Picture of the Day: Big Ben in London

London, England, United Kingdom
06.2005 

High Rise Apple Pancakes

When I was growing up high rise apple pancakes were made in my family for breakfast for weekend special occasions. It was my favorite breakfast food and I loved watching the batter puff up in the oven. It seemed like magic.

As an adult this high rise apple pancake recipe is my go to dish for when I host brunches or have weekend guests at my home. Preparing it is simple and easy plus it is delicious and makes for a pretty presentation on the dining table. Serving it with eggs, bacon and a fruit salad creates a great spread for any morning meal.

Ingredients List
- 2 large apples: peeled, cored and cut into 1/4" slices
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1-1/4 cup flour
- 1-1/4 cup milk
- 5 Tbsp. butter
- Powdered sugar (optional)
- Maple syrup (optional) 

Directions
- Preheat oven to 425° F (220° C)
- Toss apples with lemon juice and sugar in a bowl and set aside
- Melt butter in a 9" x 13" pan in the oven
- Combine eggs, flour milk and beat lightly
- Pour batter into pan once butter is sizzling and bake for 15 minutes
- Add apple mixture on top of the risen batter and bake for an additional 10 minutes
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup 

Tips and Tricks
- Baking apples, like Jonathan, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith or Golden Delicious, all work well with this recipes
- I like to use two different varieties of apples when making the recipe instead of two of the same kind
- For my workflow management I mix up my batter and start peeling my apples while the butter is melting and then slice the apples and toss them with the sugar and lemon juice while the batter starts baking
- When you mix the batter it will be a little lumpy
- The longer you bake the batter before adding the apples, the higher it will rise

Picture of the Day: Bananas Along Fig Tree Drive in Antigua

Fig Tree Drive, Antigua
07.05.2009 

Snowflake Birthday Cake

Yesterday evening we celebrated seven birthdays with friends that occurred over the span of six weeks with a night out in Ann Arbor. We started with some drinks at Mike and Sylwia's place and I brought a cake that I made because in my opinion no one is ever too old to enjoy birthday cake. Also, I like any excuse that I can come up with to make a cake.

I had a request for yellow cake from one of the birthday boys, Don, so I made a yellow cake with buttercream icing. Despite our unseasonably warm winter with lack of snow this year I decided on a snowflake themed cake for the winter birthdays. It was simple and quick to decorate which was important since I didn't have a lot of time after work on Friday to make the cake before we were all meeting up.

I iced the cake with pale teal and then decorated the sides with snowflakes and large, white nonpareils. I wrote out the names of all seven birthday honorees around the outside edge in a deeper shade of teal with "Happy Birthday" in the middle. With some small snowflake filler on the top and a border of dark teal stars around the bottom the cake was complete. Yum! 

Picture of the Day: Street Food Vendor in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
08.2011 

Soo Line Fleece Blanket for Grandpa

My grandpa grew up near a railway line in North Dakota and ever since he has loved trains and especially anything to do with the Soo Line. As a boy he would love watching the trains barrel by and the highlight of every summer was his annual trip to his grandmother's house when he would get to actually ride the train himself.

He is always tough to find presents for so for his birthday a few years back I decided to make him a fleece blanket with the Soo Line logo on it. I cut out the logo out of white fleece and then sewed it onto a large rectangle of red fleece. I then layered the red fleece on top of a rectangle of white fleece of the same size. Using my rotary cutter I cut 4" slits through both layers of fabric at 1" intervals all around the perimeter of the blanket. After knotting the red and white strips together the blanket was complete.

The blanket was super easy to make and my grandpa loved it. To this day he enjoys using it for his afternoon naps which makes me happy. It's my favorite gift that I've given him.

Picture of the Day: View in Athens Overlooking the Temple of Zeus

Athens, Greece
11.15.2009 

Picture of the Day: Conch Shell on Palm Beach in Barbuda

Palm Beach, Barbuda
07.04.2009 

Resolution Recap: January 2012

With one month now into the New Year I thought that I would take a look back to see where I stand with my 2012 New Year's resolutions.

January was a hectic month for me since I was out of town for almost half of it. On top of that I have been sick for the past two weeks and am just now starting to feel like myself again. Despite those difficulties I am proud of what I did manage to get done and it has me energized and excited to keep going. Hopefully I will be able to  accomplish even more in February just by being in town and being healthy.

Resolution 1: Purge & Organize
For three out of the five Mondays I met my goal of having a volume of at least one trash cart (between my recycling and regular trash) out on the curb on garbage pick-up morning. The other two Mondays I was out of town that day so I'm giving myself a pass. Here's my breakdown:

- January 2: Nothing (In New Orleans)
- January 9: 3/4 full trash + 1/2 full recycle = 1-1/4 total
- January 16: Nothing (In Pasadena) 
- January 23: 3/4 full trash + overflowing recycle = almost 2 total
- January 30: Full trash + 1/4 full recycle = 1-1/4 total

I even managed to put things out on the ninth when I was only home for the weekend before leaving that Monday afternoon for Las Vegas. I actually barely made it on my flight because I ran home to pull the carts off the curb en route to the airport since I figured my neighbors wouldn't be too thrilled about them sitting out for over a week.

Overall on the weeks I was in town I exceeded my goal and I am happy with my progress. Among the items that I got rid of was a leaky air mattress (I have a guest room so I don't really need it anymore even if I did get around to fixing it), some broken luggage (did I really think I was going to try to patch the torn canvas?) and some scraps from my craft room that were really too small to be useful.

In addition to things that went out on the curb I also managed to go through a lot of my kitchen stuff and sort out items that were still usable but I don't need anymore and filled up a box for a garage sale I plan to have in the spring. On the organizing front I made some progress in getting a few kitchen cabinets in order.

Resolution 2: Finish Up Projects
I decided to start working on finishing up my master bathroom since it was almost done making it an easy first step. I am about a third of the way through what I wanted to accomplish. Here's my status:

- Paint the outside of the tub teal (it is currently a light creamy yellow): Prepared area, started stripping old paint
- Replace the cheap, temporary mirror with a medicine cabinet: Removed mirror, measured and marked out wall location
- Add shelving to the inside of the built-in cabinet: Wood purchased
- Jazz up the built-in with some color: Done! (Added wallpaper and painted)
- Make a wood vent cover to go over the ceiling fan (the plastic cover that came with the fan just doesn't fit in with the vintage look of the bathroom): Wood purchased
- Make a rug to go in front of the bathtub: Done!
- Add some wall art and do some paint touch-ups: Teal touch-ups done

As I got going I decided that I also want to add making a shower stool to my bathroom to-do list. So far I sketched up the design for that and bought the wood and paint for it. My plan is to have the bathroom finished and move on to some other projects in February.

So there's where I stand with my resolutions at the end of January. So far, so good and I hope to hit my stride this upcoming month. Does anyone else out there have any resolutions they are trying to keep? What are your goals for the year and how is it going? I'd love to hear what other people are doing to stay motivated!

Picture of the Day: Huayna Picchu and the Ruins at Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu, Peru
11.09.2007