Shrove Tuesday

Since this observance is made all over the world, here are some variations you might want to try.

Cooking: Fry the pancakes in a lightly oiled non-stick pan. When bubbles appear (after about 1-1½ minutes) flip or turn the pancake. Stack them up and keep them warm while you cook the rest.

American Pancakes

Ingredients:
6oz self raising flour
4oz caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
2 eggs
9fl oz milk
butter, for frying
Serve with: bacon, cooked until crisp and maple syrup

Russian Salmon Blini

For the blinis:

2¾oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 medium eggs
full fat milk
pinch salt
1oz unsalted butter
For the salmon topping:
5¼oz salmon fillet, skinned and very finely chopped
1 tsp olive oil
2 spring onions, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
yogurt, for serving
paprika, for serving

Crepe Suzette

For the crêpes suzette:
1 medium orange, grated zest only and 1 tbsp sugar mixed into any standard pancake batter

For the sauce:
5fl oz orange juice (from 3-4 medium oranges)
1 medium orange, grated zest only
1 small lemon, grated rind and juice
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp Grand Marnier, Cointreau or brandy
2oz unsalted butter
a little extra Grand Marnier, for flaming

English Banana-Toffee Pancakes

For the Batter:
8oz plain flour
2 medium eggs
up to 17fl oz milk
For the Filling:
9oz good quality butter toffee (broken up if in a block)
3 tbsp milk
6-8 (one per person) ripe bananas, sliced
(Cooking variation: liquify toffee in double boiler and serve over bananas and pancakes)

Here's wishing a painless Lent to everyone who observes.

Old dog....

new card tricks! WOW, I can still learn something!!! The learning curve was somewhat high, but I learned how to play Euchre last night. I'm grateful to those who were gentle with me.

When I headed out to the Tavern, I was only going to stay 2 hours. HAH! Time flies when you're dealin' cards.

If I can learn Euchre, perhaps rocket science isn't far behind!!!

Visitors...

Since I've been successful in setting up my visit counter, I'm amazed at how many people are visiting my blog. By far, most of my visitors are from Atlanta addresses, but I've also had visitors from Eugene, OR; Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, Algonquin, IL, Baltimore, and Cumming, GA.
The visitor from Algonquin and Cumming came in through my link on Kevin's blog; Miami and Ft. Lauderdale through Brian's blog and Baltimore and Eugene visited directly. The Atlanta visits were about equally distributed through direct visit, or through the Brian or Kevin links. Thanks guys for linking me!

I also had a direct hit from a New York City geek blogsite (do you know the difference between a geek and a nerd? - Aks me.) He/she must have been looking for a schematic for an Angst Modulator and found my blog. I feel honored.

I have my counter set up so that it doesn't record my own visits, so the numbers are true.

Brian says he's had people from foreign countries visit his blog (and I believe him). I guess it'll take a little time for the rest of the world to find me.

Blog onnnn!!!

This continues to be a lot of fun!!!

Changes in the street...

Wow! That seems to be my favorite word these days. Things are changing...and changing fast.

There are so many houses on my street that are either for sale or for rent that it'd make your head spin. This could be good. . .or not so good. My wonderful elderly neighbor put his house on the market about three months ago. It hasn't sold. My wonderful young neighbor put his house up for sale YESTERDAY. We'd been discussing the possibility for a couple of years, but I never thought he'd do it. Well, he did it. I hope both my good neighbors get their asking prices so they can move on with their lives.

As you can see, these are not fancy houses - but they are (or could be) nice houses. Some need renovating, some just need sprucing up -- and some need tearing down.

My property would make a great tear-down as it's got a spacious lot. A very large house could be built on my property, or just about any other property on my street. Most lots these days are 1/4 acre and mine is larger. A new 2-story, 5,000 sq. ft. dwelling could be easily built with room still for a front and back garden. Wonder if that'll ever happen where I live? I've always hoped for a wholesale buyout of the neighborhood for a huge condo complex or something like that, since I'm so close to the heart of Atlanta.

Well, I'm not moving, so I've got to start thinking about paint colors for the interior. I looked up color trends for 2006 and there's so much to choose from. Neutrals are big, greyed-out darks are popular, lavender and violet are pushing blue out the door, and mauve (it's new name is "thistle") is moving toward a renaissance when paired with green accents (hey, that's 80s stuff - could white dance suits and disco be far behind????).

If I'm gonna stay where I am, I've got to make some decisions, roll up my sleeves and get to work.

I'll keep you posted.

Cat Slippers....

My Fuzzy Valentine...

Something is in the air....

things are changing. Something is changing and quite soon everything will be different. I'll keep some old friends - but only a couple - and I'll make new friends. People are making other plans, so it might be time to move on.

From the ridiculous....

to the ridiculous!!!

The photos posted by Brian and Bev make me wonder if perhaps I even belong on the EDGE of their social neuclei.

I can say LOL, but I think they're trying to run me off.

Sweet Dreams...