knock on that

Recently I came across a recipe for pesto that doesn't presume ownership of a food processor: How to Make Pesto Like an Italian Grandmother. It's totally worth all the chopping -- I've already made it twice. Just basil and garlic and pine nuts and parmesan. Simple but oh so tasty.

On Wednesday, D. and I found ourselves snowed in. I'd left my car at work the night before and got a ride home from my boss, knowing that the snow was going to be bad and not wanting to face digging my car out of a snowbank first thing the next morning. I planned on taking the bus to work instead, because bus service is never, never canceled. Except this time it was -- even the busses couldn't cope with the twenty inches of snow we got. So instead of going to work, I made pancakes.

I almost never make pancakes. I just used the basic recipe from Joy of Cooking, except that the recipe called for melted butter, which I didn't have. So I used melted coconut oil. When I whisked the coconut oil in with the cold eggs and milk, it immediately formed thousands of tiny little globules -- kind of bizarre to look at, but these pancakes turned out to be delightfully fluffy and flavorful, and I think it was because the coconut oil blobs formed little pockets in the batter as the pancakes cooked, before melting and oozing their coconutty goodness into the pancake. Highly recommended.