Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and drawing……

Yes, it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m wearing green of course.  And shortly I will put my favorite meal in the oven….roasted corned beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and of course cabbage.  It was my requested favorite meal throughout my childhood, whatever the event or celebration.  My hubby…..not so much.  He grimaces even as it cooks.  He prays it shrinks up and disappears in the pan so there won’t be any left overs.  Not me…..I’m happy to see it show up in a Rueben sandwich, or hash in the upcoming days.  

I’m drawing again. Yes, took a slight detour from the black and white of Zentangle land and decided to incorporate some color.  Yes, I’m still doing them daily like a dog on a bone, but I pulled out my colored pencils…..Koh-I-Noor woodless and Faber Castell Polychromos and got to work.   I love them both, but wish the woodless came in larger sets as they are my favorites.

A friend pointed out a while ago that I’m a seasonal colorist.  About this time each year I go ‘brights’….I mean clothes, painting, quilting, food……whatever I’m working on and whatever offsets the dull gray winter colors.  It’s not that I don’t love the cool purple gray shadows on the show, it’s just I’ve had enough about mid-March.  So it is with my colors today. 

But what I discovered (big surprise on Pinterest) was a nifty trick to add some depth or saturation to my colored pencil work.  I love the ease of use colored pencils give but sometimes I want richer, almost oil like effects but I can’t get them with color pencils.  I want lush sunlight, somewhere between watercolors and oils.  By adding a delicate wash of baby oil on top of the pencils, they blend better.  You don’t see the colored pencil marks as much.  Some are more dramatic than others, but I think you’ll see the difference:

Before and after (yes, stacked up shamrocks!)

Before and after

Before and after

Before and after

And it gives off the most interesting shade when held backwards to the sunlight.  And not to be forgotten, the baby oil smells nice.  

National Pancake Day

Happy National Pancake Day.....okay, I admit, it’s been a very long and colder than normal winter so…..cut me some slack.  This is the time when you need to look long and hard for reasons to get out of bed.  As I write this, there’s white out conditions outside……again.  You see, we live in a region that experiences what some loathsomely call LAKE EFFECT.  In the summer this can be a benefit as the temps are usually 5-10 degrees cooler than 15 miles inland. 

But for the better part of the winter, it rages.  And I mean RAGES.  So today I decided to find a reason to have happy thoughts.  And what brings happy thoughts out more than comfort food……hot off the griddle slathered with warm maple syrup old fashioned buttermilk pancakes.  None of those fluffy cakey like discs, real old European style pancakes.  Best part, they are fast and simple to make.

My mother called them German Pancakes, as they came from her immigrant grandmother who by strange coincidence was German.  But for today…..to avoid being politically incorrect or inciting a war over recipe ownership, I am calling them ‘old fashioned’.  Whoever wants to attach any other authorship to this old recipe, knock yourself out.  So here it goes…………..it doesn't get easier than this.

Old Fashion Buttermilk Pancakes

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup regular buttermilk, not low fat

Whisk egg and buttermilk in a medium size bowl

Sift dry ingredients into wet, mixing only until blended.  Don’t over-mix.  Mixture may seem lumpy

Spoon ½ cup of batter onto a hot greased griddle.

Flip when the edges are slightly golden and the steam bubbles begin to pop.

Cook on the second side until browned and steam stops.

Serve immediately with butter and warm maple syrup and your favorite sausage, bacon or ham.