Pancakes

Sharing a recipe I discovered. I needed to use up kefir, a drinkable yogurt that I like to buy occasionally. Needing to use up ingredients is the best way to discover new recipes. Kefir comes in a container similar to milk, so it's easy to store, and online it says kefir is healthier for you than yogurt. They seem pretty similar, just different consistency. Yogurt and kefir can be homemade too. I've made yogurt cheese before but haven't tried my hand at making kefir yet.

I made the pancakes for a second time with the last of the kefir and yogurt, so I added a little more milk to mimick the consistency of kefir. The pancakes turned out just the same and just as delicious. Aside from my sister's banana pancakes, these are the best I've had in a long time. Try them out, I think you will be suprised!

And along this line, check out this 4th of July recipe. Yum!

Celebrating dad

A belated father's day to all the dads. We ate chicago-style pizza with my dad after he returned from a fishing trip in Mexico. It wasn't the best fishing trip but it made for some great stories as always. Maybe too much blood and guts during dinner though. My dad is famous for his stories.

The pic above is last weekend when we ventured to San Francisco for some festival fun. First time for Mags.

This is for you Ken!

Ken turned us onto the "I'm on a Boat" video. This is the exact opposite in content but the rapping is similar. I think it's fresh and creative. I stole this off my friend's blog-thank you Pat, hilarious!

Prayers in the mail

The past few weeks have been non-stop.

My husband's furloughs are ending this month and my MIL's one day a week with Maggie is coming to an end. We knew this was going to happen so I got on it. With a lead or two and a good referral up the street falling through, I have been dilligently talking with everyone that might have a referral, looking online for potentials, making lots of phone calls whenever I can sneak a break, and visiting lots of places. It has been exhausting.

I woke up today officially burndt out. Finding new childcare has been a really stressful process for me. I internalize everyone's feelings on the matter but I know what matters most is what feels right to us. I'm really trying to trust my instinct. This process has opened my eyes to a few things (mostly about myself), made my mama protectivness come out in full force as well as mama guilt, and has shown me what I really value, which is high quality caregiving for Maggie (whether from me, a family member, or a "stranger" that I can put trust in) and the pursuit of my career. It's a difficult balance no matter how good you have it. I have laid awake at night running different scenarios through my mind. I've gotten a cold and endured other physical manifestations of stress from this experience. However, I think last night was the turning point. I was dead exhausted waking up this morning but I trudged on and things seemed a little clearer today.

Friends and family have been praying for us (thank you!) and I've prayed myself. I often do this when something comes up that I don't know what the outcome will be. So I pray for the right outcome, whatever that may be, and it gives me peace of mind to put it out there. I know nothing is permanent and things could change, but for now, I just want to find a sweet situation for our sweet baby.

The crafty swap ended Monday. I finalized my package last weekend and mailed it off to Oregon.I made knitted cupcakes, notecards, and threw in some vintage prom dress fabric, my favorite granola bars, sewing patterns, kid recipes, stickers, and crafty reading material. The knitted cupcakes were a pattern from this book that I have wanted to knit for a long while. Not the best photo but they really turned out cute. Great stash buster. I hope my partner enjoys her box as much as I enjoyed putting it together. I also recieved my box, all the way from Wisconsin. Thank you Amber and Sarah for organizing this swap, it was a joy to participate in!

Beach time and a hammock

Not long ago I spent some time on the coast with the ladies in my family. Snapping pics was the last thing on my mind, along with answering my cell phone, since we spent much of our time chasing after 1- and 2-year old little ladies who were constantly amusing eachother. Bedtime was especially hillarious, they were double trouble!

We ate good food, much of it vegetarian; toured the farmers market; ate brown butter cookies in large quantities; explored tidepools; took a boardwalk in the Elfin forest (where Maggie was a rock star and walked so much of it on her own); and relaxed in the beachhouse (scroll down a little) when we could find those rare moments.

All in all, a wonderful nuturing trip. Since I don't have beach pictures to share, here's one of Mags in our new backyard hammock. She's rockin' her "farrah fawcett" hairdo - as it gets warmer, her head is full of curls with little corkscrews at the back. Edited: my dad called after seeing this pic and said she looks like Richard Simmons. Too funny!

Garden goodies

Spring and summer always involves scouting for plants everywhere I go. This past weekend at the farmer's market and nursery I was looking for herbs and veggi plants to fill in our beds for good. I brought home yellow onions, watermelon, a cool-looking green pumpkin squash, lemon verbena, fennel, a sunflower, lavender, and I had marigolds to throw in the mix from the weekend before.

We've had our garden going since early spring, so we've been harvesting for a few months (shown below are rainbow chard, lettuce mix, and leeks). The leeks were fun. They've gone to flower now, but they were really tender this spring and tasted just like a leek. Fancy that. It always suprises me when it comes from my garden. We have french sorrel growing year-round. I've tried cooking with it and don't really care for the taste. It's sour, kind of lemony. Recipe suggestion (where you've cooked with it and liked it)? I just gave a bunch to my neighbor, who liked the taste raw and her son did too.

I have one cabbage growing strong. I had a bunch planted next to the kale this spring and either white flies or aphids got to most of my plants. It was a bummer. It looks like this one is going to make it to maturity.

Hubby also built me a potting bench with some storage. Only a little bit of staining left to go.