Sylvia's Scenario

I was a little late on the sourdough bread bandwagon during this pandemic but better late than never, right?  I still haven't made sourdough bread but we have made sourdough pancakes a lot.  A friend gave me some sourdough starter right before Nick and Sachiyo returned from Japan and now I haven't had any time to make sourdough bread because we've been so busy with the grandkids.  I did make two loaves of Japanese milk bread  before they came and they really appreciated that.  They said it tasted just like the bread they're use to in Japan and one loaf lasted them a week.   Sachiyo has a bread maker and she makes similar bread but it only lasts a few days because it's a very small loaf...unlike my gigantic loaves. (My recipe is Americanized!) We made sourdough waffles with this pancake recipe for the first time when the grandkids came for a sleepover and we had them for breakfast.  They were as delicious as the sourdough pancakes.  They a...

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free.  But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one.  My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations  and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends.  We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop.  She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots.  We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.)   The views are always quite lovely, too.  Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception.  I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, t...

Nick and family have arrived back to the U.S. and it's been a whirlwind of activity.  I'm not sure why because Nick had to quarantine for 14 days for his job so he was not allowed to leave his house.  So, we came to him!  We had a family dinner at his house the day after they arrived and barbecued chicken in their backyard (along with corn-on-the-cob, baked beans and macaroni salad)  That seems to be Nick's favorite first American meal when he returns from Japan.   Their house has a very comfortable backyard, thank goodness for us, since that's where we hung out to visit with them.    The weather has been plenty warm so it's not a problem to stay outside to limit the spread of covid if any of us happen to be carriers.  Although, I will admit we did not always keep our masks on or stay six feet apart, at least with our grandkids.  It's hard to follow all the rules but we are doing our best.  In our s...