Pancake Revival

Who doesn't have fond childhood memories of having pancakes? Anders, that's who. We have never made him pancakes. When we were first married, we tried several pancake recipes but were not impressed with any of the results. For us, waffles and french toast beat out pancakes any day. So pancakes were never on our breakfast menu.

But now that Anders is around, we have started to feel guilty. Have we been depriving him of a quintessential American adolescent experience? If it weren't for daycare, Anders wouldn't even know what a pancake was. So we came up with a plan. We were sure that some of our parent friends must make pancakes for their kids, and they can't all be as dull as ours, right? Time for another themed food party: Pancake Revival!

We invited some of our friends-with-young-children to brunch and asked them to bring a pancake recipe, either one of their favorites or a new one to try. We would cook up a batch of each different recipe and let everyone enjoy the variety, including the kids.

We had pancakes of all sorts: buckwheat, whole wheat; pumpkin, strawberry, blueberry, spiced; thick, thin. And lots of them. We had griddles going simultaneously for at least an hour. All of the kids, including Anders, got their fill of pancakes that day.

It certainly wasn't a contest, so I won't declare a "winner". But we did come away with a recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes that all three of us liked. It turned out to be a recipe from the cookbook of the Wildflower Cafe, a longtime favorite restaurant in the Gorge that closed several years ago.

Since this event was really all about the kids, here are some of the participants:

- Mike, Corinne, and Anders

Quotes from Anders

Kids are endlessly entertaining. Here is just a sampling of some of the things Anders has said.

Mike: You are an eating machine.
Anders: I'm eating a pea. I am not eating the washing machine. I'm just eating a pea.

Corinne: Are you excited that friends are visiting?
Anders: Yes
Mike: Are you excited to put on shoes?
Anders: Yes ... pause ... No! Exciting for friends! Not exciting for shoes!

Anders: I burped.
Corinne: Polite boys say, "Excuse Me".
Anders: I don't want to excuse me. Some boys say, "Excuse me." Some boys say, "I burped."

- Corinne, Mike and Anders

Favorite Recipes of 2010

It's that time of year - time for the 2010 installment in the Favorite New Recipes series. In last year's installment, we had nothing to report. As a result, we vowed to do better in 2010, doing more menu planning and just generally enjoying our mealtimes again. We are happy to report that we were largely successful and have many new recipes to relate.

#1: Spaghetti Squash with Jalapeno Cream
Source: Sunset
This recipe was an easy choice for the top of our year-end list. We were inspired to find new squash recipes after buying spaghetti squash from our organic farmer neighbor, but once we found this recipe we got stuck on it and haven't tried too much else. Milk is infused with jalapeno then mashed with roasted squash and topped with pepper jack cheese. How could that possibly be anything but delicious?

#2: Greek Lamb with Spinach and Artichokes
Source: Better Homes and Gardens
Slow-cooked lamb and beans, with artichokes and spinach tossed in at the end, all topped with feta cheese. To paraphrase Jerry Maguire: "You had me at Greek Lamb." We usually make a double batch, and it barely fits in our 4.5qt slow-cooker.

#3: Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans
Source: Eating Well, January/February 2009
We discovered this one in our quest to introduce more healthy, weeknight-friendly bean dishes into our (and Anders's) diet. Pick up some chard, and everything else is a pantry staple.

#4: Fried Chickpeas with Chorizo
Source: The Minimalist (Mark Bittman)
To celebrate his birthday, our friend Rat held ethnic-themed dinner parties where everyone was instructed to bring a dish from a particular country's cuisine. We attended Spanish night, and this was our contribution. (More beans - are you sensing a theme?)

#5: Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Source: Cook's Illustrated, December 2009
There's a delicious coffee cake recipe in Corinne's family that is legendary; it makes an appearance at virtually all family events. This isn't it. So the fact that this one makes the list says something about what we thought of it. It takes a little extra effort, so this isn't an everyday item.

And for completeness... here is the family coffee cake recipe which originally hails from Molfred Amole, a lady in Great Falls, MT. When Corinne's Mom Donna was in high school, she cleaned house and babysat for Molfred and her family.

#6: Raspberry Spoon Bread
Source: Eating Well, July/August 2009
We actually did discover a favorite recipe in 2009, but it wasn't until raspberries were back in season that we remembered. This one is a simple, cornmeal based dessert and a great way to use raspberries which are so plentiful in the summer months.

#7: Chorizo Bread Pudding
Source: The Spanish Table
This is the one recipe on this list that we didn't actually make ourselves. (I guess you could consider that a violation of the rules.) Our friend Mandy brought this dish to the aforementioned Spanish dinner party. It would be great as part of a weekend brunch.

And speaking of puddings... inspired by the McDuff children's stories, Corinne went on an exploration of puddings, including vanilla rice pudding, tapioca pudding, and a coconut milk pudding. Anders and I certainly appreciated the results!

Here's to more new recipes and continued meal enjoyment in 2011!

- Mike, Corinne and Anders

Max's 2010 Critter Count

It looks like our reality show, Max: Extreme Hunter, is on hiatus.

Last year, Max was a super hunter. He caught more animals in a single year than the total of all previous years combined. But after his thyroid condition was discovered and successfully treated, his activities trailed off at the end of last year.

This year's results pale in comparison.

	2008	2009	2010
Mice	9	5	1
Birds	4	1	1
Gophers	2	25	0
Squirrels	0	3	3
Lizards	0	6	1

The most disappointing line is the gophers. None! And we have certainly seen no decrease in gopher activity; there's plenty out there to hunt, that's for sure.

We did have some excitement during one of the squirrel incidents. Whenever Max catches an animal, he consistently brings it inside and drops it on the dining room floor. Until this year, all of the animals that he has brought inside have been dead (except for the lizards - somehow ALL of the lizards have survived). But on this one particular day, when Max dropped a squirrel onto the floor something didn't quite seem normal. Its eyes were open and the fur was pretty matted down in sections, and just as Corinne was asking if it was dead, it blinked. At this point, Corinne hastily left the room while I came up with various schemes to get this squirrel back outside. It scurried under the furniture, climbed the log walls and generally did not acquiesce to my requests. Anyone who has listened to the classic This American Life episode knows how horribly this scenario could have ended, but thankfully I managed to wrangle him down the hallway and back outside. Crisis averted.

One of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism is an increased metabolism, so was the "extreme" hunting year just an anomaly spurred by his condition? We're hoping that Max will regain some of that hunting prowess in the coming years. He did spend less time outside this year (by his own choosing), and the vet has described him as "middle-aged", so perhaps his most extreme hunting days are behind him. But we just know that he's got more killing in him.

- Mike, Corinne, Anders, and Max

Nordic Lessons

Two years ago we bought cross country skis, but haven't really used them yet. Corinne went once with Kris and Amy shortly after we bought our gear, but she didn't really know what she was doing. She survived unscathed but didn't leave with any more skills than she started. And I hadn't gone at all and had no idea what I was doing. So when we saw an announcement for a "beginner cross country ski clinic" organized by the Columbia Gorge Chapter of the Oregon Nordic Club (ONC), we figured that it would be a good place to start.

This particular clinic was being held while my parents were in town visiting, so they could watch Anders while we learned. To make things even more convenient for us, it turns out that the clinic was going to be held on Mt Adams (rather than Mt Hood)! A twenty minute drive north of our house and we were at the SnowKing Sno-Park on Mt Adams meeting the rest of the crew.

But the conditions on this particular day were less than ideal. Plenty of snow was still on the ground, but a recent rainy warm spell followed by cold weather again made for some very icy conditions. (In fact, while we were getting our gear together one of the members in our party fell while traversing the parking lot.) After a short survey of the conditions further down the trail, the leaders made a call to move down to a trail at the Trout Lake School. The terrain was relatively flat and the trail had been groomed that morning, so it wasn't particularly icy. (Thanks, Robert!)

We learned a ton from the ONC members before even putting on our skis. We then all spent about an hour and a half doing a loop on the trail with periodic instruction. We both came away with much improved skills (and some sore muscles.) The following day, we spent another 45 minutes or so skiing around our own property. There are no groomed trails, of course, so the conditions were pretty different than the previous day. But I think we had both learned enough of the basics on the previous day that we felt comfortable and had fun.

Here's to more winter snow!

- Mike, Corinne and Anders

Happy New Year!

- Mike, Corinne, and Anders