Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows...

I love spring. I'm sure you picked up on it with my recent choice of recipes. I love that I can walk to work in the morning wearing shorts. I love that the trees are in bloom and the air smells like freshly mowed lawns. I love that we leave our windows open well into the night and that the sun is still warm after 5pm. And I love the color of food. I hear lemons are in season year round, but they just seem most appropriate in the spring. Hence all the lemon recipes. And if you haven't had enough, here is one more! This one has been by far my favorite. These pancakes are the most wonderful, perfect thing in the world. They are light and full of lemon flavor and when paired with the strawberry puree they are tangy and sweet to boot. I first heard of lemon pancakes on Tara Weaver's blog Tea and Cookies when she posted about Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. They looked fun and tasty and so a few months later I gave it a try, with a few twists of my own. Enjoy spring, enjoy these pancakes and enjoy life!


Fluffy Lemon Pancakes
1 C. all-purpose flour
1/8 C. powdered sugar
1/2  tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 C. milk
1/2 C. Sour Cream
1 egg
1 Tbs. Softened butter
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1-2 Tbs. freshly grated lemon peel depending on how lemony you want it to be
Combine flour, powdered sugar, baking soda and baking powder in large bowl. Combine all remaining pancake ingredients in small bowl; mix until smooth. Stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until well mixed.Heat lightly greased griddle or frying pan. For each pancake, spoon 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle; spread to form 4-inch circle.Cook until bubbles form on top.Turn pancakes; continue cooking until very light brown. Keep warm.Repeat with remaining batter.


                                                                                    Strawberry Puree
2 cups fresh strawberries, stems and leaves removed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs. fresh squeezed lemon juice
Blend strawberries, lemon juice and powdered sugar in blender until smooth. Puree should be medium thin and easy to pour. You can adjust sweetness to sourness by adding more lemon or more sugar. If you need to thin out the puree add a few Tbs water. Pour puree on pancakes and go outside to eat. 

And now for more of that crazy dragon story...

Part III: That Chapter When I Learn About Myself

Part III: That Chapter When I Learn About Myself

I fainted. We can pretend it was because it was so dang hot or maybe because I still had not eaten anything all day. In any case I passed out cold because I woke up to one of the baby dragons licking my arm. It’s slimy tongue left brown residue on my arm and I wiped it off on my shorts. I stared at the baby dragon and then back at Glaceau who was collecting water in a gourd. He handed me the water and commanded me to drink it. I did so and felt better immediately.

“As gross as this water looks, it actually tastes pretty good”

“Oh good, that means that you are acclimating to this world, your skills will return sooner this way”

“Dang it. I thought you were kidding about the alternate reality thing. Ok you better explain this to me”

“I was. You fainted.”

“Yes, thank you for pointing that out…”

“Sorry, Im not used to being sensitive. The Cynthia I am used to is a little more… How do I say this? Tough. But maybe that’s not an accurate description…”

I glared at him. Great, so my alternate self was cooler than me.

“Ok," Glaceau began, "Earth is a world. You live on that world with many billions of people. Porva is another world, my world. For every person here in Porva there is a match on Earth. They are connected body and mind. In a way the worlds are but shadows of eachother, and so the connections between people are dulled, muffled and hazy. Let me give you an example. You broke your thumb a few months ago, did you not?”

“Yes… But how did you know that? And why does it matter?”

“Because Cynthia here had a stiff thumb for a few days that made it difficult for her to train her dragons. One more example, were you in great pain perhaps 2 weeks ago?”

I thought back to 2 weeks from today, “Yes, I had the worst cramps ever, my back was killing me and being PMS just made everything worse”

“Cynthia was thrown into a wall by one of her adolescent dragons during training. It was a nasty bit of work getting her up and running again. She had barely healed by the time she was taken last week. I bet quite a few of your unexplained mood swings or physical pains can be explained by Cynthia’s activities here. Of course now that you are in this world your connection is not paralleled. Pity, it might have made rescue a little more feasible…"

  “In any case,” he continued “Cynthia (from this world) has been captured and without her our cause will perish. That is why I retrieved you from your world. You have the same fundamental qualities, personality, genetic makeup and skills, no matter how deep they appear to be buried…”

“So what am I supposed to do? I don’t know anything about this world, I don’t “remember” anything about dragons yet and I am still not sure if I believe you”

Glaceau got very serious and looked at me with almost pleading eyes.

“Cynthia- Martwa, this land, needs you, these baby dragons need you, I need you and most of all you need yourself. You need to train and protect these baby dragons until they are strong enough to protect themselves. Your presence will lift and encourage the rest of our warriors and in the mean time we have a team working to free your alternate self”

"Now I do not have the right to keep you here. In fact, you must be back in your world within 2 moon cycles. But I ask you to stay and help us. As soon as Cynthia is rescued, or we win this war, I promise I will send you home"

"So what will it be?"

I hesitated. If this was all a dream I had nothing to lose. It would just be another awesome crazy story to tell Sara when I woke up. If it wasn't a dream... Then I was crazy. And as long as I'm crazy I might as well play with some baby dragons. 

"Ok. I'm in"