Buckwheat Pancakes- You just gotta try these!

I don't usually contribute much in these food blogs that Max writes, except of course in pictures, usually with my mouth open and a fork in my hand. But this one deserves to be commented on since this is a really great recipe and better yet, it is very simple. Max made this somewhat by accident, but I'll let her tell you about that. Try them, you will like them.

Not sure now where the original thought "I think maybe we'll try Buckwheat pancakes" came from- but I'm always looking for new ideas for our Saturday "breakfast at home". So I went on line and found a recipe and went shopping- for Buckwheat Flour- And I had trouble finding it- But finally stumbled on what I thought must be it- only thing with buckwheat in the title- and it was near flours and grains- So brought it home- and we loved them! Absolutely LOVED THEM! They were marvelous! So we had them often enough that I almost ran out of the buckwheat- so went back to the store for more- But as I'm a slow learner I stumbled around again to find the buckwheat flour. Brought it home and we made up a batch- And HATED THEM! How could this be? Well we looked at the package- and sure enough it was buckwheat "FLOUR". And then I compared to the label on the tiny dab left in the package from prior- and I hadn't been using flour at all- but rather "CEREAL" -so rather than "buckwheat flour"- I had been using "creamy buckwheat hot cereal". Well I don't care a bit what all the folks out there making buckwheat pancakes are using- but I can tell them- they're making a big, big, big mistake. Because if they'd just make one tiny little switch to cereal instead of flour theirs would be as good as ours!

So when you try this absolutely wonderful recipe- make sure you get the cereal- not the flour- and you're going to love it. Or maybe instead you'll just come to visit us- And we'll make them for you the RIGHT WAY- OUR WAY OF COURSE! (I'll put the recipe at the end)

Ingredients: Other than the buckwheat cereal it is the usual pancake "stuff", buttermilk, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, egg, sugar...

My job in this process is cooking these pancakes. As with any other pancakes, get the griddle hot enough that drops of water "dance" on the surface when sprinkled on. Let them cook until you see bubbles coming up through the top and then turn them once and cook until brown on both sides.

As most of you who know Max know that she is a kitchen gadget collector. We have all kinds of kitchen gadgets, and I must admit that most do get used. But the one pictured below is my absolute favorite. What could be better in the fall than an apple peeler, corer, and spiral slicer? It is one item that I would readily replace if this one ever broke.

Well summer is over- and gone are strawberries and blueberries and raspberries and blackberries and plums and peaches and nectarines. The days of abundance are over. We are squarely looking winter in the horizon. And Don is in heaven- IT IS APPLE SEASON. And Don can do without all those summer fruits as long as he has his apples. So we're doing all things apple. (By the way- I have discovered that all I need to make Don REALLY, REALLY, REALLY happy with a recipe- is mix apples with a little cinnamon and a little butter and a little maple syrup)



Apple Topping:

2 peeled, cored, sliced apples

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp maple syrup (use the REAL stuff and grade b is best)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cardomon

Soften apples in non stick skillet on low heat while you make the pancakes



One final comment from me. One of the things that I have always considered odd about Max's eating habits is her insistence on eating pancakes with fried eggs on top. Call it an aberration of pigs in a blanket - more like chickens on top of the sheets. Anyway, she definitely inherited this from her dad and insists that whenever I make pancakes, she gets fried eggs to put on top. I'm more of a purist when it comes to pancakes. They can be topped with a little butter and some maple syrup and now with Max's new recipe, topped with these wonderful apples sauteed in maple syrup and cinnamon. I love eggs- and just quite ever work up to "loving" a pancake if there isn't a fried egg close by. I rather like a "little of everything" on my plate!

BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES FOR TWO:
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup buttermilk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) creamy buckwheat hot cereal
2 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Directions:
1.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, and melted butter.
2.
In another bowl, mix together white flour, buckwheat flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. Pour the dry ingredients into the egg-mixture. Stir until the two mixtures are just incorporated.
3.
Heat a griddle or large frying pan to medium-hot, and place 1 tablespoon of butter, margarine or oil into it. Let the butter melt before spooning the batter into the frying pan, form 4 inch pancakes out of the batter. Once bubbles form on the top of the pancakes, flip them over, and cook them on the other side for about 3 minutes. Continue with this process until all of the batter has been made into pancakes.

Scenes From A Summer Just Past

Well it certainly isn't summer anymore. My, oh my, not sure where the summer went. We stayed so busy- what with work- and the coming and going of family- and of course continued (yes and still continuing) work on the house. But there were moments- moments caught in a picture that tell the disconnected story of the summer just past. So before we firmly close the door on summer and turn to walk through fall into winter we thought we'd look back just one more time..

A walk with Brandy with our brand new Mikayla in Las Vegas...

And Mikayla loved the pedicure-nothing like cuddling in a vibrating chair- think she could have enjoyed for hours (and me too!)...

And then what can be better than popcorn and a movie with Grandpa?

Or better yet- playing with Barbie. The Barbie dolls and house handed down from Aunt Mary to Amber and now enjoyed by the new generation of girls- Hayes was much too little of course- but not Grandpa and Reeder!

And summer wouldn't be summer without a walk to the ice cream shop...

A Reds Game...

The 4th of July parade that always goes right in front of our house. We always have family and friends who come by to enjoy it with us.

Some of us wore red, white and blue to celebrate the day.

Climbing a tree.....

And of course, trips to the playground...

Who has the best cartwheel?

Nice round off Mary!

And a trip to the pool..

And the biggest splash of all- Way to go Pat! And the screaming all the way down the tube was a great touch!

Peaches and of course a Peach Pie!

Dress up in my old dresses...

Even my wedding and prom dresses!

A launching of the fish...

Summer evenings on the porch...

Piano camp!

A trip to Philadelphia..

We matched!

And to finish up, the first day in a new school.

Good bye Summer- See you next year!

Chicago

This past weekend we ventured north and west to the City of Chicago to spend some time with Amber on her 26th birthday. It looks like she will have a minimum of two more years there while she completes her two Masters degrees in Public History (Loyola) and Library Science (Dominion). So the plan was to eat well, celebrate, and enjoy Chicago.

We started at Amber's apartment with - drum roll please- PRESENTS- of course!

I think Don looks especially nice with the bag!

And then it was off to dinner- vegetarian of course! You can check it out at: http://www.greenzebrachicago

And then a BIG FINISH with CUPCAKES!

On Saturday morning we met Evan for breakfast- Now Don says this so very casually- "we met Evan for breakfast"- But there's more to this- WE MET AMBER'S NEW BOYFRIEND FOR THE VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY FIRST TIME FOR BREAKFAST. I think you get the picture- and then headed to the city center. We started by walking out onto Navy Pier and just enjoyed the sites and the sunshine. I've kept you in suspense haven't I? You thought I'd put a picture right at the beginning- but no- as you well know I am a patient person- so I waited 60 words- keeping you in this heightened state of anticipation. But here it is!

Evan and Amber by the Navy Pier!

And then we paused by the statue of the American Gothic for a picture:

Amber had made reservations for us to go on the Chicago River Architecture Tour, something that I had considered any number of times while visiting Chicago, but never really had the time to do. But Saturday was a beautiful day and we had nothing but time on our hands, so the tour was a great idea. I think this particular Saturday was so beautiful that I would have loved meandering down the river even if I hated architecture. But I don't- so this was a real treat. Chicago has such a wide variety of buildings that represent a wide variety of architectural styles. As we left on the tour boat which started at Michigan Avenue, the number of different styles is pretty mind numbing. Our docent was amazing in that she described every building along the river, who designed it, what architectural style it represented and the history of who occupied it. There is no way to remember which were which and since architecture is not one of my strong point, I will only add pictures of the various buildings. The perspective of all of these will be from below, looking up, because we were on the river and these building all were located either on the river bank or near by.

On the Chicago River at Michigan Avenue stand some very stark contrasts of architecture. Across from the street from each other are the Chicago Tribune building and the Wrigley building.

The Tribune building is a neo-gothic building (front facade above) with a high tower and the Wrigley building is in the French Renaissance style with a clock tower.

The Tribune tower above and the Wrigley clock tower below

They compliment each other beautifully, but right next door and looming above the Wrigley building is the new Trump tower that is a high spire of glass and steel.

As our boat moved down stream away from the lake (now that's another story) we passed an amazing variety of building styles, some that were built to take advantage of the river and others that were built to provide a specific function without regard to form. Below are twin apartment towers with the lower levels for parking. If you back too far into your parking space, your car falls into the river many stories below.

This next building has an amazing Greek columned top

The next two buildings were separated from each other, but both were built to emphasize the curve of the river and the blue of the water reflecting the surrounding..



The story behind this next apartment building was that the architect had always built structures using right corners and parallel lines, but decided to abandon that style for curves. At the base below the parking lot was a mooring site for residents boats.

But for the most part, architects stayed with those right angles and straight lines to produce a variety of different styles, which I know all have names, but for the life of me I can't remember any of them.

Thought I might break up the pictures of the buildings with a picture of Amber and Evan on the boat...

This next building is the Merchandise Mart, which claims to be the largest commercial building in the world with 4.2 million square feet of space.

And at the far end of the tour we were provided with a view of the Willis Tower (formally known as the Sears Tower and still called that by the vast majority of people). It was at one time the worlds tallest building, but is now ranked 3rd in the world and will be 4th if the new "Spire" is built by the lake in Chicago. The building next to the Willis Tower is small in comparison (only 65 stories compared 108 for the Willis Tower), but the angle here makes it look almost as big.

Now it is important that what I know about architecture styles is even less than zip! Why we might judge it zippo minus- but the building on the above right is an "Art Deco" And that is my absolute favorite building style- And it is the style of my high school in Tulsa- So it has a particular fondness. So mostly as we meandered down the river I just kept looking for my favorites- I think maybe it is the only style I can actually identify with a modest degree of accuracy.

Art Deco buildings were built in the US primarily in the roaring 20's and then continued by the WPA during the GREAT DEPRESSION. Our high school was built by the WPA during the depression- 1938- you can read about it at:

http://www.tulsapreservationcommission.org/nationalregister/buildings/index.pl?id=71

Somehow I just don't think our current "stimulus money" is going to result in these glorious monuments that last through the decades. I guess I'll always be glad I walked the halls of this grandeur built from despair.

And finally this high rise apartment that sits right on Lake Michigan next to the Navy Pier. This building has three "petals" extending from the center providing a glass exterior that provides privacy from neighbors because the line of sight does not extend from one apartment to any other.

So after the boat tour we were off to dinner- pizza and beer- beer brewed right on site! You can check it out at: http://www.piecechicago.com.

And of course there was certainly desert - not with the beer- we headed for a restaurant called "Hot Chocolate" for the desert!

But the night was still young so it was off to the local bar to finish the evening.

This weekend wasn't quite finished though. On Sunday after breakfast out (Have I mentioned how wonderful breakfast out is in Chicago!). We traveled to the Chicago Art Institute to finish our visit here.

Don's favorite- the Impressionist Gallery.

But our final stop was a visit with the "original" American Gothic: