Cookies and pancakes

It has been a baking weekend. I love it. It has been so fun. My friend Matthew Ray is moving to Minneapolis. He is a pharmacist for Albertsons and took a position in the great city as district manager of the pharmacies there. There is not Albertsons in MN but there are other parts of the intricate mergers and sister companies. Last night we had a goodbye party. It was a lot of fun. All the Pharmacists and techs that worked at Matt's store as well as some interns and the girls from Starbucks--inside Albertsons came and our significant others. It is weird that I actually mean significant others. One tech is male and brought his fiancee Paul. Yup. Dan and I were the only people who did not drink at the party but everyone made us feel part of the party. It was a great group of people. We had chicken and veggie kabobs with saffron rice, pasta salad, chips and fresh salsa, oreos, chocolate zucchini cake and ice cream. I made the oreos...I am sure you figured that out. No one at this party Dan included had never partaken of a homemade oreo. They were a hit and quickly consumed. I love it when simple foods make everyone so happy!

As you know one of my patients is a culinary instructor in Portland. Her blog linked me to another one titled Wives with Knives. On this blog I found a recipe for Pear Pancake. I am a huge breakfast fan and although I do not love pears I tired the recipe anyway. It was sounded too tempting. My picture is not as elegant as the one on Wives with Knives but you get the idea. You caramelize Anise seeds (gives it a licorice flavor) in a cast iron pan then add pears, cook a bit to brown (mine are a little too done--oops) then add an egg mixture, cook for 5 minutes and then bake for 15. Turn it upside down and serve with syrup and dust with powdered sugar. My only complaint is that the egg mixture instructed me to add 1/2 cup sugar into the egg whites. I think it is too sweet. I like to add syrup to my pancakes therefore usually omit the sugar in all pancake recipes I use frequently. When I make this again I will decrease the sugar and maybe even omit it....with the sweet from the pears it was just too much. But that is me. If you have a few minutes look at the Wives with Knives blog and look to the left. There is a column listing all the previous posts in specific categories. I like the cake one...and the chocolate one and the peach one and....