Pancakes :D

They are fluffy and moist and delicious. Here's what you do.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, whisk, set aside:

2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp fine salt

Combine the wet ingredients in a second bowl, whisk:

2 cups buttermilk
4 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 beaten eggs

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just combined. Fry in a pan with butter. Top with maple syrup and devour.

Don't skimp on the ingredients here. Use real butter and real vanilla extract, but especially real maple syrup and real buttermilk. Depending on where you live/shop, actual buttermilk might be difficult to find. The term "buttermilk" formerly referred to the liquid left behind after churning butter but nowadays refers to a cultured milk product not unlike drinkable yogurt. The only real buttermilk we've been able to find (in VT and MA) is Kate's Real Buttermilk; even at the NYC Greenmarket, the best you can find is cultured buttermilk made with whole milk. At least attempt to avoid most grocery store buttermilk; it's made from skim milk with added thickeners and such, basically buttermilk without any richness, which is, like, what's the point? Oh, and no powdered buttermilk either...it messes with the texture too much. The point is, these are buttermilk pancakes and they taste best with the best buttermilk you can get your mitts on.

credit to http://kottke.org/09/10/the-worlds-best-pancake-recipe for the recipe and his opinion :)

French beans in spices with carmelized onions

Today, my mother woke up tired and feeling lazy so I decided to cook to give her a break. I didn't want to look up a recipe and thus ended up throwing things together and in turn, throwing that on the gas. It turned out quite good, if I say so myself. I have no idea if the dish already exists (if it does, then kudos to the person with a similar train of thought!) but I thought the dish was noteworthy. Or blog worthy. Depends on your point of view. So here goes:

Ingredients:

- 1/4 kg of French bean
- Olive oil
- 2 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of dried China Grass (optional)
- 1 tsp of chili powder
- 2-3 tbsp of oyster sauce (optional. If you are a vegetarian, just substitute with dark soy sauce)
- 3-4 tbsp of dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 tbsp garlic chili sauce
- 2 medium sized onions
- 1 tsp of sugar

Method:

-Cut off ends of french beans and cut each into half, depending on their sizes. -Pre-heat the oven to 200 C for five minutes.
- Drizzle olive oil (or normal if you aren't exactly health conscious)into a baking tin and roll french beans in them. Add all ingredients except onions and sugar, into the pan and mix with a spoon.
- Then place in oven to cook. Stir it every 15 mins to make sure it doesn't burn. After half an hour or so, poke with a fork to see if it has cooked. Bake till cooked. (If you don't have an oven, you could do this on the gas. I just think in an oven its cleaner. :) )
- In a seperate pan, melt a bit of butter and add diced onions. Wait for ten seconds and add sugar. Stir till onions are brown and delicious smelling :D
- Then turn off the gas and add onions into baking tin (or other pan) and mix.
- Serve hot with rice.

In the picture, the dish was slightly burnt because my family likes it that way. It has a smokey flavour to it. Of course each one to his own.

If you don't like french beans, you can try this recipe with pasta or noodles. It should work out fine :D

Dinner Time!