It certainly doesn't feel like Spring!

Brr! It was downright chilly this morning. Certainly not very Spring-y.

Last night we made Corn and Scallion Griddlecakes for dinner. We topped them with fried eggs, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. And we had a side of sauteed mushrooms and jalapenos. It was very yummy though there were some setbacks to the cooking process int he beginning. The nonstick of the skillet is VERY important.


Then we watched The Kingdom at Dan's for movie night. The general consensus was that we learned a lot about Saudi Arabia that we didn't know before, the acting was generally good (Jennifer Garner) to very good (Ashraf Barhom) but the casting was poor in some places (Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman), Jeremy Piven needs to stay out of dramatic roles, and apparently FBI forensic investigators and bomb experts are incredibly well trained in on-the-ground gun combat as well as hand-to-hand combat. It is not as bad-ass as some people thought it would be. Though it has at least a couple of pretty bad-ass scenes. I would say it is worth seeing, but maybe not putting at the top of your queues. And we had zeppole from Termini Bros. in honor of St. Joseph's Day! We had traditional vanilla custard ones and also ricotta cheese and chocolate chips ones, like a cannoli cream puff! The cheese ones were delish! I don't really like custard so I stuck with those.

I remembered to take a pic of the leftover Cajun-Pecan Crusted Oven-Fried Chicken. So here you go.




In other news, my parent signed the sales papers today for their new boat, a 1987 42' Passport Cutter in Annapolis. Here is a pick from the haul from the survey last week. You can see other pics and info here. So as long as nothing goes wrong between now and the closing, they will very shortly be owners of 2 boats. So if you or anyone you know is in the market for a 34' Catalina in RI, let me know!



Corn and Scallion Griddlecakes from EatingWell July/August 1997 (makes 20-24 3" griddlecakes)

1 large egg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 teaspoons canola oil, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups cooked corn kernels (from 2-3 ears) (I used thawed Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn)
6 scallions, finely chopped
1/2 cup grated smoked Cheddar cheese (I would add a little more)
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (We added a little [~2 tsp] more when we couldn't flip them)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup tomato salsa
6 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 200°F.
2. Whisk egg, buttermilk, 2 teaspoons oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Stir in corn, scallions, cheese and jalapeño.
3. Whisk cornmeal, flour, baking powder and baking soda in another bowl; stir into wet ingredients.
4. Brush remaining 1 teaspoon oil evenly over a large nonstick (VERY important) skillet; heat over medium heat. (We used a Le Creuset skillet, which was not nonstick enough so by the time the griddlecake cooked enough to flip, it was burned to the pan. First we added a little more flour to the batter. That didnt work. So we switched to our nonstick skillet and everything was fine.) Use about 3 tablespoons of batter for each griddlecake. Working in batches, spoon batter into hot skillet and spread into 3-inch rounds. Cook until lightly browned on the bottom and set around the edges, about 2 minutes. Turn the cakes with a spatula and cook until lightly browned on the other side, 1 to 2 minutes more.
5. Transfer griddlecakes to an ovenproof platter, cover loosely with foil and keep warm in the oven until all of the batter is cooked. Serve hot with salsa and sour cream.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 269 calories; 10 g fat (4 g sat, 4 g mono); 53 mg cholesterol; 37 g carbohydrate; 10 g protein; 4 g fiber; 826 mg sodium; 412 mg potassium. Nutrition bonus: Calcium (21% daily value), Vitamin A (17% dv). 2 1/2 Carbohydrate Servings