Topsy-Turvy Resolutions and Waffles In Flight

Do you keep your New Year's Resolutions?

I blush to admit, I do not. Well, rarely. So, this year, to increase the odds of my accomplishing something
successful in the New Year, my resolutions will be the opposite of what I really want to, or should, do.


So, for 2010, I resolve:

. . . to spend more time sitting at the computer and being sedentary,
until moss grows up my North side, and cheerful little woodland creatures nest in my hair.

. . . to let that protective coating of dust grow thicker at That Old House.

. . . to gain 50 pounds.

. . . to waste money.

. . . to stay at home and eat bagels and read The Sunday New York Times instead of going to church.

. . . to pro. cras. tin. ate.

. . . to gossip.

. . . to encourage invasive weeds and those giant weird sticky-bush thingies to take over the flower borders.

. . . to neglect the blog.

. . . to worry and fret and stew about things instead of leaving them in the Lord's capable hands.

There.
That about covers it, don't you think? If I follow my usual pattern,
I'll have broken all of those resolutions within a couple of months. Wish me luck!

What about you? Any fierce resolves for 2010?

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And speaking of deliciousness (and when are we not speaking of deliciousness?) our daughter Anne made the most amazing waffles on Christmas morning. She used our big Hofritz waffle iron and the Special Waffles recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, a.k.a our Kitchen Bible.

(Recipe at end of post.)

Sugar, flour, eggs, butter . . . .

Here, on our big kitchen isthmus, the assembled ingredients plus some stragglers that don't belong in the picture but were there when Annie took the shots. In the bowl of the Kitchen Aid, the whisk shows traces of beaten egg white; this is not a waffle you whip up in minutes from a mix, it is the real deal.

Batter:

Waffle iron -- I won it in a raffle -- it makes 4 at once:

You can tell this was a project I was not involved in,

or the electrical appliance would not have been right next to the sink.

Prepared waffles, waiting in the warm oven:

And the lighter-than-air result:

If you held one of these waffles in your hand, you could not detect its weight; they nearly flew, that's how light they were. And crispy. And tender. All the wonderful things the perfect breakfast waffle is supposed to be, and so often is not.

Plus, since they were so light, they had no calories.
That is my story, and I am sticking to it, just as those nonexistent calories will stick to me.

Thanks to my daughter Annie, who made these amazing waffles and took such beautiful pictures of them,
and to my daughter Alida who watched her sister and cheered her on, and ate her share of the deliciousness.

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Tomorrow, Saturday, we plan on trekking out to Long Island to our family beach house, to check on conditions and make sure the ice-eater is merrily gobbling the ice by the dock pilings. You may not be familiar with Long Island, so here's a map:

We live about an inch-and-a-half to the left of this map, in New Jersey, and our beach house is way the heck out on the North Fork of the Island. See that second little spit of land that hangs down into Peconic Bay to the left of Shelter Island, like the uvula that hangs down at the back of your throat? (Right near the Wineries designation.) That's Hog Neck; that's where we are headed. We'll get some pictures of a wintry farm and beach landscape!

Happy New Year to ALL! -- Cass

Special Waffles, adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

• 2 cups flour
• 3 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 3/4 C milk
• 4 T butter, melted
• 3 T sugar

Warm up the waffle iron. Put flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and combine. Beat the egg yolks, separately, with a whisk and add the milk and melted butter. Combine with the dry ingredients, and mix until smooth. Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff but not dry. Slowly add the sugar to the whites, beating constantly. Mix 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then fold in remaining egg whites carefully. Put 1/2 cup (or appropriate amount) of waffle batter in the hot iron, and bake. Don't overfill the iron, or the waffle will squish out the sides and make a dismal mess and you will curse the day you decided to make Special Waffles.