWHOO... If ever you think you don't have "pancake mix" revisit this posting (or save it!) and you'll see that you have everything you need. It was so gratifying to me one morning to do that for my in-laws. They wanted pancakes for breakfast and it had been one of those weekends where they'd doled out help in copious amounts and I was only too happy to slide into the kitchen and whip up a batch of pancakes when they thought they didn't have the mix! Go on - amaze your loved ones!

HOMEMADE PANCAKES

2 c flour (I like equal parts King Arthur's White Whole Wheat and Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
5 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp veg oil  (melted butter can be substituted)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or milk)

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir the wet ones together in a separate bowl. Then whisk the liquid with the dry. Dole out portions of the batter (I like to use a 1/4 c measurer [to ensure equal size]) onto a pan or griddle, sufficiently lubed, warmed to medium-highish heat. The surface is hot enough if you hear tsssssss when the batter hits it. If you are a fan of fruit, or chocolate chips, nows the time to sprinkle them into the batter. When the little bubbles have spread to the edge of the cakes it's safe to slide that spatula underneath and check for your favorite color (golden brown in case you forgot). When ready, flip! If you're using fruit, the pancakes will take a bit longer - the plain ones take about three minutes a side. After you flip it, poking the top with your spatula is a good way to determine doneness. Light and fluffy down your tummy - wet and sticky keep on cooking (I couldn't think of a good rhyme for that).


FITNESS TIP OF THE WEEK


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You can always get back on the wagon! This is especially important for me to remember right now, as I'm being dragged behind mine, desperately clinging to a rope so I don't fall completely off.

I did my little kickbox-dancing thing after I got home from work and that got me pretty pumped for the rest of the climb back into my wagon. I anticipate getting up early tomorrow to do a workout before my day job then some yoga before my night job. Hope it works out. Come Monday it's back to the food schedule, calorie counting and regular workouts. I have a thing, (well I have a LOT of things), but one of them is I can't start something in the middle of the week. Have to start at the beginning the week. 

Always remember (I'm constantly reminding myself) any weight you put on you can take off! I'm also going pull skinny jeans out of my drawer, drape them on a hanger and leave them out for me to gaze upon whence I feel unmotivated.



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