Makin' Banana Pancakes

Snow on the ground this morning meant one thing in this house: pancakes for breakfast. Matt's usually the weekend breakfast cook around here, so he whipped up a batch of fluffy 'cakes using our usual Joy of Cooking recipe.

When we first got together Matt used to always sing the Jack Johnson "Makin' Banana Pancakes" song to me, so now every time he makes pancakes we both find ourselves singing the song. When I was humming it this morning, I decided we actually should put bananas in our pancakes, so while the pancakes were cooking he topped them off with sliced bananas and chopped walnuts. Vermont maple syrup was drizzled on top too, of course.

Delicious Sunday breakfast. I could've eaten a tall stack, but limited myself to two. Portion control is tough with banana pancakes!

I had to get some paperwork done this morning, so sipped on my coffee in the living room while filling everything out. Riker has figured out what a coffee cup is and now wants to "drink" out of the mugs with us. ;-)

I had a really productive morning and crossed a bunch off my to-do list, which felt great. After a lunch of veggie soup, Matt and I decided to get out of the house for a bit and go see our friends Chris and Vanessa. Chris was tiling their kitchen floor, so while Matt helped him out, Vanessa and I chatted on the porch and watched Riker play.

After a while Vanessa offered to take us over to our beach towns of Seaside and Ortley so we could see what the towns looked like post-Sandy. We still haven't been over the bridge to the island since, even after all this time, only residents and authorized workers are allowed. Vanessa still has her old Seaside ID so was able to take us across. I was truly horrified at what we saw.

Although it's been more than 2 months since the hurricane hit, the small towns look like war zones. Where there were once houses, there are now only empty foundations. Even whole streets are missing, and big sand dunes stand in their place.

I had seen plenty of pictures of the towns, but seeing them with my own eyes made it less surreal and more harrowing. My heart broke all over again.

Vanessa took us to her dad's house as well, which is still standing, but completely gone inside. We just attended her wedding there last summer, so it was heartbreaking to see the beautiful home destroyed.

Once everyone is able to start rebuilding, I want to help out in some way. I hope that by next summer, our beaches are beautiful again and all the residents have their homes back.

Dinner

We arrived back home around 5:30 to catch the second half of the Redskins game and eat some dinner. I found a recipe for Hawaiian Curry in my Eat Clean cookbook that I've been dying to try. It didn't disappoint!

I made a big batch filled with sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, tofu, pineapple, raisins and light coconut milk. The best part of the curry was the toppings: sliced bananas, toasted coconut and chopped walnuts. The bananas added an unexpected sweetness.

I just snagged the very last Andes Mint from the holiday candy dish (sad face) for a simple dessert and am now curled up on the couch ready to watch another episode of Sons of Anarchy. Totally addicted.

Have a good night!