quark & pancakes

Old Fashion Pancakes
(adapted from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food)
1 1/2 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup of milk
4 tablespoons melted butter

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks and mix with the milk. Slowly pour the milk and yolk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Add the melted butter to the batter.

Beat the egg whites until it forms a soft peak. Slowly pour the egg whites into the batter and fold into the mixture.

Heat the griddle under a low-medium flame and grease it up with butter. Add the batter and cook until golden brown. Flip the pancake and cook the other side until done.

Top with warm maple syrup (and if you're lucky, a dollop of quark).

post number 1

hello.

tracy here. after 3 or so years of contemplating whether or not to start a blog, i decided to kick my indecisive self in the arse. so here i am, having made a decision and not quite sure what to say (fine, write...). (awkward pause) (eyes avoiding the screen) (fingers tapping) ("where is the damn music?!")

okay, times like this is when you talk about the weather. let's start off by saying, i am a wuss when it comes to cold. i grew up in thailand, where frozen morning dew on grass made front page of the Bangkok Post. so, the temperature here is about 50F (~12C). not too cold, you say? well, i live in berkeley, california. and people here tend to think that just because it's california, the houses must be built with holes beneath the door and window to allow miscellaneous things like sun, wind, ants, really determined plants, etc to enter the house. that said, i'd say my apartment can sometimes get to be colder than the outside temperature. all i have here is a tiny electric heater and an electric blanket (which i don't use because i'm trying to suck it up this year round). so, my point is this: it gets pretty cold in berkeley. i'm cooped up under 3 blankets and a dog (he's small, so it's more the coziness factor that he contributes). oh, and can you believe, it hailed here yesterday!!! baseball-sized hail that broke car windows and roofs! (okay i exaggerate, but still! craziness!!) okay, it's getting late in the evening. so, i'll leave you with this:


taken in july of 2008 when i went to uganda to pay a visit to my sister who volunteered there. it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e. (oh, but the food wasn't great - chapatis aside... more about that later.)