Great post on improving your cooking

5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Cooking from Pastor Ryan at This is Reverb.

I love reminders that cooking does not have to be expensive or complicated. Simple ingredients, as fresh as possible, cooked with a little know-how = good stuff.

Summer

Continuing through the list

Last night's Lavender Creme Brulee was a hit. My next brulee I will make in smaller dishes, though. It is very rich. My uncle once got a trio of brulees at a restaurant; they were served in teensy little cups, sort of a sampler, or flight, of brulees. That seems perfect to me. Two tastes of each, and you have just enough.

We've also had Thai-Style Grilled Chicken (you can see the recipe online if you join here.) It, too, was a hit. I love the combination of flavors in Thai food.

I hit two snags in my list: asian pears and persimmons are (duh!) autumn harvest here, so I will wait for that salad. Instead, I have made a pasta salad that I will post soon. Also, my roses stopped blooming before I could get their petals, and roses for rose water have to be pesticide-free. I'm working on finding some elsewhere, but I'm not sure I'll be able to. I have ordered rose water to make my ice cream, though. It will take more than a missing rose to keep us from that ice cream.

Next up: Scallop and snow pea stir-fry.

My favorite pancakes

We had delightful company who arrived at our house yesterday, fifteen minutes before we returned from being on the road for nine days. You know they have to be pretty special friends for that to be a welcome thing; this was MOST welcome.

This morning I had the pleasure of fixing pancakes that were loved by even the most particular of guests. What a satisfying experience. I thought I would share my pancake recipe with you, simple as it is. I am sure there are special instructions for mixing the ingredients, but I just lump them all in a bowl and mix them well. Cook as you would any pancake.

Traditional Pancakes

Wet Ingredients::
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
6 T oil (they recommend butter, but I use vegetable oil)
2 t vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
5 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt

HT: The Ultimate Cookbook

I highly recommend this cookbook, as I have before. They have alternative recipes for Buttermilk Pancakes, Buckwheat Pancakes, Gingerbread Pancakes and Multigrain Pancakes, all delicious.