Weekend in Reveiw Vol.#3- Sleepover at Vozinha's

Lately, I always find myself reminiscing about the "good ole days", when I was young enough- not to have any "real" problems or responsibilities. Of course those days are long gone, however it's nice to think back on them every now and again, to remember where we came from and what made us the people we are today. Some of my fondest childhood memories are the sleepovers I had at my Vozinha & Vovo's house (which means grandmother & grandfather in Cape Verdean creole). Sometimes I would sleepover my grandparent's house alone and other times I would be with my cousins, which was a real treat (considering they all lived an hour from us)! There was always plenty of love, laughs and good food to go around at the sleepovers. Oh how I miss those days!

Now that I am a young woman, I'm still lucky enough to have Vozinha in my life. She's 80 years old and still kicking! Vozinha is quite the feisty one (which is why she has outlived the rest of my grandparents), not to mention she's like super woman! I'm so grateful to still have her in my life. And lets just say that now-a-days when I have a chance to sleepover there, it's so much more special, because it makes me feel like a kid again, like I'm reliving my younger years all over again. This weekend my cousin Lanita and I slept there one night and she brought her new little baby, Audrianna for quality time with Vozinha (her great-grandmother). It was 3 generations having a sleepover- something you don't hear of everyday, and most certainly doesn't happen very often. Here are some images I captured with my phone while we were all together;

Isn't she the cutest baby ever? I mean how can you resist that face! *smile*

As for the rest of my weekend- it was pretty low key. I finished working on a scrapbook/guestbook for the Bat Mitzvah event I posted about here, which I will share with you soon. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and was able to spend some quality time with family too...

That's it for now, be back soon! xo

Photos taken by; Wahkuna

Breakfast Heaven

Blueberry pancakes with blueberry compote, a sprinkle of confectioners sugar &

a side of maple butter.

Happy Monday!!

Hopefully everyone is rested from a relaxing weekend and ready to hit the grind again! I had a pretty good weekend, was able to clean the whole apartment and the hubby helped without me even asking, which is ALWAYS a plus (I love him for that)! I was also able to clean and organize my craft space a little, and I'm loving it, makes me want to create all day and all night (if only time would allow!). I will have pictures to follow shortly.

We had a couple visitors this weekend, my husband's sister and cousin, which was a nice welcome. They are always a pleasure and easy to please so I had already decided I wanted to try making the famous blueberry pancakes as served at the Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant (in the lower east side of Manhattan). Chris and I heard about it while watching Bobby Flay's Throwdown on the Food Network on day, we were impressed and wanted to try them out for ourselves and after an hour and 1/2 wait one Sunday afternoon we both came to the conclusion that it was well worth it!  I searched online for the recipe, thinking that I probably wouldn't find it, but luckily I came across a blog which features all things baked by Hilary and she actually had the recipe! I couldn't believe it! Now, the pancake recipe I believe is from her own personal archive, but the recipe for the blueberry compote and maple butter (the two most secret ingredients) were all there! I was so excited, I went straight to the grocery story after work on Friday and bought all the necessary ingredients that I didn't already have. It was my mission to make these delicious blueberry pancakes and I sure did!

Of course I got up a little later than planned on Saturday morning, but nonetheless, I started right away on the recipe. With a little help from Mr. Man, breakfast was a big success! We included a side of scrambled eggs with cheese and some Portuguese linguica (aka-sausage). I will definitely have to make them again soon, especially since I had to buy buttermilk for the first time EVER and the store didn't sell it in a small container, of course so there's plenty more of that! Anyway, enough ranting, I wanted to share this recipe with all of you (see below) and please be sure to check out Hilary's blog, she has many more goodies to share, I know I will be visiting again!


Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries


Serves 3-4. This is adapted from Let Her Bake Cake's basic pancake recipe.

2 eggs

220 ml (1 scant cup) buttermilk

5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

190g (scant 1 1/3 cups) plain or all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup blueberries

Separate the eggs so that the yolks go into a large bowl and the whites go into the bowl of a stand mixer or a bowl large enough to fit a hand held electric mixer.

Add the buttermilk and melted butter to the yolks in the bowl and beat together. In another bowl mix together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

With a stand mixer or electric mixer, whip the egg whites to hold soft peaks.

Now pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and stir lightly until just combined. Some lumps are OK. Fold in the egg whites until just combined. It's OK if some of the whites aren't fully incorporated.

Rub a non-stick frying pan with a bit of butter and heat over medium-high heat. Add batter to pan to make whatever size pancake you want (I like small ones made with a heaping tablespoon of batter - my pan fits about 5 of these at a time). Pancakes are ready to flip once a few bubbles appear on the surface and and the tops are starting to go dull. Just before they are ready to flip, sprinkle a few blueberries on top of each pancake. Flip and cook another minute or two.

If you wish you can keep the pancakes warm in a very low oven while you cook the remaining batter.


Blueberry Compote

Serves 3-4.

1 cup blueberries (preferably wild blueberries, if available)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 strip lemon peel

1/4 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer very gently until mixture is thickened, about 10-12 minutes. Stir occasionally during cooking time. Spoon compote over pancakes while still warm.


Maple Butter

Serves 3-4. You can adjust the amount of maple syrup to make it more or less pronounced, depending on your tastes.

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup maple syrup

In a small saucepan, melt together butter and maple syrup over low heat until melted. Serve immediately over pancakes.