Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes (...not ground beef)

If you woke up in Nashville this morning, you tugged at your sheets and wrestled with the idea that you could be cold. Then, you turned off the a/c for the first time in three months and enjoyed the hush sound of tires on wet pavement, maybe you were even lucky enough to notice the trains.

If you were me, you would have. You also would have moseyed into the kitchen, started the coffee, thought about how good cinnamon sounded, how lucky you are, and turned on Sea Change.

Ok, as much as these may look like pancakes with ground beef on top of them, I swear, it's cinnamon streusel, and it was killer. Sorry for the one ultra crappy picture post, but there were more important things going on today than stressing out over photos.

Cinnamon Streusel

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar*

6 Tbl cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

1 tsp cinnamon

*I used dark brown sugar, but light would be fine too, I'm sure. Just make sure it's not too hard. If brown sugar is giving you trouble, put it in the microwave for ten seconds and it should soften considerably.

Mash all of these ingredients together with a fork or by hand. My brown sugar was pretty hard and I didn't use my own microwave trick, so I had to eventually just mash it by hand. This is fine, but I did have to put it in the freezer for a few minutes halfway through so that it would crumble instead of clump. (The heat from my hands started softening the butter too much, if you weren't following.)

I just used store bought "heart healthy" pancake mix and added a tsp. of vanilla (the good kind, from Mexico) to add a nice light flavor to the cakes. All you should need in this case is one egg and 1 1/4 cup milk (soy is fine).

Please enjoy, wear your wellies.

-E

Food Styling, Attempt #1

Ok, so I'm beginning to feel like I have settled back into the ways of America. As boring and sensory depriving (nothing older than 300 years I mean COME ON!) as it can be, it is home. My stove is here, and as old and decrepit as that is, I still get a kick out of it. I would like to think of today's brunch as an Italian style egg mcmuffin. Maybe I should send it over since McDonald's in Rome had no breakfast... just like every other place in Italy. Seriously, the one thing Italians do not know how to enjoy to the full extent is breakfast. Everything else (and I do mean everything) made up for it though.

Italian Egg McMuffin

1 large egg

1 English muffin

1 Tbl. Olive Oil

1 slice ripe tomato ( I think they would be great roasted, I will try that next time)

Parmesan to taste ( I only used about a teaspoon, maybe a little more)

Black pepper to taste

Parsley for garnish

Small splash of Balsamic Vinaigrette

Salt optional (did not use)

Heat the olive oil over medium in a flat bottomed frying pan. Place two halves of the English muffin in the toaster (or use whatever toasting method you prefer) so they will be ready by the time the egg is cooked. You may butter them if you like. If you feel confident enough to ignore the egg for a second go ahead and slice the tomato. Fry the egg until over easy or medium and transfer to plate with paper towel to drain oil. Assemble the sandwich with the egg on the bottom, followed by the tomato, parm & parsley, balsamic, and black pepper.