The Pancakes of 2015

In ye olde 2014, after a group of friends and I made many somewhat earnest resolutions, I made perhaps the most backhanded, last minute, impulse resolution: to eat pancakes once a month.  Was there booze involved in my thought process? DUH.  Did this resolution make sense at the time? Nope, other than that I think it came from recognizing I always order savory things instead of sweet things when I go out for breakfast (aka my favorite meal).  I quickly settled on the following parameters: to eat one pancake or (do my worst to a) stack of pancakes, once a month, at different locations, with different pancake styles -- no recycling for official business.  Spoiler alert: I did it.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this has been the most delightful, fun, and probably best New Year’s Resolution I have made, or will ever make (though my 2016 one is pretty great…). The results were always good, and the experience a fun one, especially shared. Last year was a hard year for me, and one which made me place a lot more focus and appreciation on the people and things that bring me joy.  Most of my resolutions went down the porcelain throne as circumstances beyond my control took precedence; having this as a challenge I could always complete easily and enjoy (and share in the enjoyment of!) was always a light to anticipate.  I strongly recommend doing something fun like this yourself; it’s never too late!  Here is a brief recap of each pancake, along with winners in best individual pancake, best savory pancake, best sweet pancake, and yes, worst pancake (or really, the most anticlimactic). Yes, I took a picture of each one, and yes, I made a calendar of all my cakes of the pan.  And yes, because I am a classic overachiever, there are a lucky 13 pancakes. That’s how much I loved this resolution!

The Pancakes of 2015

Hermits: Two Ways

Chances are if you live outside of the northeast corner of the United States, you may never have experienced the singular delight that is the hermit.  What's that you say?  A hermit?  You mean dudes who live in the woods alone? Oh no, all two of you dear readers.  Not only do I suspect those dudes may not be delightful, but I also frown on cannibalism.  I'm talking about the second definition of hermit in the Merriam Webster Dictionary, and the first definition of favorite cookie in my heart:

Merriam Webster

I double dog dare you to use beadsman in a sentence.  I mean, what's not to love about a spiced molasses cookie (unless you like neither spice nor molasses, in which case: look away, you're not about to like what's about to happen below).  

Hermits

I digress though, which is a shame because I could talk for days about how much I've loved hermits since childhood (New England grocery stores do a pretty good one, for the record) and how I decided that I needed to learn how to make my own, motivated in part by being trapped inside during the Big Snow from basically January to March of 2015.  There was much research that happened; I consulted the Internet via the Googles and Pinterest, my cookbook cache (Joy of Cooking, New Best Recipe) and cobbled together something that I determined on my first try would be my only try going forward...until just this weekend when I got it into my head that adding candied ginger in lieu of raisins would be either a terrible idea or a highly delicious idea.  

Spoiler alert: it's a highly delicious idea.  Because it is the time of year when we survive on a diet comprised primarily of sugar, tidings and yule, washed down with nog, and also giving, I give to you, all two readers, the best ever hermit recipe (but yeah...I'm a librarian who teaches your kids to think good, so consider the source bias, duh), times two! 

Mushroom Barley Soup

It's almost the season that shall not be named...but for now, we get to enjoy the best parts of fall: cool nights and mornings, excuses to wear sweaters and cute boots, eat warm or warming things, and drink wine.  This recipe allows all three of the last three things to happen simultaneously, weather and attire is up to you though!

Also - you can probably make this vegetarian, but may need to do some body building in the soup to replace it...maybe a Tbsp tomato paste or miso? Maybe both?

Mushroom Barley Soup

Mushroom Barley Soup

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook and The New Best Recipe

Serves 4-6

Mushroom Barley Soup

All that glitters is gold...or cholera: Walk on Earth a Stranger, by Rae Carson

Walk on Earth a Stranger

Rae Carson

Harper Collins, 2015

ISBN: 978-0062242914

Lee Westfall is relatively content in her life in a Georgia homestead with her mother and ailing father, though she does wish they could use the windfall from her secret ability to sense gold to improve things without major ramifications.  Major ramifications take that choice away from her when she returns home from school one day to find her parents murdered and their hidden gold findings missing.  With nothing to hold her back, her best friend Jefferson, a half Cherokee boy urges her to run away west with him in pursuit of the gold that is there for the taking in California.  Lee is reluctant, and Jeff sets off with the promise that he’ll wait as long as he can in Independence, MO for her if she decides to join. When her uncle turns up at the funeral covered in gold dust that only Lee can sense and tells her he has plans for her it is abundantly clear to Lee that he is behind her parents deaths.  Lee realizes her best option is to follow Jeff west, disguises herself as a boy, and begins the formidable, perilous and adventure filled journey west - to Jeff, gold, and away from her uncle and past.  Along the way she, along with the millions who also made the historic journey, will encounter no less than bandits, buffalo, brutality, racial tensions, starvation, exposure, medical emergencies, all while trying to stay alive and hide her identity and talent.  This is a nonstop historical fiction with a touch of whimsy and a promise of future romance, and it is wholly engrossingly fabulous!  With realistic characters in realistic yet hard to fathom from a contemporary standpoint, it is a strong recommendation for all libraries serving teen patrons or with adults who love YA.  Basically, unless you have no money, buy this book.     

Perhaps the most articulate way to say this is that some books can be hugely absorbing, and I found that to be the case with this one.  But a better way to say it is this: a book has not hit my squee button like this in quite some time - like May, when I read the Royal We (or actually probably also Uprooted).  

Case of the Terribles: Fall Flavors

I'd like to invite all y'all to join my rally cry against the orange tinged dark arts I've been spotting in grocery stores, food aisles, running supplements, and most offensively and horrifyingly, my parents refrigerator.  Hear my rally cry against the indencency of pumpkin spicing, maple baconing, or caramel appleing everything! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a strategically placed piece of pumpkin bread or maple syrup pour (right in my mouth hole area), but things have been getting out of hand, food producers of North America.  When the irreproachable and humble workhouses that are English muffins take on a pumpkin spice hue, I have to wonder: can no food product go unsullied?!

Hear my rally cry against the indecency of pumpkin spice everything: nooooo mooooooooooooooore!  (And especially no more pumpkin beer in July. JUST NO.)

 Please note the relative health of all these things is overwhelmingly, impressively, and staggeringly healthy.  

Here be the grossest things I've found in the wild this fall season:

Maple. Bacon. Energy. Gel.

 Because energy gel wasn't gross enough, we flavored it like sweet meat.  

I'm no wizard, but I predict this will go over real well at mile 15.