My very sceptical looking cat keeping me and my temporary cast company on Monday morning.
Be careful what you wish for…
When I was growing up, I always wanted to break a limb, ideally my arm.
It had nothing to do with wanting broken bones and everything to do with wearing a cast.
Kids in the neighbourhood who did break bones and wear casts lorded it over every other able-bodied kid in the playground. Injuring yourself enough to require stitches was pretty cool too but the ultimate badge of honour was always the cast. No matter if it turned yellow/grey and slightly smelly within days, that didn’t matter…
Well, at 40 years of age, I finally got my wish, didn’t I?
My careless slip in the rain last Friday resulted in 3 hairline fractures on my right metatarsal. After being put in a temporary cast on Friday, I pretty much spent the weekend doing really not much at all. Perhaps I was still in shock on Saturday, but the ‘doing nothing’ bit wasn’t that bad, quite relaxing and fun in fact.
However, by Monday morning, after 2 uncomfortable days in bed unable to sleep properly because of the cast, unable to even sit up to use my laptop, the novelty of having broken anything was wearing really, really thin.
The thought that I might need to be in a fixed cast for a further 5-6 weeks was starting to fill me with dread, so imagine my relief when, on Monday, I found out I simply needed a funky inflatable boot to wear for the next 6 weeks, wooo hoooooo! What’s quite pathetic is realising how three tiny hairline fractures can cause so much pain; seriously, I wouldn’t have been able to see them if the doc hadn’t pointed them out to us.
On the bright side, I’ll save on luggage space since I’ll only need to pack 1 shoe out of every pair :)
On the flip side, what is amazing is how quickly my foot’s recovering too. After the first painful few days, I’m today back up and walking around again (without crutches most of the time too), and the walking is getting easier every day. As long as I’m careful, life can start getting back to normal.
More importantly, our holiday plans to Canada & the US can go ahead, phew!
I think some of my colleagues are quite disappointed though, some of them were really looking forward to decorating the cast but instead of permanent marker pens, I suspect my removable boot will simply end up being adorned with stickers instead.
In fact, given that I’m going to have to wear this boot throughout my big Canadian-American adventure, I’m setting myself a mini goal of finding stickers of each town we stop in to decorate my boot with. :)
Sitting at our kitchen counter getting ready to make the pancake batter.
Stuck at home but unable to cook, grrrr!
What has been frustrating this week though has been being at home and not actually being able to cook properly. Earlier in the week when I still needed to use my crutches for support, I made some pasta and suddenly realised I wouldn’t be able to drain the pasta because I couldn’t hold the sieve, pot of boiling pasta and my crutches at the same time… I ended up having to sit the sieve in the bottom of the sink and used one hand to carefully pour the pasta through the sieve in the sink.
My husband has obviously been a superstar, given that he basically had to do all the cooking and washing earlier this week.
One whisk. One bowl. Simples.
So being able to sit in a chair in the kitchen today to make something from scratch has been deeply satisfying, and what better comfort food can there be other than pancakes?
Everyone has their own pancake recipe. I love the fluffy American style pancakes and I love French crepes, but I have to say that I think English pancakes are far superior to both – thin enough to get crispy edges like a crepe, but denser so you have something you can really sink your teeth into.
Every day really should be pancake day.
There isn’t anything you can’t eat with a pancake, and if I’m not doing savoury fillings, I stick to two favourite sweet treats – one with nutella, and the other with castor sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
I have this funny thing though because I ALWAYS have to have the sugar-lemon pancakes rolled up like a fat cigar, but my nutella pancakes must always be folded into triangles. Don’t ask me why, they just do! :O
Pancakes. One of the best comfort food around.
Having been laid up most of the week, I haven’t been round to visit but I do hope you’ve all been well.
Mmmmmm, nutella…mmmmmmmmmm
It’s yet another dreary, wet and cold summer day in England, so now filled to the brim with pancake, I’m climbing back into bed to rest my foot and find a cheesy movie to watch on the box.
Happy weekend everyone.
Lots of love
thebigfatnoodle
thebigfatnoodle’s pancake mix (makes about 12-13 pancakes)
Click here for a printer-friendlier recipe card
200 grams plain flour
60 gram of melted butter
3 medium eggs
300ml full fat milk
A good pinch of salt
Pancakes. Yum, yum, yum!
In a mixing bowl, sift your flour (holding it up high so you get lots of air through) with a decent pinch of salt.
Make a well in the flour and crack in your eggs.
Whisk the eggs and flour together, and slowly add the milk a little bit at a time, and whisk until you get a batter with the consistency of a thinnish cream. If you like thinner pancakes, add more milk, if you prefer it thicker, either add another 10-20 grams of flour or reduce the amount of milk you use.
When you have a batter with no lumps, add 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the mixture and pop your batter into the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes.
To make your pancakes, lightly grease a non-stick fry pan with some melted butter and ladle about ¼ cup of batter for each pancake.
You’ll know your pancakes ready to flip over when you shake the pan and the pancake starts to slip around the pan.
Eat them with whatever fillings you like, savoury or sweet!
Filed under: Adventures, American, Breakfast, British, Butter, Cool stuff, Country life, Dessert, Dinner, Eggs, Flour, Godalming, Lunch, Milk, Sugar, Sweet Tagged: Breakfast, Butter, Cook, Flour, Home, Pancake, Shrove Tuesday
