Breakfast Project: Day One

Breakfast with Sammy, Breakfast Project

Day One: "Nana Fern"

I have a confession to make: I am not a morning person. I used to be a morning person... early to bed, early to rise and all that. When Michael and I first started dating, I was fast asleep by 11:30pm. I have always required eight hours of sleep to remain healthy, so whatever the bed time, I got my eight hours. It seems now that I am old, I can no longer get to sleep before 1:00am, sometimes I am up well past 2:00am. This makes getting eight hours of sleep and starting work before 9 or 10am very difficult. Not that you care about my sleep patterns, but I do have a point to all this and I will get to it, eventually. I promise.

A couple years ago I wrote about Joey's "senioritis." There just comes a point when they are ready to be done with high school. Sammy is currently a senior and I would be lying if I said it has not been a very difficult school year thus far. If anyone (anyone: a.k.a. younger siblings) ever wants to talk with someone about how kids, especially teens, will take your parental expectations, throw them on the floor and have a full out tantrum on them before handing them back to you as a mess of broken parental expectations, I am your gal. This is all very metaphoric, of course. Kids can't really stomp on a parent's dreams and expectations, can they? :). I'm here to say, for me personally, this was the toughest lesson to learn. Please don't saddle your kids with unrealistic expectations. Life is hard enough without them. The result is heart breaking for everyone. But I DIGRESS!!! For the purpose of this post, we are going to focus on the difficulty Sammy has had getting to school on time. We have been Sammy's human alarm clocks for a while now. It seems his alarms just never work properly... Michael mostly gets the burden since he requires much less sleep than I do and gets up much earlier than I do. Recently, Michael has also been driving Sammy to and from school. We could say this is part of a grounding situation for Sammy or a family car situation--three people, two cars, but again, not the time or place for that here. This week Michael is in Japan. I decided to give Sammy back some freedom by letting him drive to and from school this week. As far as getting him up in the morning, I have committed to getting up every day at 6:30am and making him breakfast to be served at approx. 7:00am so that he can leave by 7:30am (this all feels so deja vu) and THAT is the reason for the post. I am chronicling my morning breakfasts with Sammy and sharing them here on my blog.

Apparently, the sun has not risen by 6:30am here in Portland. Wow does that make it hard to get up :). I know I sound kind of whiny to most people who get up this early, or earlier every morning. My iPhone came in very handy this morning. I used it as an alarm (apparently Sammy's iPhone does not work well in that capacity). Then I used it as a camera for the first day of my "Breakfast With Sammy" project. Since I was using my iPhone, of course I used my new best friend: INSTAGRAM!!!

As the sun rose over the cascades this morning, I noticed it hit the chandelier in a very pretty way. I like to stop and look around at the pretty things when I am up at 6:30am.

Each breakfast this week will have a theme. Today's "Breakfast with Sammy Project" breakfast is titled:

"Nana Fern" because one of the things I remember vividly about visiting my salmon-fishing Grandparents in Tillamook is Nana Fern's Pan-Fried Salmon Fillets and Blueberry Pancakes.

My breakfast preparations began with Joey's "from scratch" pancake recipe. It is tried and true and here it is:

Joey's "From Scratch" Pancake Recipe

1 1/2 cups flour

3 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

(Sift these dry ingredients together then add the following)

1 Tbsp. white sugar

1 1/4 cups milk (I only had 1% this morning, so I added half buttermilk, half 1%)

1 egg

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

Mix the batter just until blended. Do not over blend or they will be tough pancakes. The batter is pretty thick, I usually end up adding a little extra milk, but Joey likes them super thick. I find them harder to cook when the batter is thick... Joey likes dark pancakes, I do not.

In order for the pancakes to be Nana Fern-like, I added fresh blueberries.

I purchased some lovely fresh caught Canadian Atlantic salmon last night at the grocery store. I added salt and pepper to flour and dredged the salmon fillets in the flour. I then pan fried them in a little oil. They weren't very thick and in order to get a nice color on them, I had the heat on med-high. It only took a couple minutes per side. I then removed them from the heat and covered them with foil to keep them warm. We prefer salmon cooked to medium here in our house, these were actually cooked through but still extremely moist and flavorful.

The finished product was delightfully delicious, just like Nana's always was.

One of the best things about eating breakfast at 7:00am at our house, the view:

And Sammy managed to leave the house on time this morning, even though he had no first period class. Success!

Looking Back on 2011

As it turns out, 2011 was a pretty wonderful year.

Every year comes with its ups and downs, thrills and frustrations, smiles and tears.

No one said it was going to be easy, after all.

Despite some illness and broken bones, we were all very busy and ended the year healthy and happy.

January

January was a mild weather month here in Portland, completely storm free with some very warm days. Joey's roommate from Oberlin College, Taylor, visited for much of the month. Joey and Taylor took the T-Bird to Sauvie Island daily to work on their "J" term video project (something about burning down a cabin on the beach?!?). Michael and I visited with Sarah, Jacob and Star Lubitz on Mercer Island. Sammy played Catlin Basketball. Michael also started the first month of the year by traveling to Seattle and Silicon Valley for business... which he would continue to do every single month of 2011.

February

In February, Joey returned to Oberlin (by way of Taylor's house in Washington DC). Sammy went to the Catlin Winter Formal and continued playing basketball. Despite a rather frustrating team/season, we continued going to every game. Sammy played great ball. Lily had surgery to have a couple of benign cysts removed. She was very unhappy about this.

March

The first part of March was pretty uneventful, work, school, work, school, etc...

The week before Sammy's spring break, Michael and I headed down to Palm Springs to visit Grandma Lindy & Grandpa Stuart at PGA West. They graciously got us tickets to The Indian Wells Tennis Tournament in La Quinta. We went to every day and night match while we were there. Sammy joined us for the last weekend (the finals). We got to sit in the front row to watch Roger Federer play doubles *heaven*. After Palm Springs, the three of us went on a little college tour trip. We started at UCSD in La Jolla. Then we headed up to LA to visit Claremont McKenna and Occidental. We also visited Disneyland while we were in the area (thanks Elliot!). It was SO CROWDED. We had a great time. Joey visited friends in Ann Arbor, Michigan for his spring break.

April

In April our Farm Share started up again, yippee! We also harvested many delicious asparagus spears from our home garden. Michael and I traveled up to Seattle for the unveiling of David's headstone. On a happier note, we all had a blast playing with Jacob and the new toys he received from everyone. Michael went to the East Coast for business. Sammy attended the Junior/Senior Prom. And... after three batches of homemade cinnamon rolls, I realized I needed to make some changes. I started a new healthy living regimen that includes more fiber, whole grains and vegetables and a monitored calorie intake. I felt better immediately!

May

I started the exercise portion of my new healthy lifestyle with an intense bootcamp Kickboxing program in May. I lost a total of 21 pounds before my back gave out. We celebrated Mother's Day with brunch at Skamania Lodge in Washington. I turned 48. Sammy played Catlin Gabel tennis, took his SATs and went to the annual Memorial Day weekend Sasquatch Music Festival at the Columbia Gorge Amphitheater with friends. Joey decided to spend as much of the summer in Oberlin as he could, he got a job at the Oberlin Farmers Market. Joey spent the last week of May working at the Oberlin College Graduation and Michael spoke at a conference in Sweden.

June

In June we got our first berries of the season. We continued to get beautiful, delicious, sweet berries all the way into October! We celebrated Father's Day by feeding Michael lots of delicious food and going to a sic-fi movie with him. Sammy volunteered on Mt. Hood with the Elana Gold Project building fences to keep recreational vehicles out of preservation areas. Sammy attended basketball camp in Seaside with his team and got a broken nose while playing "tag" football. Joey visited a friend in Maine.

July

Joey was diagnosed with Mononucleosis the first week of July. Sammy's nose was broken back into place. After three weeks of rest, Joey flew home and we all headed to Happy Camp at Netarts, Oregon on the coast for the Godsey Family Retreat. Michael and I celebrated our 22nd Wedding Anniversary on the 29th and the next day we went to my 30 year High School Reunion. Joey flew back to Oberlin.

August

Joey was due to fly immediately back to Portland (after working his Farmer's Market job), but he was in a bike/car accident and suffered a broken clavicle. After a brief visit to the hospital, he flew to PDX the next day and went with us on our family vacation to our timeshare on Oahu where we also met up with the The Dombroskis and sampled our first Malasadas. Joey returned to Oberlin for the school year, moved out of one summer house and into another and then finally into his dorm room. Sammy started his senior year of high school.

September

Sammy and Michael visited two colleges in Maine in September and then Sammy visited Colorado College with friends the following week. While Michael and Sammy were back east, I got to attend a beautiful wedding in Hood River, Oregon (congrats Kathleen!). I also spent a great deal of the month canning pickles, zucchini relish, berries, peaches, jalapeños and tomato sauce. Joey turned 20 years old.

October

In early October, Steve Jobs died. This was a very big deal to Michael, so I included it. Michael and I attended our very last Back to School night. I tried to start back up at Kickboxing class, but apparently I have plantar fasciitis and bone spurs, which are quite painful. I am going to have to figure out a more gentle exercise routine for 2012 for this old body. Later in the month, Michael and I drove to Calistoga, California with Lily and celebrated Michael's 48th birthday doing pretty much nothing but relaxing (thanks Doug & Sydney). Sammy turned 18. Our farm share ended for the year. Sammy got his senior photos taken at Reed College on the most beautiful fall day.

November

November was an incredibly busy month. I was so excited to get Sammy's senior photos back and they turned out awesome. I need to use them every chance I get in order to get my money's worth since I bought the whole package! They are so good. Michael and I went on a crazy business/leisure trip back east and visited Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, New Jersey and New York City. We got to see Joey in both Cleveland and Oberlin. So fun! Sammy made the varsity basketball team. We went to our last school conference with Sammy, which was very stressful--but I shall not go into that. Sammy submitted his first college application. I finally finished canning all the great apples (into apple butter, applesauce and apple chutney) we got off our tree this year. Joey visited home and we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. I loved having both boys home for Thanksgiving!

December

And finally, December. We had a dry and pretty sunny December in Portland. Amazing. We left on the 22nd for Mexico and apparently the week we were gone, it was quite rainy. But when we were here, it was splendidly dry. Michael and I went to see a local professional performance of Wizard of Oz (cousin Christine was awesome) and also the Cirque du Soleil show Cavalia. Sammy quit basketball. We spent seven days in Mexico celebrating Grandma Lindy & Grandpa Stuart's 50th wedding anniversary with Aunt Deb, Uncle Steve and Marisa too. The all-inclusive resort was wonderful. Michael and I rang in the New Year with Grammy, Grampy, Danny and Aunt Tiffy at Resort at the Mountain. Joey had a party at our house and I am still trying to get some stains out of the carpet and figure out what happened to the laundry room wall....

Thanks 2011, for a really great time!

Haven't Done That in a While

Those things that I hadn't done in a while and that I did in November:

(1) Paint the Dining Room

I am so excited I decided to have Danny paint the dining room. The much loved/much hated red wall & yellow ceiling dining room is gone. For all the haters, you put up with it for nearly 15 years. For all the lovers, I'm with ya, but I'm sorry--I needed a change. In its place, a Benjamin Moore (Aura Paint-awesome!!!) Rooftop Garden Dining Room with a Silken Pine Ceiling.

Michael and I both love the new dining room. As paint often does, it changes color all throughout the day and night depending on the amount of light, kind of light, etc... Sammy called it Army green. Hmmm, isn't that kid supposed to be color blind? Sometimes it does look a lot like Army green :), other times, not at all.

Obviously you cannot see the ceiling in the above photo as I am highlighting the Thanksgiving table, which brings up the other thing that I hadn't done in a while: (2) have Thanksgiving at our house.

Not only did we host Thanksgiving, but we (3) had a Vegan at our Thanksgiving table. This made coming up with a menu very exciting for me. Thank goodness for Pinterest. I was able to gather recipes and ideas on my Thanksgiving Board, organize and edit them and come up with a final menu. Everything was delicious.

Thanksgiving Menu

Starters

Holiday Brie En Croute from puffpastry.com

Obviously not Vegan. I used our home canned raspberry/strawberry preserves and slivered almonds. We served it with a sliced baguette.

Thai-Spiced Pumpkin Soup from 101cookbooks.com

(I made this Vegan by using Earth Balance margarine instead of butter on the squash)

Main Course

Yummy Turkey from notsohumble.blogspot.com

I cooked one turkey whole and also made a separate turkey breast. I really like using the turkey breast and will do that again when we feel like fresh home cooked turkey. No one ever eats the legs anyway. We had just enough left overs to last about a week.

Caramelized Tofu from 101cookbooks.com

Using his amazing cooking skills, Joey made this vegan tofu main course, but we put it on top of sauteed red cabbage instead of brussels sprouts.

Condiment

Gingered Cranberry Fig Chutney from food52.com

This is the most delicious cranberry sauce. I do not like canned, so I always make my own. This is the best recipe I have found. A big hit!!! (and Vegan)

Side Dishes

Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes

I made these the day ahead and re-heated in the oven before serving. Perfection!

Turkey Pan Gravy from Foodnetworktv.com

Vegan Stuffing from savvyvegetarian.com

Tastes just as good as non-vegan. For the past couple years, I have been cooking my stuffing outside the turkey. Not because of safety issues, but because the turkey cooks faster and the stuffing tastes just as good. Just make sure to add plenty of liquid (in this case vegetable stock) and it will never be dry!

Old Fashioned Southern Cornbread Dressing from freerangetalk.com

I like to make a cornbread stuffing from this recipe, but I add pancetta and mushrooms. I start by pan frying about 1/2 pound of cubed pancetta (Boar's Head is great). I remove the pancetta from the pan and then add the celery and onions. After the celery and onions are soft, I add about 1/2 pound of diced crimini mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms have released their liquid. Then I proceed with the rest of the recipe. Remember, plenty of chicken stock keeps it nice and moist.

Vegan Green Bean Casserole from blog.fatfreevegan.com

This vegan version of the standard green bean casserole is BETTER than the original. I kid you not! This recipe is fantastic and it IS The World's Best Green Bean Casserole!

Shades of Green Chopped Salad from food52.com

Because I LOVE avocado and I didn't want an old wilted salad for Thanksgiving, I made this chopped salad with avocado, cucumber, pistachios and green apple. Yum! The grocery store did not have fresh chives, so I used cilantro in the dressing. It might not be everyone's favorite salad, but I thought it was fantastic. My kind of salad!!!

Grammy brought the fresh & delicious Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Dinner Rolls

and the yummy sweet potatoes

Desserts

Decadent Chocolate Tart from moderncomfortfood.com

because I don't do dessert without at least something chocolate

Anne Burrell's Apple Brown Butter Tart from foodnetwork.com

This recipe is so delicious. I cannot describe. With a little vanilla bean ice cream or whipped cream. Heaven!

and, for the grand finale... because we had a Vegan at the table, I broke down and made a Pumpkin Pie. I have never made pumpkin pie before. I do not really care for pumpkin pie, however, this is some really tasty pumpkin pie and totally vegan!

Four Ingredient Vegan Pumpkin Pie from kblog.lunchboxbunch.com

There is a link in the recipe to a vegan pie crust. I made the pie crust too! If you are vegan, or vegetarian, or lactose intolerant and even remotely like pumpkin pie, I urge you to try this recipe.

I am infamous for trying new recipes all the time and using dinner guests as guinea pigs. Thanksgiving was no exception. I had never made any of these recipes before. They were all delicious and turned out perfectly. What luck!