Spring is FINALLY Here!

Yay!  It's finally springtime in England!  We have had a long, cold winter here.  In fact a friend of ours estimated that it had been over seven months since we had a day in the 50s!  Brrrrrrr. 

The daffodils are coming out, one of my favorite things about Milton Keynes is the amount of daffodils planted EVERYWHERE here.  As soon as I saw them sprouting I knew I wanted to get some pictures of the kids with them.  So, I decided to take them down to the park this morning with serious ulterior motives of getting some photos, and then letting them play and blow off some energy a bit at the playground, too.

These are the results.  I'm totally in love with some of these photos. 

Some gorgeous flowers in our neighbor's front garden.

So happy together!

Joci made me save these flowers in my pocket for 'later'.

My favorite park to walk.  So love seeing spring coming on the landscape.

We were excited that we got to see the swans nesting.  The mama swan sitting on her nest was stretching out her neck picking up sticks to stack on her next.  Papa swan was NOT happy with people that would walk by him on the path.

Love this one of Joe.  He's such a cute little goofball sometimes.

Like this one of Joci.  She can be really 'honest' with the camera at times. 

Gorgeous girl.

Joseph checking to see if the creek had any tadpoles in it.

And, him showing Joci where they were.

Joci was a little scared to go over the top of this net.  She eventually did it, on her own.  I was so proud of her for wanting to do it even though she was terrified.

Walking back towards home.

Peek a Boo!

Joseph found a little 'den' that the gardeners made when they were staking up this hedge.  He and Joci thought it was 'soooooo cool' that it was a secret hideout.

Love this picture of my handsome boy!

Goofy girl peering out from their hideout.

April 21, 2013

The Fluffiest Pancakes

Since we've been living in the U.K. we have really missed a lot of our favorite foods.  We don't live in London so finding a diverse selection of restaurants is a bit difficult.  Most restaurants in our area are good ole pubs, and the ethnic offering is Indian or Chinese, both are good, although Jon hates Indian. 

In an effort to subside some of our homesickness and drool over yummy goodies found in the States we'll watch Diners Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network.  Usually it's the Mexican food and the Pizza that really gets to us, but the other day we watched an episode at The Red Wagon in East Vancouver in which they made Pulled-Pork Pancakes with Jack Daniel Maple Syrup.  It was one of those recipes where you think, I could make that! 

Last night we had homemade pulled pork sandwiches and had some left over and thus our monumental breakfast this morning was born.  I looked online and my favorite recipe that I could find inspired by The Red Wagon was at a blog called Sweet Samsations, which you can find here.  Their pancake recipe looked amazing and both the kids and I agreed.  They are the fluffiest pancakes we've ever made.  They are on the sweet side, so they are great to serve with something savory and you don't need much syrup.  I didn't make the Jack Daniels syrup as I didn't really want the kids drunk before lunch and actually I don't keep it on hand in the house. 

I hope you like these pancakes, I know my little family LOVED them.  Well, all except Jon.  He likes thinner, chewier pancakes.

Fluffiest Pancakes Ever
Makes 5-6 pancakes.  I doubled the recipe when I made it as I like to have some leftover for breakfast the next day, or to pop into the kids' lunches with fresh fruit.

3/4 Cup milk
2  Tablespoons white vinegar
1 Cup all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons melted butter
cooking spray

Directions

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to “sour”.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into “soured” milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and FOLD. Do not overmix. Leave a couple little lumps in the batter so that the pancakes turn out lumpy and super fluffy!
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. These brown very quickly, so watch them carefully and do not let them over-brown.  Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side. Serve!

photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/mezzoblue/6933376307/

Korean Barbecue

Well, it's no secret that one of Jon's and my favorite foods is Korean BBQ.  We are serious junkies for it and while it was easy enough to find in the States, here in Milton Keynes, UK, well, it's not.  We've talked about making it for awhile, but to be truthful, it seemed like a lot of hassle, until now.

Tonight we had our first homemade bulgogi with bancham (side dishes).  It was AMAZING!  It completely satisfied our Korean craving and I got major kudos from Jon and the kids for it, and we had enough left over that we all agreed we will be having it for dinner, again, tomorrow night.

If you get a chance, make this, you will NOT be disappointed!

Bulgogi
1 lb. flank steak thinly sliced
5 T soy sauce
2 1/2 T sugar
1/4 C minced green onion
2 T minced garlic 
2 T sesame seeds.
2 T sesame oil
1/2 tsp black pepper

Put all of the above into a large ziplock bag and marinate in the fridge overnight.
Now, here's where if you were in the restaurant you would be grilling this on the little inset grill on your table, but we don't have that here.  We debated grilling it on the outdoor grill, and may try that in the future, but tonight we just wok'd it.  Serve with a big bowl of white boiled or steamed rice.

Sigeumchi Namul  (Seasoned Spinach)
7oz spinach
4 C boiling water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp minced garlic
2 minced green onion
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp of sriracha chilli sauce (more if you like it spicier)

Blanch spinach for 2 minutes in boiling water.  Drain and put into an ice bath.  After cooled, squeeze excess water out of the spinach and combine with remaining ingredients.  You can marinate overnight or eat immediately.

Kong Namul (Spicy Soybean Sprouts)
1 can/tin of soybean sprouts (drained)
2 minced garlic cloves
2 minced green onion
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 T sesame oil
1 tsp sriracha chilli sauce (more if you like it spicier)

This is a piece of cake...combine all ingredients and chill.

Oi Muchim (Seasoned Cucumber)
1 Cucumber (seeded and sliced if you are going to marinate, just sliced if you're eating immediately)
1/4 C minced green onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp crushed red chillies
1 tsp sriracha chilli sauce

Again, another easy one, combine all ingredients and chill.