Wednesday, August 08, 2007

A Lot of a Little

Today is a day for massive amounts of housecleaning and laundry. I've been working on some knitting but can't talk about any of it, and in the meantime the house has degenerated somewhat. I picked up my pyjama pants the other day (yes, from the floor), put them on, and a bit later felt a creepy crawley on my leg. Pantsed myself to find an earwig hanging out on my thigh so I had to have a little girly freakout. Mr HSBoots did the same with a pair of jeans the other day (but without the girly freakout -- I think)... ew, ew, ew. Time to deal with the discarded clothing piles everywhere.

It's not that I'm a slob or anything, but I definitely feel that cleaning is not the best use of my available time.

This morning a friend called me to chat about how great she feels on her new diet, with some crazy shake thing she drinks every day, and that no evil carbohydrates have crossed her lips in around three weeks. I tried to congratulate her but couldn't talk because my mouth was too full.

Banana-Apple-Blueberry Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce
1 1/3 C flour (I use 1 C white, 1/3 C wheat)
1 T baking powder
Scant 2 T sugar
1 banana, mashed with a fork
1 egg
1 1/4 C milk
3 T melted butter or oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 medium sour apple, peeled, cored, sliced 1/4" thick
Handful of blueberries

Mix dry ingredients, beat wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then mix together gently, leaving lumps. Cook on griddle or frying pan 1/3 cup at a time, pressing apple slices or blueberries into the top of each pancake after they spread out but before they are dry on top.

Cook about 1-2 cups whole frozen strawberries with 1 tsp to 1 tbsp sugar in a small pot over high heat until berries give off some liquid and start to cook down. Mix juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon with 1 tsp of corn starch until smooth, then stir into bubbling berries. Turn heat down, cook for a few minutes until thickened. You can use any frozen berries for this. Adjust amount of cornstarch and sugar to your taste. Very yummy on ice cream, waffles, french toast, what-have-you.

The garden is doing great this month. This is the window box on my shed. ("Shed" is an awful word.)


One of my many clumps of irish moss, which I hope will one day carpet a whole section of my garden path. The black grass I bought this spring has grown very well out in the island bed: you can see one of its purple plumes in this picture.

One of the other occupants of the island bed - the pink hardy geranium I got from Kate last year. It didn't flower at all last year, so I was so happy to see these pretty things last month:


Later this week I will post a couple of Christmas-present FOs, trusting that the recipients, being Mere Children, will not be reading this blog.

12 comments:

Kate said...

I hear you on the clothing piles. They seem to appear by magic...
Glad the geraniums are blooming!

Gwen said...

It's funny that you mentioned Christmas gifts. I've been having such a yearning-for-Christmas day; I actually took out some holiday recipes and looked at them over a cup of tea.

Just over four months!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah -- black grass and purple plume -- to die for. Nice!

Jenny said...

I bought a couple of stocking stuffers for my boys last week and stuffed them in "the hiding place". Never to early to prepare.
I'm one of those freaks doing the wonderful shakes(got a recipe from Oprah's website that is devine)and limiting my carbs...let me tell you I just about licked the strawberry sauce off of my computer screen...looks scrumptious!

stitchin' girl said...

I'll be trying those pancakes this weekend! We also seem to have never ending piles of laundry - twilight zone time - no matter how much you do there is always more!! Your garden looks great.

clumsy ox said...

August 25 is the official start of the Christmas countdown. Not that I haven't been listening to "Dancing Day" already today...

Anonymous said...

Would you believe I am right this minute doing laundry, and that five minutes ago I was bemoaning the state of affairs in my apartment? I've been busy with work and have let it slide slide slide.

Also: hate the word "shed." I prefer "outbuilding," though that isn't especially pretty either.

And...Forgive me for being opinionated about this, but I find the whole "evil carb" thing incredibly silly. Those pancakes look beautiful, and really, who could argue with a pancake, anyway? They are among the kindest of foods.

Ames said...

I have learned the secret of the laundry monster and I will impart this wisdom to you.

It's like this, multiplicatorily speaking, laundry is like a couple of rabbits.

If you leave two pieces of dirty laundry alone together, when you come back there will be fifty more pieces.

NEVER, NEVER, leave two pieces of dirty laundry alone together.

Shan said...

Well that explains why my Barry White CD was playing when I got home the other day...as well as the empty wineglasses.

Ames said...

Yep, Shan, I've seen it so many times in my line of work.

Sue H said...

Bugger the diet shakes, those pancakes sound (and look) delish.
I SOOOOOO hear you on the clothing piles. So glad to know I'm not alone.

Lydee said...

Love, love, love the pics of your flowers and plants! Total inspiration!