How to Make Your Fireplace Look Nice, Even When You're Not So Good at Fire

As the days have gotten cooler and the nights have gotten downright colder, we've been looking for ways to get ready for fall.  Schatz and I have discussed using the fireplace, but we're too cheap to call out a chimney sweep.  Also, I, Kitten, do not know how to start a fire from kindling.  So it seems that decorating the fireplace with Christmas lights was a fun, safe, affordable, and festive solution.

PS  We rescued a puppy from the pound.  Her name is Zhuchka.  She is terribly well behaved (except for the potty-training bit) and sweet.

You know what happens at Midnight...

We all turned into pumpkins!  

There's Schatzenstein, Kitten of Transylvania, and Tippi - Lord of Hitchcockian Birds.

Get-Better Pancakes / Werde Gesund Pfannenkuchen

Fall season has arrived in South Carolina, taking the temps from the 90's (30°C) to the 60's (15°C), nearly overnight.  And all I have to say about that is... it's about damn time, because I've been sweating since April.  Thankful as I am for the temperature change, the new season has brought about one of those cold and sinus bugs that makes one feel as if they could be a poster child for a Faces of Meth campaign.  I'm currently a puffy-eyed, red and sniffly nosed, stuffy-eared, mouth-breather.


After sleeping nearly all day yesterday, I woke up this morning craving something wholesome and hearty.  And since Schatz went to the Oktoberfest festival held in downtown Greer yesterday and wasn't feeling too great last night, I knew he would want a good breakfast too.


The pancake recipe I made is adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.


Get-Better Pancakes (Werde Gesund Pfannenkuchen)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
2 T ground flax seed
3 very well-mashed bananas (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 1/2 cups soy milk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp maple syrup

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the soymilk (I like to use Silk Very Vanilla, it makes much richer pancakes) and apple cider vinegar.  Set aside for 5 minutes.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flax seed.

Mix the canola oil, vanilla, maple syrup, and soymilk together.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, being careful not to overmix - a few lumps is okay.
Cook in preheated and greased pan, making 2-3 pancakes at a time.


This recipe makes the fluffiest vegan pancakes I have ever eaten.  They taste so wholesome and light, and the sweet banana and maple syrup flavour somehow make their way to my virus-blitzed tastebuds.  And while any cold takes 5-10 business days to clear, I always feel like eating fiber-filled foods and fruits rich in vitamins and minerals helps me start to feel better sooner.

Yum, yum breakfast on a table set for fall!  The pumpkins were on sale at Publix, and hopefully we can decorate them soon.


We ate the pancakes with leftover strawberries from last week's Publix sale, leftover lime curd from a tart I made earlier in the week, and fresh maple syrup - a gift from my cousins in Ottawa.

Schatz got whipped cream topping on his pancakes.  (Which reminds me - does anyone know of a good vegan whipped topping?  The Tofutti one is disgusting...)

Pancakes are one of those magical foods where the toppings are practically limitless.  I also love pancakes with Ikea's Lingonberry Jam, raspberry coulis, blackberry sauce, fresh blueberries inside...

Nom nom, so fluffy!!!

Tippi even got her own bit of pancake - a teeny bit of overcooked crust.  And now everyone here is full and happy... and maybe a little bit sleepy, too...

-Kitten

An inspiration from Julia Child saves dinner

Sometimes Kitten and Schatz cook together, but other times, they have completely different cravings, and thus make their own separate meals.  Tonight was going to be one of those nights, as Schatz had decided to make pasta and meat sauce, and Kitten was making a Quorn roast with itty bitty potatoes and baby carrots.  (Tip for couples with different dietary requirements - separate meals can be prepared nicely when one person makes something requiring only the oven, and the other uses the stove top, etc.)

Schatz got sidetracked with some vacuuming and floor-scrubbing (he is a much better housekeeper than Kitten), and whilst Kitten's meal was roasting in the oven, it was already 9 pm and Schatz hadn't even started browning the meat.

Kitten made a quick inventory of the fridge - eggs, Chinese-style haricots verts, shallots, mozzarella cheese...  Since it's been French week at theKitchn.com, she decided to make a very improvised Niçoise salad.

With 7 minutes remaining before the roast Quorn was done, she sautéed the Chinese-style haricots verts and sliced shallots in a bit of margarine, and seasoned the pan with a pinch of garlic, 1/2 tsp basil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Since there was no time to hard-boil the eggs, Kitten decided to make an omelette filled with aged mozzarella.  A few Dutch Yellow baby potatoes hot out of the oven from the vegetarian roast completed the dinner.  (There would've been more salad for the Niçoise salad, except Schatz ate the last of the salad at lunch...)

Making a vegetarian roast delayed the availability of the oven, so the Lemon Ricotta Cake wasn't finished until 10:30 pm.  And now Kitten and Schatz have a pound of ground chuck in the fridge, waiting for someone to make pasta sauce.  And the vegetarian roast, while delicious, was not nearly so photogenic as the improvised Niçoise salad...

The Short History / eine Geschichte

Kitten met Schatz at a World Cup party in late June, 2010.  Germany was playing England, and the game was broadcast at 10 am on a Sunday.  After Germany soundly defeated England 4 to1 (and Kitten and Schatz had consumed a few Russens), they went to another bar to watch Argentina play Mexico.  About 12 hours later, when they were still hanging out and eating dinner, they realized this might be the start of something awesome.

They began dating, and since things were going so well, a few weeks (yes, weeks) into the relationship, Kitten mentioned that her current lease ended in September.  They discussed the possibility of moving in together in Schatz’s apartment.  Aside from the insanity of moving in together after only knowing each other for a month-ish, they also had to consider their language, cultural, and dietary differences.  So they graphed a few fiscal analysis charts, plotted a layout of furniture… and then decided to go for it. 


And since moving in and cooking together were going so well, Kitten decided to start a blog about it.  So here goes…

Tippi

The bird of the house, Tippi.
Hier is unser kleiner Vogel, Tippi.

Us / Wir

Kitten and Schatz at the art gallery.
Kitten und Schatz an der Kunstgalerie.