Author: Shane

Seltzer Water Pancakes

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The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

My brother mentioned making pancakes that used the fizziness of seltzer to help them rise, which I had never heard of. And, well, I like pancakes, so.

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The Journey:

I don’t think you really need a mixer to make pancakes. It is debateable whether it’s worth it at all, since I need to dirty a spoon for dropping them on the pan anyway. On the other hand, this stand mixer just sits there on the counter taking up space and demanding to be used to justify its existence, so why not?

Plus, it’s purty in pictures.

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The seltzer was indeed quite dramatic, with all the fizzing. I would imagine that kids would find this fun, or else just showing off in front of people. “And now, the secret ingredient!” you proclaim with a flourish, making a bubbly pancake volcano.

But mostly it’s just me in the kitchen, making volcanoes by myself, so much of the effect is wasted.

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The Verdict:

I gotta be honest: they were okay, but nothing special. They’re very, very similar to the Oatmeal-Yogurt Pancakes. The seltzer water, though dramatic, didn’t really make that much of a difference over traditional methods as far as fluffiness of the pancakes. There was nothing wrong with them, but since we don’t keep seltzer water in the house I probably won’t make these again.

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The Recipe:

Recipe from I Heart Eating:

  • 2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 2 T. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 c. plain yogurt
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 1/3 c. sparkling seltzer water
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • Butter
  1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and salt.
  2. In a separate small bowl, stir together the yogurt and baking soda; let sit for 10 minutes.
  3. Add the yogurt mixture, seltzer, and eggs to the flour mixture; whisk until just combined.
  4. Let batter rest for 10 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, heat butter in a skillet or on a griddle over medium heat.
  6. Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter onto skillet, gently spreading out each portion of batter.
  7. Cook pancakes until bubbles begin to form around edges, about 2 minutes.
  8. Flip each pancake with a spatula, and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes more.
  9. Repeat with remaining batter, re-buttering skillet as needed.

Evelyn and the Wonder Project

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In Evelyn’s class, every few weeks they do a “wonder project”, which allows the kids to select any topic in the world they want to learn about, and then put together some kind of presentation on that topic. Evelyn’s first wonder project was on “deer”, her favorite animal.

But Evelyn is Evelyn, which is often something teachers don’t account for. Not content to do a project on a historical figure or chemistry or whatever, Evelyn selected her teacher as the subject of her next wonder project.

She wanted to surprise her teacher, but after a few weeks of working in secret and refusing to tell her teacher what her topic was, she was finally forced to fess up. Her teacher offered to allow Evelyn to interview her, but Evelyn declined. I’m sure she had to be dying of curiosity, wondering what in the world this presentation was going to be.

Secretly, Evelyn interviewed other teachers at school, one of which was able to give Evelyn her teacher’s husband’s email. From there, she was able to get some additional research as well as her teacher’s mother’s email. She probably would have kept digging, except the deadline for the project was coming up.

She put all of the information she had gathered together onto a poster board, and presented to the class.

This is the picture of a proud girl:

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The rows across the top are “interesting facts” about her teacher. The blue column on the left is “not-so-interesting facts” about her teacher. 🙂

This is Evelyn in a nutshell. There is nothing that girl enjoys more than incredibly elaborate secret projects (the Christmas projects she has been working on all year are starting to filter upstairs under the Christmas tree…god only knows what’s in those boxes).

I have a feeling there were a few discussions around the teachers’ lounge about this one.

Actual, literal, unexplained closet noises

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Oliver has a new bedroom downstairs (more on that later, when I get a chance). Evelyn has been down there for a long time, but it’s new to Ollie. I have kind of been waiting for him to say he’s scared in his new room and he doesn’t like it, but mostly he has just been so excited that I think he hasn’t had time to think about it. Certainly I wanted to have some good nights in the room to really feel comfortable in there, like he really owned the joint.

Sara and I were just finishing up a conversation about how far away the room is, and how we would never hear him if he called for us (“Eh, his sister would hear him and come get us,” I said), when I head the most terrified shrieking I’ve ever heard. With no idea how long it had been going on, I took off at a dead run. I mean, this was the kind of shrieking you do *as you are being pulled into the mouth of a monster*. It was bad enough that I felt like he needed to know I was coming, and I started yelling down the hall, “I’m coming buddy! I’m coming!”

When I got in his room he was blubbering about a noise coming from his closet. It took me a while to calm him down enough to figure out what was going on.

“There was a noise like scrrraaaatch, thump. scrrraaaatch, thump. And I called out, ‘what was that noise?’ but nobody answered. And it was going thump. thump. So I kept saying it louder and louder, but nobody was coming!”

(Side note: his sister apparently slept through all of this…so much for her coming to get us if he needed us at night.)

I said, “I don’t hear any noises.” “Turn off the lights,” he said. “You’ll hear it.”

I laid down in the bed with him, and honest to god there was a scrrraaaatch, thump. from the closet. All of the hairs on the back of my neck went up. I mean, by this point the light was on and the closet was open, so obviously there wasn’t anything in there, but it was a TERRIFYING noise.

You should have seen the look on his face. His eyes were as big as saucers. I mean, he knew what he heard, but I guess noises from the closet are just not something that happens when your daddy is around. His face said, “I dare you to deny you just heard that.” I have to admit, my face *probably* looked like his.

I got up and I looked all around, but I could not figure out what the noise was. I didn’t see anything out the window. It was coming from the ceiling of his closet, but our kitchen is above there, and I knew there wasn’t anybody up there.

It was a little difficult to calm him down when I didn’t know what the heck was going on. My best guess is that someone was getting something out of the outside storage area (and then, naturally, ran away quickly and shut off the light before I went out there to check). Makes total sense.

So, yeah. Unexplained, creepy closet noises in Ollie’s new bedroom. Fantastic. Anybody hear any creepy noises back when that was just the guest bedroom?

My Famous Daughter

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Evelyn’s play opened over the weekend, and it’s going smashingly. After the performance on Sunday, we went out to eat at a nearby restaurant.

As we were waiting for our food, Anna noticed a boy walking by our table, eyes bugging out of his head. Afterwards he got his mom and the two of them pretended to have some reason to walk across the restaurant, so he could show her Evelyn. Finally he got his courage up and came over to the table.

“Are you in a play?” he asked. “Yes,” said Evelyn. “We just saw you! We watched the play!” said the boy.

It was very sweet, and Evelyn was very gracious. If she were glowing any harder, Chicago could have shut off the power for the evening and plugged into her instead.

Pretty soon the boy came back with another boy. “He saw the play too,” said the first boy. “You did a good job.”

I think everyone at our table was a little surprised by all of this. Evelyn feels very proud of being in the play, but to be recognized out in public? I mean, it was a true paparazzi moment. She did everything except sign their autographs. “There’s a back door, in case we have to slip out,” said one of our friends.

There was even another actor from the play sitting one table over, but the boys didn’t recognize him. “Poor Claude,” said Evelyn, grinning like she was not even remotely feeling sorry for old Claude.

I have a feeling Evelyn is going to remember this for a long, long time. And if anybody is looking for a good restaurant, I know one where all the actors hang out after the show, in case you want to rub elbows with the stars…

Quote Monday wants to tell you something

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Ollie: “Evie, mama said there’s something Aunt Rachael wants to tell us.”
Evie: “I think it’s that Aunt Rachael is going to have a baby.”
Ollie: “Or, Aunt Rachael’s DOG is going to have a baby!!!”
Ollie: “…or that Aunt Rachael is going to have another head growing out of the top of her head.”

“No offense, but you’re basically useless now.” – Evie, in regards to Sara being 8 months pregnant with a broken leg.

::sorting baby clothes::
Ollie: “What if the baby came out and it was a grown-up, and all your hard work was for nothing?”

Ollie: “I have a name for the baby. ‘Darthy’.”
Me: “Dorothy?”
Ollie: “No, Darthy. Like Darth Vader. Maybe when he grows up he’ll want to go by ‘Darth’.”