There Was a Wedding - Part 3 - Getting Ready

Probably the worst time of any wedding is the day of. Everything has come down to this. All the planning, all the stress, all the wishing and hoping and expenditures of money have come down to this day, this time. We all know that preparations for any event take so much longer than the actual event itself and a wedding is a prime example of it.

We started our day with breakfast. Larry made pancakes.

He's a very good cook and likes to do it. we thought this pancake was in keeping with the "Star Wars" theme of the wedding.

Yes, it's the Death Star, in pancake form.

Once we'd had a hearty breakfast, we packed up my rental car with all the things needed for the wedding. We would not be coming back to the house.

The first stop was to have our nails done.

Now, I'm not one for painted nails. I keep my them short first of all. Most importantly, several years ago, I decided to have my nails done for an event. It was awful. I don't know if the technician wasn't well trained or what but I came out with a horrible manicure. She pushed back my cuticles and told me I needed to do this and have a manicure every other week or my hands, "Look like trash." Yes, this is exactly what I want to hear. Spend money I don't have have every other week. And when she trimmed my cuticles, she tore them so badly, I had nicks and dings on almost every nail. I looked liked I'd tried to retrieve something from a blender, while it was running. My nails were trimmed in a lop-sided fashion and she actually cut a corner on one nail and I bled all over her work space. She glared at me and then went to get paper towels, leaving me to bleed everywhere. Needless to say, I haven't had my nails done since then.

But, this was one of Carole's gifts to us for buying dresses we'll probably never wear again. Carole and the groom's mom, Donna, got pedicures. Everyone else just had their nails done. I was extremely skittish so I sat in a corner and read my book.

When my mom came to the front and showed me her nails, I thought, "Maybe things have changed. Maybe this is something I should do." There was plenty of time, even deciding late, for me to have my nails done and for us to make our next appointment, which was for our hair. So, I did it.

I matched the nail color to my dress. It was a very pleasurable experience. Perhaps techniques have changed. There was no pain in trimming my cuticles and the stylist did a very nice job of trimming and shaping the style of the nails. The polish lasted for 2 whole weeks.

They told us the manicure would last for 2 weeks and darned if it didn't get to 2 weeks and, boom, start peeling. A manicure is not something I'd do but it was fun for this event.

The next step was to get the hair done. Carole had contacted a gal who came with glowing recommendations. The only fly in the ointment, so to speak, was that she was expecting and due to give birth in late February. When the days passed and Carole didn't hear from her, it became obvious that she just wasn't either interested or capable of doing hair for a wedding. That forced Carole to call around to see what salon could handle 3 women for a style. She found Salon Emage in the historic part of Warrenton.

You can see the building is old. It's been redone to be a salon and a spa with rooms in the back for massages, but the character of the interior is old brick and tin roof and wood floors. In addition to doing our hair, they provided a light brunch.

It was crackers, cheese, ham, turkey, carrots and brownies washed down with sweet tea. They were so friendly and made us feel right at home. Carole was taken first because her 'do' was a bit more complicated since she had a veil to incorporate.

Originally, I wasn't supposed to get my hair done. I have a great cut that usually does exactly what it's supposed to. Of course, on my daughter's wedding day, it did not and I couldn't get it to cooperate. The salon was so nice to fit me in for just a shampoo and blow dry. The stylist was very impressed with the color of my gray, how my hair felt and, most importantly, the cut. "You have a fantastic cut," she said on more than one occasion. I chuckled. I spend $12 at Great Clips. This just goes to show you that you don't have to spend $240 for a great hair cut. The gals at Great Clips give me a wonderful cut every time.

Here is my cut at the reception. The card is a joke from friends; a take off on Cards Against Humanity. I really felt elegant.

Here is the back of Carole's hair once it was done.

The veil is anchored to the underside of her curls. That thing wasn't going anywhere regardless of wind. This was also Carole's treat to us and it was well worth the money she spent.

Now we are all prettified. It's time to head to the country club.

Beverage:  Scottish Breakfast Tea

Deb

Winter Breakfast

If you've been around the blog for a bit, you know I'm a sucker for pancakes. On Thursday, since I was home due to the snow, I tried a new recipe. It comes together very quickly and doesn't have a lot of ingredients.

Simply called "Oatmeal Pancakes", that's the main ingredient. Other oatmeal pancake recipes I have use an equal amount of oatmeal and flour but this does not. It's 1 cup of quick cooking oats and a quarter cup of flour, mixed with a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and an eighth teaspoon of salt.

You mix together in another bowl, one egg, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and 1 cup of buttermilk. Pour that into the dry mixture and mix only until moistened. The batter was quite soupy I thought.

Spray a griddle with cooking spray and drop batter by 2 1/2 tablespoons onto the griddle. I think that's bunk, frankly. I took a quarter cup measuring cup and scooped that amount onto the griddle. Plus, I don't use cooking spray. I know I have mentioned this before. It's one of my pet peeves with Cooking Light, their huge over reliance on cooking spray. If you read the ingredient list of cooking spray, there are things in that, particular propellants, that we shouldn't be eating. Heat your griddle and slice a thin bit of butter, at best, a teaspoon's worth. Run that around your skillet and pour on the battle. Or use a non-stick griddle and forego the spray or the butter altogether. I'd rather have the few extra calories from real creamery butter than the probably derived from petroleum stuff I can't pronounce that's in cooking spray.

Let the pancakes cook until they stop producing little bubbles in the batter. This is a crucial step. Turning the pancakes any sooner and they won't be completely cooked through. Plus, with these pancakes, heavy on the oatmeal, the first batch tended to crumble because I didn't wait for the whole pancake to cook.

Here are the finished pancakes.

This recipe doesn't make a lot. I got 8. If you have more people to feed than 4 or they want more than 2 each, you'll need to make more than one batch. With warmed maple syrup, these were pretty good. I put them in bags of 2 each and froze them. They heated up nicely, for a minute, in the microwave.

I liked the large amount of oatmeal in these. It really was cooked oatmeal held together with a small mount of binding agent. The addition of cinnamon made the house smell very good when these cooked. If I want a lot of oatmeal pancakes, I have other recipes I'll use, but, if I want pancakes quickly, these went from start to eating in 15 minutes. The addition of warm applesauce or sausage would really make this a full meal.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Puffing Up Sunday Brunch

I've been such a slacker with breakfast lately. It's just too easy to have a bowl of cereal and continue on with the day. While that is the weekday routine, on weekends, I like to treat myself. But the strawberries went bad and the yogurt wasn't on sale and the last box of croissants tasted stale. Meh. They can't do much to a box of cereal.

Plus, the long days of cloudy weather influence what I really want to do in the kitchen. The pattern since the next to last week in February has been three days of clouds with two of those yielding precipitation; one day of mostly cloudy; one day of sunshine and back into the clouds. I'm really tired of turning on the weather and hearing the words, "Alberta Clipper" in the forecast. I like winter weather. I wouldn't like living where it was 72 all year. Still, the nearly constant cloudiness puts a damper in what I want to eat and cook.

Sunday, I felt inspired. I spent part of Friday poking around in the Pillsbury web site. They have lot of recipes for fast food. I'm interested in that. A roast that takes 2 hours to cook is not as enticing, at this stage of my life, as a sliced beef dish that takes 15 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook. I can do that. So, there was interest in this Puff Pancake with Caramelized Fruit.

I like making puff pancakes. I have two recipes already, one with applesauce and one with sausage and cheese. I need another pie pan. I'll have to add that to the list of things to get when I have a few extra pennies. I should get a glass one.

Technically, there is nothing wrong with this pie pan other than it's old. The cracks in the glaze were more evident after I made the pancake. But, realistically, my making a lot of pies to justify the purchase of a glass pie pan is very slim. If I'm inspired to churn out pies, I'll cross the need for another pie plate then. The pancake puffed up just like it was supposed to.

A note to myself, I need to prep the fruit BEFORE making the batter. This is something the recipe doesn't say. I guess they assume cooks know to do that, but I would bet many do not. While the pancake was cooking, 14 to 18 minutes, I was supposed to be cooking the fruit. I spent a majority of that time peeling and slicing the apples and pears that went into this. So, the pancake was done just as I tossed the fruit into the frying pan to cook. I kept the pancake in the oven to stay warm, but I think that dried it out too much and led to it being hard to cut when serving time came.

You saute 2 pears and 3 apples for a couple minutes and then add a half cup of dried cranberries and a cup of packed brown sugar. The brown sugar caramelizes with the juice of the fruit.

I tossed in dried blueberries and cherries, which is what I had on hand. I think varying the fruits would make this very interesting. I'm not real fond of peaches, but sliced peaches and apples with raisins has an appeal. I would NOT use canned fruit as that would just fall apart in the cooking process. In fact, the pears I used were probably too ripe for this. They started to break apart while this was being cooked. You cook the fruit part for 10 minutes.

The recipe says it makes 4 servings so the puff pancake is quartered and the fruit scooped on top.

I added bacon I cooked earlier in the week. A glass of orange juice and this was an excellent start to the day. Plus, I have 3 more sections to eat. I divided the extra fruit into three containers. If I want something other than Cheerios in the morning, I can make this. I don't think I'd freeze it so it should be eaten soon. I think supper looks like a good time.

Beverage:  LaCroix Berry Sparkling Water

Deb

Easter Breakfast I Ought to Do Again

Weekend breakfasts tend to be oatmeal or the hot cereal Carole and David gave me for my birthday. I eat dry cereal during the week. It's just faster and more filling. If I would organize the oatmeal the night before, I could have oatmeal, but that lends itself to more leisurely eating than I have the time for during the week.

Weekends, I like to get inventive with breakfast. I have time and desire. Saturday, I had hot cereal but Sunday, being Easter, perhaps put me in the mood for something more. I thought about pancakes. I really wanted chocolate chip pancakes, but the search for a recipe didn't yield anything. I stumbled upon something I hadn't made in years, a puff pancake.

It is, essentially, crepe batter poured into a cast iron skillet and the whole thing baked in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. The batter puffs up, hence the name, before deflating to a skillet-size dense pancake. This recipe has instructions to make applesauce with it. I had the applesauce in the cupboard so I just made the pancake part. It's a bit sweeter than another recipe I have.

Once the pancake was baking, I decided I needed muffins. I haven't felt like baking much because it's been painful to stir batter, with the twisting motion of my wrists. But, one of the benefits of medication is the reduction of the pain. So, I got out the strawberries I bought for this occasion and made fresh strawberry muffins. They are so good.

The recipe doesn't make more than a dozen, even with my history of having more batter than prepared muffin cups. As the strawberries have to sit in sugar to make syrup, I just got them going and had breakfast. The pancake was sliced into quarters, covered with warmed applesauce and I ate up the very last of the bacon I had fried up a few weeks back. Add tea and milk to take my pill and the whole thing was ready in 30 minutes.

There was extra pancake which I brought to work for lunch. The muffins aren't going to make it into Wednesday, I'm afraid. This munchieness side effect of Prednisone has me trying to avoid the kitchen. "Oh look, a muffin!" my brain hollers as I come in for more tea. As good as homemade muffins are, it's not calorie conscious if you eat half the batch in one day.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

New Favorite

If it hasn't become apparent by now, I love pancakes. They are so easy to make and are incredibly versatile. One different ingredient can change the whole flavor. So, it was with interest that, last week, the blog "Angry Chicken" had a pumpkin pancake recipe that sounded quick and delicious. I have a really good one that uses oatmeal and diced apples, but the batter has to sit overnight. Yeah, that one doesn't get made very often. When I wake up and want pancakes, I want them within the next hour, not tomorrow.

I bought myself a can of pumpkin and then, looking for the vinegar, which the recipe calls for, found another can way in the back of the cupboard. Oh well. I need to make pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bread.

The recipe went together quite easily although you are to mix the dry into the wet, not the other way around, as I did. The batter is thick so the pancakes don't spread all over the griddle while cooking.

The cook up nicely, tall and tender. There was a lot of batter so I wound up with a huge pile of pancakes.My cast iron griddle heats unevenly so I have to watch the cakes or one side will burn while the other gets done. I have never been able to figure out if that is a problem with the griddle or if it does not sit squarely on the burner.

These were so good. I warmed maple syrup before putting it over the cakes. The smell was heaven. And, I wound up with 5 packages of pancakes in the freezer for quick breakfasts or lunches or dinners since I'll eat breakfast fare any time of the day, for later.

If you like pancakes in a variety of flavors, check out the blog and then check out the recipe link in the blog. These were exceptionally good.

Beverage:  Earl Grey tea

Deb