I’m sick. AGAIN. This is so lame! I can’t go see li’l Kiddo until I’m better.
There’s a new wee person in my family! I’m going to go see him later today. So exciting!
Thanks to Debbie for the link.
This was not as good as we were hoping. The lapsang souchong made it way too smoky to drink straight. It wasn’t bad with tonic and some lemon. The smell was the most intriguing aspect of it. First whiff? Sweet. Second? Smoky. If you are a local friend, I will probably end up sharing this with you at some point, because I can’t imagine that I’ll get through it on my own.
I’m not entirely sure that these pancakes are any better than the Bisquick of my youth, but they were tasty and easy to make. They didn’t make any more of a mess than using Bisquick.
D&D tonight.
No baby yet. Poor li’l Bruno. If only he’d known how disappointing a birthstone aquamarine is. In my opinion, the only one worse is August with peridot. Both of those stones are just so wishy-washy about their color. Be blue! Be green! Don’t be pale and washed out, it’s just sad. Take a stand, gemstones!
Light and Fluffy Pancakes
(Cook’s Illustrated)
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk (plus an extra tablespoon or so if batter is too thick)
1 large egg , separated
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil (for brushing griddle)
Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl. Pour buttermilk and milk into 2-cup liquid measure. Whisk in egg white; mix yolk with melted butter, then stir into milk mixture. Dump wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once; whisk until just mixed.
Meanwhile, heat griddle or large skillet over strong medium-high heat. Brush griddle generously with oil. When water splashed on surface confidently sizzles, pour batter, about 1/4 cup at a time, onto griddle, making sure not to overcrowd. When pancake bottoms are brown and top surface starts to bubble, 2 to 3 minutes, flip cakes and cook until remaining side has browned, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Re-oil the skillet and repeat for the next batch of pancakes.
These pork chops are insanely easy. I just made one, but the recipe’s for four.
Easy Pork Chops
(Cook’s Illustrated)
4 bone-in pork rib chops or center-cut chops, about 7 ounces each and 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, patted dry with paper towels
1 tsp vegetable oil
Table salt and ground black pepper
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
If using electric stove, turn burner to medium heat. Rub both sides of each chop with 1/8 teaspoon oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle one side of each chop evenly with 1/8 teaspoon sugar, avoiding the bone.
Place chops, sugared-side down, in 12-inch nonstick skillet. Using hands, press meat of each chop into pan. Set skillet with chops over medium heat; cook until lightly browned, 4 to 9 minutes. (Chops should be sizziling after 2 minutes, if not, turn the heat up a bit.) Using tongs, flip chops, positioning them in same manner. Cover skillet, reduce heat to low, and cook until center of each chop registers 140 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 3 to 6 minutes (begin checking temperature after 2 minutes); chops will barely brown on second side. Transfer chops to platter, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes; do not discard liquid in skillet. Turn the burner off.
Add any juices accumulated on platter to skillet. Set skillet over high heat and simmer vigorously until reduced to about 3 tablespoons, 30 seconds to 90 seconds; adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste. Off heat, return pork chops to skillet, turning chops to coat with reduced juices. Serve chops immediately, browned-side up, pouring any remaining juices over.
Why did I choose to be the rogue? Damn! I got sprayed with acid (ACID’D!) so many times last night trying to open/disable this trapped door. And then I kept walking into enemies. I need to roll higher on my spot checks. I need to roll higher on everything. We all do. Combats lasted forever because all of our characters kept rolling below tens on all attack rolls. It was wearisome.
I need to cook something.
I don’t think sweetbreads are my thing. I went to Left Bank with my parents last night and decided to try them. They were… a little strange. The texture was kind of like scallops, strangely enough. The flavor was mild. They were served with mashed potatoes, which wasn’t a great idea, in my opinion. The textures were similar but just different enough to be really strange. Nevertheless, I’m glad I tried them.
I had some challah left over in the freezer, so I made French toast on Saturday. I froze most of it and have been eating it for breakfast. It’s tasty. I’m glad I had some real maple syrup! I bought it for the apple-rutabaga soup and haven’t used it since.
Yesterday was the Ghostwalk session of the D&D ‘minicon’ that my friends have been holding. I dusted off Mynnyd and brought him to the adventure. I nearly killed him straightaway- it was pretty funny. R☆ (and by extension, Cooper) was away at Stitches West, so Summer and Mynnyd were the only frontline fighters. Summer’s the awakened bear companion of the druid Berg. A marilith did about 100 points of damage in a round against both of us, plus constitution damage. (It took Mynnyd from 110 to 12 hit points!) Thankfully, we were both able to get healed so we could try to kill her again, but she teleported away, and we lost our chance. Oh, well. We were able to stop her evil plot, so all was well in the end. We’ll get her next time.