Author: fairfaxhill

favorite pancakes with blueberry sauce

It’s Pancake Day, today. I only know this because I follow Jaime Oliver and he posted lots of pancake recipes on Instagram and his website this morning. Go on, take a look, some look amazing! I’ll take any excuse to make pancakes. I loved the ones my grandmother used to make for us when we were little. For years, my sisters and I have been trying to recreate her recipe, and after many attempts, I’ve finally settled for this version, which started out as Mark Bittman’s Everyday Pancakes. The goal here is to make pancakes that look more like crêpes, although not as thin. To accomplish this, I’ve increased the amount of milk in his recipe and I also make it imperative to use salted butter, just like my grandmother did. This recipe makes enough pancakes for two people, but you can easily double it to feed a few more. Ingredients1 cup all-purpose flour1 teaspoon baking powder3/8 teaspoon salt1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled (preferably salted butter)1 egg1 ½ cups of milk (2%)more butter for …

learning to sew and loving my new pajama shorts

Today I thought I would show you what I made a few weekends ago… I am quite proud of my little project. At first glance, my new p.j. shorts may not seem all that special. Making pajama shorts must be one of the easiest projects in the world — especially if you know how to sew. I have watched several videos on YouTube, where, in a matter of minutes, people cut, sew, boom, done! A perfect pair — just like that. My original plan was to sew pajama pants, but as I prepared to cut the pattern pieces, I realized I didn’t have enough fabric. (I also didn’t think of folding the fabric in a different way; something I learned later that day.) So, I decided to make the shorts. In retrospect, I wish I had made the pants, even if they had been a tad shorter than they were supposed to be — I love this fabric. The pattern I used is McCall’s “EASY” M8056. It’s funny that I even own this pattern. There …