Finding My Place

I'm finally doing it - going to college! I've had to put this off for too many years, and now that I'm finally feeling good and up to doing things, I can actually consider driving to and taking classes.

Throughout the years, I've been playing with wanting to do various programs and different colleges, but I've never felt good enough to do much of anything or that they weren't for me. Maybe this time was for really pinpointing what I'm supposed to do and where God wants me to be, where I'm going to attend school, what I want to study, etc. 

This past summer has really shown me where I can thrive - in the dirt. :P I was looking at the Urban Agriculture program at a local community college for a little while, but I just tucked it into the back of my mind for another day. Then I got the job at the farm store down the road from my house. My favorite part of the job is all the work I get to do in the greenhouse(s). Yes, it's stuffy and humid and hot, but I get to work with plants and get my hands dirty. I've unknowingly become the 'plant girl' since day one, and if neither of my bosses are around to answer questions, customers are directed to me. Now, I am FAR from being the all-knowing horticulturalist, but if you have questions, I just might be able to answer them (or look them up on the internet). Where I'm supposed to do has become more and more clear to me throughout the summer -  it's time to start the farming program. 

So I applied to the college, took the placement test (which landed me exactly where I needed to be for the program), and registered for classes. The best part so far in all of this was ordering books, rather, getting all the books. For six credits this feels like a lot of books.  

But they look amazing! (Yes, I've quickly read through all of them already). 

Needless to say, I'm really excited about all of this. :) 

This has all has felt rather like Rapunzel getting out of her tower for the first time, but instead of a super-imposing 'parent' keeping me back, it's been my health. If I start singing 'That's When My Life Begins,' you now know why. :P 

Until next time!

SG

Frenchman's Pancakes

 At work, I've been meeting people from all over the world. I've met folks from Tasmania, Australia, England, Scotland, India, Pakistan, China, South Korea, France, Germany, etc, etc, etc... You get the point. ;) If they're visiting the states, you introduce them to the wonderful local specialties (aka - berries) If they're immigrants, it's always fun to hear what they do with the fresh produce to recreate the cuisine from their country. 

One Frenchman picked a bucketful of berries to make special pancakes. As he described them, I began to feel hungry even though I had just eaten lunch. Lemon peel, blueberries, and lavender honey. Apparently we don't have real lavender honey in the states though. In France, there are hills upon hills of lavender with bee hives in the fields. Over here, the closest thing we have it lavender infused honey. Oh well. After practically drooling over the thought of these pancakes, I knew that I had to try to make my own. Thankfully it was lavender season still, so I was able to get some of our lavender infused honey from the lavender farm down the road before they closed for the season. But life happened and I wasn't able to get around to making these special pancakes until today. 

All you have to do is make a basic pancake recipe (I used Elana Amderstam's with minor alterations), add the zest of one lemon, some lemon extract to taste, and voila! You have lemon pancakes. When you start cooking them up, you toss on a few blueberries before flipping them over. It's not my sort of cooking until the smoke detector goes off in the laundry room. Guess what started blaring in the middle of my cooking session. 

Top it all off with a pat of butter and a drizzle of lavender honey. At least, the American equivalent of it. ;) 

One thing I learned in all of this... I'm not a very good food photographer. :P 

But it tasted :really: good, and that is all that matters. 

Until next time!

SG