Do you ever wake up early on a Saturday morning, when you really just want to sleep in, and then sluggishly make your way to a social outing that you thought you wanted to go to but then didn't really want to because sleep seemed more appealing the morning of? And of course, as soon as you get to the event or friends house or whatever, you are super glad you went. Because friends are awesome and they have lots of coffee and teach you fun things. That's what happened to me yesterday.
For a few months now, my good friend Rachel has been trying to organize a morning of cooking. You know how that goes sometimes, you plan, stuff comes up, schedules change, kids get sick, we just couldn't seem to get it together and stick to a date. Finally, after a few failed attempts, we met up yesterday. It was just three of us, Rachel, myself, and another friend, Jasmine. Jasmine was the reason Rachel was trying to get this event on the calendar. Last spring, Jasmine got married to her long-time, long-distance fiance (when I say long distance, I'm talking AUSTRALIA. Wow.), Alex. It was a mind blowing wedding, two beautiful Romanian families coming together, celebrating a couple of fantastic Christ-centered kids tying the knot. Have you ever been to a Romanian wedding? If you ever get the chance, make sure you go. They know how to put on a party! The food, the decor, the romance.... I digress. Anyways, Rachel gave Jas a really cool gift for her marriage, an ebelskiver pan. Seen here:
Jasmine and Alex are apparently big fans of this pan, because it makes these delicious Danish puffed pancakes they had in Australia. Rachel had learned to make them from her mother, so she offered to teach Jasmine the basics. She also gave her a cookbook on ebelskiver, from Williams-Sonoma. We used their basic recipe to get started, and here's the link to it from their website so you can do it too:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/jam-filled-pancakes.html?cm_src=RECIPESEARCH
The link is actually a jam filled recipe, but that's ok, you get the idea.
Rachel had Jasmine make the batter, which is a tiny bit time consuming, because you have to separate the eggs and whip the whites to stiff peaks and all that. If you are making enough for a crowd, double the recipe. We ended up making four batches so we'd have enough to bring home and share, and also because we kept shoving them in our mouths as soon as they were cooked. It can't be helped.
The neat thing about these pancakes is that they can be stuffed with anything. Fruit, jam, curd, chocolate, or savory things, herbs, cheese, nuts, and meats. You really can't go wrong. Rachel had blueberry filling and chocolate chips, Jasmine brought berries of all sorts, and I brought the savory, prosciutto, gruyere cheese, and green onion.
We started making the sweet pancakes first, just a dollop of batter in the pan, flip with these nifty wooden lobster hand looking tongs, and then toss in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Next we made jam filled, strawberry filled, and all the fruits we had. To fill you just put half a scoop of batter, spoon about a tablespoon of filling, then cover with another half scoop of batter. Very simple, but you have to move quick. Then we added chocolate to a few, testing the different combinations to see what we liked best. There wasn't a bad flavor among anything we tried. After all the sweet stuff was done, we switched to savory fillings and things got crazy. Cheese, prosciutto, green onion and a dab of stone ground mustard went into a few, then just cheese, then ALOT more cheese, then cheese on the inside and outside, and then and then and then..... we ate them. And they were good. I think I prefer savory over sweet. Needless to say we thought of a bunch of other things we could do next time, and I am currently adding ebelskiver pan to my Christmas list. Rachel says her favorite go-to gift is a Williams-Sonoma ebelskiver cookbook and pan. I may copy that idea sometime, it's not even expensive. I highly recommend trying this in your own home. Kids love it, husbands will feel like you made them something that was difficult which then makes them feel special. Get to it!
Yes. Dessert Nachos. That's what I'm talking about. Maybe you've seen them? I've found them at a few Mexican restaurants, seen them served at parties in various ways, and then forgot all about them. Until a friend of mine recycled the idea and used it at a few functions. I was hooked. SUCH a good idea! Serve yourself, personalize your toppings, it presents so beautifully. The above picture was taken at a retreat we did a few years back. The nachos were a hit. Fresh fruit, caramel, chocolate, shredded coconut, oh my word. Absolute heaven.
There are a few ways you can make them, and some ways are easier than others. For starters, the cinnamon chips; you can make them yourself, or if you know of a place, you can buy ready made ones. I have a place down here that sells bags of fried tortilla chips tossed in a cinnamon sugar mixture. Great in a pinch. There are a few different methods to make your own, baking or frying. You can use corn tortillas or flour. I like flour. To bake, you cut the tortillas up into bite sized triangles or strips, brush with butter on top side, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on buttered top, and bake at 350 degrees for about ten minutes or until crisp. You can always deep fry, which is my favorite way, by heating vegetable oil at medium high heat, placing cut tortilla strips into hot oil, and removing when lightly browned. They puff up a bit too. Then you can just toss them in cinnamon sugar. If you go the baking route, the chips come out thicker and a little chewier, fry them and they'll be crispy and light.
After you get your chips figured out and done, you can start prepping your toppings. Here are my favorites:
Warm Caramel
Hot Fudge
Whipped Cream
Marshmallow Fluff
Sliced Banana
Diced Strawberries
Nuts of All Kinds
Shredded Toasted Coconut
Mini Chocolate Chips
M&M's
Warm Apple Compote
Candied Pecans
Really, you can use anything. Any fruit you like, any candy crushed up. My favorite topping combo is banana, crushed peanuts, mini chocolate chips, little drizzle of caramel, and whipped cream. My kids like to top them with everything, some people like strawberries and cream, one kid I know just likes the chips plain. Arrange the toppings just like you would regular nachos! If you want to get fancy, make your own hot fudge or salted caramel from scratch.
SO DREAMY.
Serve this dessert in classy bowls, dress it up, you'll have a hit on your hands. Serve it at a BBQ on paper plates. Doesn't matter! It's probably one of the most requested desserts I do. Get creative and see what you can come up with!
I don't care for spectator sports. Except hockey. I like that for some reason. Baseball bores me, soccer I only like to play, basketball is whatever, football.... blaahhhhh. I get bored just sitting there. I love the IDEA of going to a game, and I've decided it's because they have food vendors of all kinds. You just never know what kind of food adventure you will encounter. So it was last weekend, when some friends invited us to a UCLA game in Pasadena. I loved the idea of going, first because we get to hang with friends, but secondly because of new culinary adventures. Turns out my youngest son had the same thought. He mentioned on the way to the shuttle that he was excited to see what fun food they'd have.
Any trip to Pasadena makes me happy. I used to live in Arcadia when I was 18, which is one town over, and I hung out on Colorado Blvd. in Old Town as often as I could. The shopping, the restaurants, the architecture, the night life, it was a cool spot. The game was at the Rose Bowl, and my kids had never been there. They also had not ever been to a college football game, so they were all jazzed to go. We got to the game, and it was fun, but we did get yelled at for not cheering enough. Food was ok, your average stadium fare. It was the ride home that we found a little gem of a place to stop by. Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain. Oh HAPPY DAY. Look at that ice cream. Heavenly, beautiful moment of chocolate and whipped cream.We were well pleased.
That's one thing I like most about my husband these days, if we are in a new place and see something fun as we are driving by, he'll turn around or stop to check it out. He didn't used to be that way at all. I'm really glad he's changing into the adventurous guy who will stop. I think it reminds me of my childhood a bit, my dad liked to go out for meaningless drives just to see what's out there. My dad would see a monument on the highway, or one of those markers that tell you the history of the area and he would pull over to look at it. When I was little it drove me crazy, I thought it was so boring and pointless. But nowadays, I find that I am the one who wants to pull over. Weird, the things you pick up from your parents. I just went a reread this blog post. It's all over the place and pointless. I love blogging.
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Fall Fall Fall Fall. I love the autumn weather. The autumn weather that comes and goes. Today was almost 90 degrees, which is ridiculous. I left the house in a scarf and had stripped down to a tank top by noon. RIDICULOUS. Such is life. I'm sure I'll complain when its really chilly in a few months too. Isn't that we are all about? Complaining about everything. Too hot, too cold, too rainy, too dry, blah blah blah. I really do think I prefer the fall season overall. I love the colors, I love the holidays, I love the wearing of pajamas with feet.... Yes. I love my footie pajamas (and I can't find where I stored them from last year, PANIC!). And hot drinks. I love coffee and tea and cider and hot chocolate, all cozy next to a fire. Yes! Fire in the fireplace. I love that too. Ahhh... go away hot weather!
In the fall we start the run of holiday get togethers. We've been with the same bible study group for a few years now, and we usually do a Thanksgiving or Christmas party type thing, but this year we did a bit of a fall party too. Which was great fun. Food and fellowship and a pumpkin carving contest. Each family worked together to do a jack-o-lantern and then we were judged. Things got heated fairly quickly, I never realized how competitive our group could be. Luckily, no fist fights broke out and the night ended peacefully. Even though we didn't win. Ha! Good times.
The night of Halloween we did things a little differently than we normally do. We usually go to our church's Fall Fest event, but my husband decided he'd like to stay home this year. He did go and help with the set up for the event at church the night before, but then we ended up having a few people over for a little soiree the night of Halloween. Actually, a lot more people than I expected ended up coming over. And it was great. Even the adults came dressed up. We blew up pumpkins with potato cannons (we live in the forest, that's what you do here!), had some games, and lots of yummy food and dessert. Everyone brought candy so the kids walked away with full bags of loot.
Lisa came as a Stepford Wife. Kind of. Katie and her husband dressed in Renaissance. There was a Power Ranger, flapper girl, Clark Kent, knights, dinosaurs, Laura Ingalls, a mermaid, Iron Man, a zombie type thing, and a few other costumes I can't recall. I think the adults outdid the kids.
My oldest son really did a good job with his costume this year. He ran out and got a white morph suit, put a black dress suit over that, and voila! He was Slenderman. If you don't know who that is.... You should google it. Download the game. Turn out the lights. Put your headphones on. Prepare for fear.
Brett and I just wore what we had in the closet. Of course he has cowboy clothes and hats. And I had a suede fringe poncho just hanging around. For reals, I actually did! Been in the closet for a few years from a friend. Last minute costumes are always the best. Ty and Matt dressed as medieval knights. I love parties that just sort of come together at the last minute, always a bit different than you planned.
Can you spot Slenderman?
