Christmas Eve Spectacular (and day after Christmas pancakes from a box)

WHEW. With that, the Christmas season has come to a close. New Years is right around the corner and everyone has joined a new gym and we're almost done cleaning up after Christmas Eve Dinner. Almost. Leftovers? Still in the fridge. Christmas cookies? Still on a 3-a-day diet. Might have to up it to 4. All in all the Holiday was a good time for just about everyone. We've picked up the tradition of  hosted a big dinner on Christmas Eve for both of our families and some close friends every year. Last year we tackled a beef wellington dish and had four other courses. This year we toned it down just a little, preparing a rack of pork with sides and French onion soup. The meal definitely created a sense of fullness which really set the trend for the rest of the next two days. After dinner we sat around the fire and exchanged gifts and had a white elephant gift exchange. If you've never done one its a good time to see Murphy's law in action and may be the only time you can see a staunch Republican get a commemorative Obama plate or Charisse let Eric have a garden gnome. One of Eric's family traditions growing up is reading a Christmas story on Christmas Eve, so Eric read "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"  to everyone as the party wound down. For those who made it we took a walk around the neighborhood around midnight looking at all the lights and talking about what tomorrow would bring. Christmas started for us around 6 AM with trips back and forth between both of our parents houses. When we got home, it was straight to bed with a thankful heart, full stomachs and the feeling that when we woke up, the house would be a disaster. The next morning, we discovered that it was worse than we thought. Paper, boxes and ribbons everywhere and stacks of dishes to do so we did the only sensible thing: made pancakes from a mix with Eric's new Pancake molds, which turned out to be the perfect after Christmas breakfast. We hope you all had  a wonderful holiday (whichever one you might celebrate) and all have wonderful and safe New Years Eve! We'll see you next year!

Brown Sugar Pancakes with Grape Syrup

Everyone I've ever known has weeds growing on the side of their house. Even the people who decorate their side yards with concrete have weeds there. There's something about the side of a house that makes it really under valued, and under appreciated. It's not the front of the house so it doesn't warrant the careful maintenance and attention to detail as the front yard. Its also usually not big enough for entertaining so it doesn't get all the fun add-ons that the backyard gets (who's ever been to a pool party or BBQ in someone's side yard)? Nope, me neither. The side yard has the unfortunate and unloved task of being regulated to a storage facility, or at best a glorified hallway. If it gets any grass at all, it was probably put there to make it easier to get the lawn mower from the back to the front or party guests from the front to the back. And right there, against the house are probably some weeds. You know the kind, the ones too close for the lawnmower to get, big enough to be a major eye sore but going totally unnoticed to anyone but you because everyone else is focused on getting to the punchbowl next to the BBQ on the other side of the pool. Now most of you know the weeds we're talking about. The rest of you probably just ran outside to go look. We'll wait.

Any time now.

Okay great your back! So yes, we found one of these weeds the first summer we were in our house. The thing had become a bit of a monster, sprouting up like a vine with nice big leaves after a particularly wet spring. We were assessing all the weird things that had grown up all around our house while we hunkered down inside, staying dry and warm. So while hacking through the jungle of weeds and strange plants we came across this fellow and Eric went to get his patented, fool proof way of digging up big roots (his axe). While he was rummaging in the garage, Charisse was on the phone with her mom because the plant seemed to look decidedly un-weed like. By the time Eric got back, Charisse was giddy and sitting there petting the weed. "Thats no weed" she said, "thats a grape vine"! Thats right, we have a grapevine growing on the side yard. Who knew? Well last year the grapes didn't make it (see related topic: things the dog ate) but this year, the dog was a bit older and we were a lot more attentive (and the grapes grew up higher) and we ended up with 10 lbs of grapes. In case you are wondering, thats a lot of grapes. After all the projects (and snacking) we ended up with a small pile last weekend around breakfast time, and decided to throw an impromptu morning in. Charisse pulled out a recipe she's been itching to try and grabbed her new cookbook (all about jams, jellies, syrups and other stuff like that) and put together Eric's new favorite pancake a brown sugar pancake with grape syrup. Less than an hour later we set our plates down over a new purple stain that we're sure will come out someday and dug in.

Dutch Baby Pancake With Cinnamon Syrup

Breakfast is the only meal that can be had at any time of day, and never feels out of place. 10 AM or 10 PM, a bowl of cereal, some eggs and bacon, or a  home cooked waffle fills an empty stomach or a tired soul. We try and have breakfast and coffee together as much as possible, but these days our mornings together are few and far between. With our work schedules, we get the breakfast chance about once every other week, usually Saturday mornings. On those wonderfully special days we sleep in a little later, make a pot of french press coffee (infinitely better than using the machine) and whip up something to eat. Figuring out what to cook is always entertaining (Eric's suggestions usually start with "well we can cook up some bacon and..."). Last Saturday started with a request for bacon (denied) and turned into thoughts of pancakes, skillets and homemade syrup. While the buttermilk is always and forever a favorite (and sidekick to Eric's dad's blue eggs story), we wanted something different for you guys, something with a little more uniqueness to it. Enter the Dutch Baby Pancake. One Pancake to rule them all. Or at least serve them all. This could be another single pan dish (even though we mixed in a bowl first) and has a very different texture than a traditional buttermilk pancake. It's fluffier, and has a distinct omelet-esque flavor. It's like a pancake omelet with syrup added. That might sound odd, but trust us, its amazingly good, especially with the cinnamon syrup we made. The syrup of course could go with any breakfast cake. Can't wait till next breakfast!

Pictures and Recipe after the break