crepes our way

It's no secret I have a love affair with breakfast. When I was a little girl my mother used to make crepes. I loved those mornings. They felt special, as if to say, "this day is meant for something fruffy-- it is going to be a day too good for cereal."

I've been feeling a little worn thin lately. I guess there are spaces of time when it you just have to give more, where personalities and circumstances make everyone around you somewhat of a taker. I'm happy to do it, but it can wear a girl out. Oh, and I miss my mom. She was always a giver. 

I made crepes yesterday morning (as I often do). It was my attempt to start happy, to start again, to anchor myself to a little message of love that my mom used to put on my plate. And even if I wasn't going to eat them-- it did me well to make something pretty.

These are by no means authentic or overtly french...but something about them just feels indulgent. Here's how we make them.

This is my favorite recipe. I mix it up in the blender and usually have to make 2 batches one at a time.  I use lots of butter or spray oil to make my 10" pan non-sticky. The burner temperature is crucial. You have to fuss with it a little bit-- somewhere between medium and medium low. I just pour the batter into the pan, swirl to coat the bottom, and then flip it like a pancake when the edges are all bubbly.

It's good to have some helpers in the process. I usually assign someone to the jam and sugar station so I can go back and pour batter in the pan for the next crepe. My people are not patient about these! I have to crank them out. I'm not kidding! They are literally waiting in line with their plates in my kitchen.

Slather butter all over and warmed jam down the center.

Fold the sides over and sprinkle with powdered sugar. (We keep powdered sugar in a parmesean cheese sprinkler jar thingy.)

There you have it. Yummy as can be. Just ask Hannah. She ate 4!

I made use of the discarded egg whites and scrambled them up for myself. Not quite the same... 

start over

I felt a little weary today. Sore muscles, sore throat, blustery winds, whiny boys, dirty dishes, mountains of school work... I really needed to find some beauty. I set everything aside and just started looking for:

clean spaces (sometimes they are hard to find),

pretty words (I still have to hang it, it's just leaning against the wall),

squishy spots (pillows on my bed),

comfort food, (chicken pot pie- I did some freezer cooking this weekend and it was so lovely to just pull this out and pop it in the oven! I didn't have any, but I'm told it was yummy.)

streaming light (towels hanging on my bathroom door),

and silk flowers (my dad makes fun of this sweater. once he mistook the flowers for a napkin? put on your glasses dad! *giggle*)

By the end of the day I just wanted to wear this, eat this, drink this, curl up here...

and start over again tomorrow.

Sheets and twinkle lights are now on my to do list.

democracy and lunch

I've never been too involved in politics. It's sort of not my thing. Mostly, because I've been uneducated about all of it in general. But as Carl has been doing some work for the Ron Paul campaign, I've  come around some and learned a lot.

The Washington State caucus were held on Saturday. We packed the kids along and took them with us. The whole process was easy and enjoyable. Very grass-rootsy. We sat around tables with people from our neighborhood and it felt like democracy the way it was meant to be. 

I was shocked to see how few young people were in attendance. Most people who came were much older than Carl and myself. I wonder and worry a bit about why our generation has such apathy towards privileges and rights that were hard fought for. Have we become so lazy that unless a ballot is mailed to our door (and even then so many don't get sent back) we don't bother? Our kids were remarkably interested in all that was happening. The precinct leaders were so kind to involve them in ballot passing out/collecting, and allowing them to take photographs.

Then we went to lunch.

Prior to the caucus Carl had worked 12 straight 12+ hour  days. There had been a lot of project deadlines over the last several days and even though he works from home, I was missing him. 

So were the girls. 

They were picking out dessert...

We were already enjoying ours. (picture is blurry because Emma was totally embarassed and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible)