Birthday Recap

Thank you all for the warm wishes on his day. He had a blast and apparently we've now crossed over into big kid land. He now has a watch. Meaning he is now keeping track of time and will want to do things on time. People this is a big change and I'm not sure I'm ready for it.




Thanks to Abuela and Abuelo we have now fully transitioned into teensy weensy lego land. Having the baby around means we do a secret service type sweep of the floor after playing. Those things are small. But both boys loved them.




Of course there was some cake and candles.




Then we hit the park for some playtime. Everyone had a blast, even Mr. Maricucu.




The older kids spent a good part of the time climbing a nearby tree which I'm pretty sure was the last thing on the city planner's minds as they spent thousands on the new play structure. But hey, that's reality.






The baby was able to practice keeping up with leggy Mr. Maricucu's pace. I think she's doing pretty well. Even I have trouble doing that.

Today this little turkey is six.

I still can't believe it. It doesn't seem like Mr. Maricucu and I have been at this parenting gig for 6 years. This little guy was born on a day like today late in the evening. I remember sitting in the hospital looking at Mr. Maricucu and wondering what the heck these hospital people were thinking, leaving us alone in a room, responsible for a baby!

In reaction to feeling less than prepared for this daunting task, I held him in my arms the whole time and stared at his little rock star lips while he slept.














He's become a big brother twice, learned to walk and talk (somehow hasn't stopped) and pretty much fills the house with an energy that can't be contained. He's inquisitive, amazing, imaginative, loving. Only six years yet it seems like this is the way we've always been, a family and parents to this wonderful little boy. We pray that God blesses you son.

The bunting is done!

Bunting you say? Bunting, banner, flag thingamabob it's just a prettyifying gizmo for celebrations such as the birthday we'll be celebrating tomorrow for a certain six year old. I have been wanting to make one of these for a while but as usual kept putting of making fabric choices when the first birthday of our official birthday season slipped by without the banner made. Then I saw some gorgeous ones made by a couple of friends and that lit the fire under me again.




These are not my typical color choices or prints but I love how very carnival they look together. The kids can't get enough of the banner and Kid 2 has already asked if we're going to break it out for his birthday in January too. Of course! I left the flags plain since we had plenty of prints and I wanted to have the option of putting up the banner on non-birthday celebratory occasions (Grandparents are coming! Groundhog Day! Friday!)




I did make this harder than it should be. For some reason I have this thing about sewing things that will last for our grandchildren to use because by the time I'm done with a project I usually don't want to make another for years. Yes that's the ADD and I own that. I knew I wanted to make the triangles double sided so I planned on using fusible interfacing. Well I didn't have enough of the weight I wanted to use so I perused the stash and found a cream colored super soft brushed twill and lined the triangles with that. I printed out a template that maximized the amount of triangles I would get out of a prewashed fat quarter. The finished triangle is about 5.5" wide at the top by 9" long. Then I cut, cut, and cut some more. Layered up my two outer fabrics with the inner lining then sewed, sewed and sewed. Lots of pressing, clipping points, turning and topstitching later, I was left with a colorful stack of triangles that my oldest would pet each time he was in the sewing room asking, "momma can I use these?"




Then I had a panic moment. There were 50 triangles each about 5.5" wide and I calculated 120" of bias tape that I would need to buy. Obviously my brain was out to lunch that day as math is typically not an issue for me. Next for some reason, I thought each package of bias tape had only one yard inside and I bought three. Seriously another mistake? I panicked, then furtively looked up an old tutorial for making continuous bias tape and another tutorial for pressing it into double folds without the need for a bias tape maker and began the cranking out of 300" of bias tape. From scratch. As I begin the step of cutting the tube of bias tape into one continuous strip I see the neglected packages of bias tape and the "3 YARDS" written across the front of the package. Doh! I quickly did the math (correctly this time) and abandoned the homemade stuff to begin the final sewing of the bunting.




I used my adjustable bias binding foot for the first time and it was a breeze. I did get a little bit of rippling at the end due to impatience but otherwise this foot allowed for precision stitching very close to the edge of the binding. This was the first time I've applied bias binding to anything and when I use fold over elastic I tend to use my regular zig zag foot. I haven't been able to stop photographing the bunting because of all the vivid colors. That will teach me to stray from my comfort zone more often and now we have a family item to use for the years to come.

Our favorite pancakes.

Mmmm, pancakes. Fluffy, lightly sweet and drenched in butter and real maple syrup - make mine Grade B. We love pancakes around here and can have them for breakfast or dinner. I used to buy the Krusteaz buttermilk mix which came closest to a delicious pancake until I stumbled across this recipe on the King Arthur site. It promised light and fluffy, whole grain pancakes. I know, usually whole grain pancakes are dense but not these. Ground oats reduce the amount of flour in the recipe and thus the gluten to make the most flavorful yet tender pancakes.

But the best part of this recipe? It makes a mix that you keep in the freezer. Whenever you want pancakes you pull out a cup of mix, add a cup of buttermilk, one egg, mix then rest and you're in business. If you want to be even more ahead of the game make an extra large batch and freeze the leftovers for a ready to nuke wholegrain breakfast.

Whole Grain Pancake Mix
adapted from King Arthur Flour

3 1/2 cups rolled oats
4 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 cup vegetable oil or melted butter - I prefer butter


First, pulse the rolled oats in the food processor until they are pretty finely ground.






Dump the oat flour into your mixing bowl.




Add the rest of the dry ingredients. See this shot? I was trying to show you how little difference there is in color between the white whole wheat (on the left) and the unbleached all purpose flour (on the right). No one will ever guess these are whole grain.




Mix up the dry ingredients until well blended. Whatever you do, don't go into autpilot and crank up the mixer out of habit. Not that I know anything about that.




Here's the dry mix. See how finely textured this is?




Now grab the fat. Not your fat, the fat in the recipe. Like I said, I prefer butter for both flavor and final color.




With the mixer on, (low remember?) drizzle in the melted butter until it's all mixed in.




When all is said and done, the mix should resemble a dryish crumb topping.




At this point, chuck the mix into a freezer container, label it and store in the freezer until you're ready to use.




Now a word about buttermilk. It's very rare I have fresh buttermilk in the house. I usually keep this powdered buttermilk around for recipes that use either two cups or less.




However, when I make these pancakes I usually make no less than four cups of mix at a time so I use the milk and vinegar shortcut.




First, measure out a tablespoon of vinegar for every cup of buttermilk you need. Pour that into your liquid measuring cup.




Then fill with milk until you reach the line. Let it sit for five minutes and you have a substitute for buttermilk. No you won't taste the vinegar. You can also use lemon juice instead of vinegar but if I'm out of buttermilk it's pretty unlikely I have fresh lemons around either.




On to making the pancake batter. Measure out your mix.




Add the beaten eggs.




Finally your buttermilk or buttermilk-in-a-pinch. Mix it up.




The batter will be very runny. You'll be scared and want to throttle me through the computer screen. Do not despair. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.




After 30 minutes the change is amazing. The oats will have soaked up the moisture and softened, as well as plumped up while the bran in the whole wheat flour will have softened as well.




See how thick the batter is after the rest period?




Now set up your favorite pan or griddle. Mine is a cast iron flat griddle pan that is supremely well seasoned (that's code for we fry a lot of stuff on it). I heat mine on a medium low setting (about a 3 on my 1-10 electric stove dial). Heat your pan up to about 350 degrees or the setting you've found works best for pancakes in your situation. You know the drill, hot enough to cook the center but not so hot it burns.




While my pan is heating let me introduce you to my ladle. I love my ladle. For years I stubbornly tried to make do with deep spoons and poo-pooed Mr. Maricucu's suggestion that we needed a ladle. I know, sometimes I'm just irrationally stubborn.




Why is this my favorite ladle? Check out these markings. Half a ladle full is 1/4 cup and a whole ladle full is 1/2 cup. Great for soups and great for large pancakes plus the handle is super sturdy. Love it.




So the griddle is hot and I add a bit of butter. I only butter the griddle about every 6-8 pancakes.




Add about a 1/2 cup of batter. This makes a nice plate sized pancake and keeps the boys busy eating long enough for me to make seconds. Yes, their appetites lately are insane.




Let the pancake cook until the edges start to look dry, there are some bubbles on top and if you lightly tuck the spatula underneath it's browned just right.




Then flip it with a flourish. Or maybe not a flourish if a guy named Murphy likes to visit your kitchen often.




Mmmmmm. Tender, even more tender than traditional pancakes. Fluffy and golden brown.




Add a bit of butter.




Then drizzle with maple syrup - ooooh blurry shot.




And enjoy. Rinse, then repeat. The best part is that although they are light as air, these pancakes won't have you crashing from a carb induced high a few hours later. They are satisfying as well as tasty.




Like I said, these freeze very well. To reheat I put them in one layer on a plate, spread a little butter on top and nuke them for a minute or until the center is hot. Just as good as fresh.