Raindrops on Roses

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things"


Perhaps you recognize this verse from the movie, The Sound of Music. I love these beautiful words, but I, like my family, don't really feel afraid of storms. As one of my favorite books, A Wrinkle in Time,  states, "Wild nights are my glory!" and I most certainly agree.


Tonight, I was working on a homework assignment when Sadie, Ella, and Abe came in. You see, my room has become the headquarters for al of the children's meetings, and although I'm proud of it, at the moment I was quizzical and slightly annoyed. Then they pointed out the storm. 


It was a big one, with great gales of wind and water sloshing everywhere. In our genes, there is a love for storms, so we got out our stuffed animals and started making camp for them in the open window sills. 

Next, as a result of the open windows, we got cold so we piled into my wonderful, queen, bed. Sadie and I wrote and Ella and Abe chatted through their stuffed animals.

As I said before, we got cold, and after the blankets did nothing, we went to go get a help that we could trust... hot cocoa! We sipped our hot cocoa, chatted, and basically thought about the Sound of Music, and what we used to do when we drank hot cocoa.


What can I say? I've already said it in this post and in another post: bad weather = need for comfort. Although I love storms, one of the reasons I love them is because of the ways I attempt to get comfort through them. As I said in an earlier post called Comfort Food, sad times call for comfort food- which for us depends on what exactly seems comforting at the moment.


Tonight for dinner we're having 

• Tortellini Soup
•  Good Old American Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
• Hot coco!

I know... it's nothing fancy, but for a rainy night... it'll do. 

Altogether, this meal was a hit for our family, and we are all thoroughly comforted and full!

Pannenkoeken Recipe

Hello! This is Mia Susan posting to you live from the Netherlands. The Netherlands has had a great influence on my whole famiy: the way people conserve energy, the way the Dutch  conserve space, and so forth. However, today I must say that food is the main topic.

Firstly, I must state the difference between pancakes and pannenkoeken (pan-uh-koke-uh.) Pancakes are a form of flat cake that are sweet, cakey, and are usually served with butter and syrup. But pannenkoeken are similar to Swedish pancakes and crepes in the way that they are large, flat, and served with stroep. (strope) Stroep is Dutch for syrup in the way that pannenkoeken is Dutch for pancakes, but, as with pannenkoeken, there is a critical difference.

For one thing, stroep is much thicker, sweeter, and a drizzle is more that enough for an extra sweet serving. If an American put the normal  amount of syrup for them in stroep on pannenkoeken, well, after all their teeth decayed, it wouldn't  be pretty.

Recently, my family found the most wonderful pannenkoeken recipe ever, and we like to serve it with Nutella, powdered suger, stroep, and the occasional slagroom (slog-room) or whipped cream.

You will need :

•  A non-stick pan the size of your desired pannenkoek (makes 1 large/ 2 medium/ 4 small)
• 1 cup flour
• salt
• 2 large eggs or 3 medium eggs
• 1 cup milk 
• at least 1/4 cup butter or margarine

Put the flour and salt in a bowl, make a well in the middle and add melt the beaten eggs. Mix into a smooth batter. Add the rest of the milk. Melt half the butter in a heavy skillet. Pour the batter into it. Turn the pancakes frequently, each time add some butter. They should become golden brown and crisp at the sides.

Enjoy!




These pannenkoeken have sustained us through some pretty hard times, and I know they'll do the same for you! I like to add a ton of powdered sugar, Nutella, and a drizzle of stroep, and then I like to roll it up, put lots more stroep on the top and cut it up! Now that's my kind of taco :~)


(No credit to me!!!!! All credit must go to our genius cookbook, Dutch Cooking by Helen A. M. Halverhout!)

I Bake! Again

Today I came home from school and I immediately wanted to bake. My mom was working, Ella and Abe were busy, and Sadie was at tennis: this was one of the rare times in my life that was ideal for baking. I got permission from my mom and soon I was looking through every cookbook I own, trying to find a recipe that was quick, easy, and most importantly, delicious. As I have done many times before, I fell to using one of my favorite cookbooks, The Big Book of Cupcakes, which my dear friend Anna gave me for my birthday. I looked through it, trying to find a recipe without frosting that tasted good and that was super quick. I quickly found the perfect recipe, Fudgie Babies, and I can tell you that they turned out very well.

I started by melting the chocolate and the butter in the microwave. 

• Confession #1: Instead of putting the chocolate and butter in a bowl and putting the bowl over a pot of boiling water to melt it, I simply melted it in the microwave.
• Confession #2: I used 3/4 cups of chocolate chips instead of chocolate baking squares

While I let this cool, in as large mixing bowl I mixed flour, sugar, and eggs together. 

I sadly say goodbye to to the cleanliness of this white bowl as I prepare to start mixing.

Then I added the chocolate mixture to the flour-egg-sugar mixture.

I made lots of mistakes,

As you can see, I accidentally mixed a little too energetically.

When I was pouring the chocolate mixture into the flour-egg-sugar mixture, I accidentally dropped the chocolate mixture into the other ingredients.

I made lots of other mistakes, (I didn't even bother to take a picture of my sleeve) but they got into the oven without any serious mishap,

And soon they were out of the oven, and in my mouth!

Tonight, our dinner was provide by my mom's dear friend who has been praying for us and who got us flowers along with dinner. We all are now enjoying our delicious meal!

Fudgy Baby Cakes

From: The Big Book of Cupcakes Cookbook

You will need:

• 6 (1-oz.) semisweet chocolate baking squares 
• 1 cup butter
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose soft-wheat flour
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• paper baking cups
• vegetable cooking spray
• powdered sugar

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Pour water to a depth of 1 inch into the bottom of a double boiler over medium heat; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer; place chocolate and butter on top of double boiler over simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 to 6 minutes or until melted. Remove mixture from heat, and cool ten minutes. 

3. Whisk together sugar, flour, and eggs in a large bowl; add chocolate mixture, stirring until combined. Stir in vanilla and salt.

4. Place paper baking cups in 2 (12 cups) muffin pans, and coat with cooking spray; spoon batter into cups, filling 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Be careful not to over bake; they should be gooey. (They will crack and sink in the middle;  this is normal). Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely.
6. Sift powdered sugar over the top of each  cupcake.

Tips: Please Read

• If you don't have chocolate baking squares, just use 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips. Mine turned out fine.
• For #2 , it is easier to simply melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan or in your microwave. 

Enjoy them!

-Mia Susan