Around the house this Weekend

On Friday and Saturday this weekend the sun managed to find it's way out from behind the clouds and gave us days in the 50's and 60's. How wonderful. Both of my boys have decided that spring is here and have been insisting that they don't need coats and want to wear short sleeves. Who can blame them? 

This was Benjamin and Ripley playing outside after school on Friday -- inventing contraptions.

Checking the inner-workings of the 'vehicle'.

On Saturday morning the boys got to work outside before I'd even finished the breakfast dishes (pancakes . . . but more on that later). There were eventually some meltdowns and arguments, but when I took this picture I was so proud. 

The leaf collection method was their own invention. 

On Saturday, in the mail, I received my seed potato order. It's obvious that when I ordered them I was lamenting about the harvest I had last summer, because I ordered a LOT of seed potatoes! Yikes. I am planning on putting them in various potato towers, rather than in the ground this year. We'll see how they do! 

Varieties: Yukon Gold, Red Sangre, German Butterball, Bentje -- That'salota potatoes!

I know you're tired of reading about all of my leeks at this point . . . but I harvested a hum-dinger on Saturday for a potato casserole dish. Isn't she pretty?

I read on someones blog that you can plant the root part of the leek and it will sprout to form a new leek. So the past few harvests I've saved the root and put it back in the ground for fun. We'll see how it works. I'll keep you posted.

We have a new favorite pancake recipe. It's from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, which if you don't have it, it's really a baking bible and everything I've tried so far has been excellent. They also do a great job educating you about the small important details of baking, which I have found to be very helpful.

The bacon, incidentally, is from a local Rehoboth farmer. 

They raise their own cattle and pigs.

Zephyr Pancakes (24 3 1/2 inch pancakes)

Mix all of the dry ingredients together:

2 C flour

2 1/2 T sugar

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

Whisk together all of the wet ingredients:

3 large egg yolks

1 1/4 C heavy cream (I used whole milk)

1 1/4 C buttermilk (I used whey from my yogurt making)

2 T butter, melted

1 t vanilla extract

Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry, just until combined -- it's okay if there are a few lumps. 

Scoop out with a 1/4 cup onto a preheated, lightly greased skillet. Flip. Eat. Yum. Yum. Yum.

(I have to admit that this last time, I wasn't careful with my liquid measurements and added too much -- so the pancakes weren't as fluffy as the last time. But, they were still tasty!)