Sacrificial Pancakes Vs. Cookies

When I was a kid Grandpa Drake made the best pancakes on the planet Earth. It was the ultimate treat to wake up on a weekend morning at their house, especially in the winter, and have those hot steamy pancakes before going to church with Grandma. They were the best pancakes ever, and after he died I spent a good amount of time trying to recreate them.

Christa and I spent a lot of Saturdays or Sundays at Grandmas, making Aunt Jemima pancake mix, or Log Cabin pancake mix, always thinking our pancakes were quite tasty but never quite making the grade of "Grandpas" pancakes.

I always wondered if it was just the magic of it being GRANDPA that made them that caused them to be so good, but then one day I saw this.

OH.

Yeah.

There it is.

And forever after I had the magic within me as well to make pancakes.

I'm pretty good at it. I disagree with Alton Brown (sorry dude) and don't reduce the amount of butter in my pan because butter crispy goodness around the edges is part of what makes my pancakes AMAZING.  I've made a lot of pancakes over my 47 years, these days I usually make them for my family on a weekend or holiday, because some how actually making a proper breakfast has become a special event in this world but that's a whole other subject. (Not nother subject. Nother is not word.)

What I was thinking about this morning was this. When I bake cookies, cookies are this science of chemistry that you simply follow the instructions and they turn out properly. Baking is SCIENCE. Baking always works out if you do it all exactly as it says to do. (Aside - providing the recipe provides all the info you need, and you actually DID it all as it said no don't whine to me, you probably didn't did you? Admit it. You skipped stuff. You didn't combine wet and dry apart form one another did you?) Anyway, cooking usually looks like this at my house. It's a fun magical time of us combining things and delicious wonder occurs.

Then there's the matter at hand from this morning, PANCAKES.

What's the deal with pancakes that no matter how hard I try, how diligent I am at following the instructions there is always ONE sacrificial pancake?

I try to wait out to make sure it's been long enough to flip. I make sure the pan is properly hot before I drop batter in. I do everything I would do for every SUBSEQUENT PANCAKE  yet each and every time, in my entire pancake making existence, ONE PANCAKE GOES TO THE PANCAKE GODS.

Also, don't google PANCAKE GODS. Weird stuff shows up.

So every time I make pancakes, I try to save that first pancake. I do everything I can imagine but every time, every single farking time, the pancakes gods take their sacrifice. I must know that the first pancake will go awry somewhere in my heart, because I normally make them two at a time but that first one goes in solo. I've surrendered before I start I guess.

I guess I'm just glad there are no cookie gods, I would lose my mind if I lost a dozen cookies every single time I bake.

There you see the sacrificial pancake on the alter, surrounded by butter. We barely knew thee.
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Sacrificial Pancakes Vs. Cookies

When I was a kid Grandpa Drake made the best pancakes on the planet Earth. It was the ultimate treat to wake up on a weekend morning at their house, especially in the winter, and have those hot steamy pancakes before going to church with Grandma. They were the best pancakes ever, and after he died I spent a good amount of time trying to recreate them.

Christa and I spent a lot of Saturdays or Sundays at Grandmas, making Aunt Jemima pancake mix, or Log Cabin pancake mix, always thinking our pancakes were quite tasty but never quite making the grade of "Grandpas" pancakes.

I always wondered if it was just the magic of it being GRANDPA that made them that caused them to be so good, but then one day I saw this.

OH.

Yeah.

There it is.

And forever after I had the magic within me as well to make pancakes.

I'm pretty good at it. I disagree with Alton Brown (sorry dude) and don't reduce the amount of butter in my pan because butter crispy goodness around the edges is part of what makes my pancakes AMAZING.  I've made a lot of pancakes over my 47 years, these days I usually make them for my family on a weekend or holiday, because some how actually making a proper breakfast has become a special event in this world but that's a whole other subject. (Not nother subject. Nother is not word.)

What I was thinking about this morning was this. When I bake cookies, cookies are this science of chemistry that you simply follow the instructions and they turn out properly. Baking is SCIENCE. Baking always works out if you do it all exactly as it says to do. (Aside - providing the recipe provides all the info you need, and you actually DID it all as it said no don't whine to me, you probably didn't did you? Admit it. You skipped stuff. You didn't combine wet and dry apart form one another did you?) Anyway, cooking usually looks like this at my house. It's a fun magical time of us combining things and delicious wonder occurs.

Then there's the matter at hand from this morning, PANCAKES.

What's the deal with pancakes that no matter how hard I try, how diligent I am at following the instructions there is always ONE sacrificial pancake?

I try to wait out to make sure it's been long enough to flip. I make sure the pan is properly hot before I drop batter in. I do everything I would do for every SUBSEQUENT PANCAKE  yet each and every time, in my entire pancake making existence, ONE PANCAKE GOES TO THE PANCAKE GODS.

Also, don't google PANCAKE GODS. Weird stuff shows up.

So every time I make pancakes, I try to save that first pancake. I do everything I can imagine but every time, every single farking time, the pancakes gods take their sacrifice. I must know that the first pancake will go awry somewhere in my heart, because I normally make them two at a time but that first one goes in solo. I've surrendered before I start I guess.

I guess I'm just glad there are no cookie gods, I would lose my mind if I lost a dozen cookies every single time I bake.

There you see the sacrificial pancake on the alter, surrounded by butter. We barely knew thee.
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An Homage to My Middle School Home Ec Teachers

My mom majored in Home Economics Education. That means that despite the fact that I'm lazy and don't cook, she did teach me a lot of the basics of baking and the kitchen. (Make note, I can bake - I don't cook).
When I was in middle school, we had home economics teachers who seemed to think that all foods kids needed to learn to make could be made out of those biscuits in a can. You can make pretzels, or pizzas, or apple turnovers, or beef wellington (with a hamburger patty inside), you can make cinnamon sugar donuts, you can make - BISCUITS.
I feel like it was the worst sort of phoning it in, and they weren't actually teaching anyone anything except all the things you can make with canned biscuits which isn't really all that helpful as biscuits every meal doesn't seem like a good idea.
Personally I do think, though, that letting kids bake stuff is a good idea as my facebook can attest to. But it keeps them busy and they love to do it.

We made cookies on Sunday and even the twins can get in on the action when it's cut out cookies. Charlie just wanted to eat the dough mostly, but we got him to cut out a couple.

There was a lot of variation in our gingerbread men, we also had a house, and an M and an N. We also had the fabled NINJABREAD MEN. Julia made a big circle for her Daddy. Daddy needs a big cookie she declared.

Miles felt certain that he should taste test them.

For our evening meal Louis wanted to make something together so I called upon my impressive arsenal of Home Economics formal education and we made these.

BBQ Chicken that's shredded, and cheese, stuffed inside crescent rolls. Oh Home Ec teachers of Perry Township - I did you proud !
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An Homage to My Middle School Home Ec Teachers

My mom majored in Home Economics Education. That means that despite the fact that I'm lazy and don't cook, she did teach me a lot of the basics of baking and the kitchen. (Make note, I can bake - I don't cook).
When I was in middle school, we had home economics teachers who seemed to think that all foods kids needed to learn to make could be made out of those biscuits in a can. You can make pretzels, or pizzas, or apple turnovers, or beef wellington (with a hamburger patty inside), you can make cinnamon sugar donuts, you can make - BISCUITS.
I feel like it was the worst sort of phoning it in, and they weren't actually teaching anyone anything except all the things you can make with canned biscuits which isn't really all that helpful as biscuits every meal doesn't seem like a good idea.
Personally I do think, though, that letting kids bake stuff is a good idea as my facebook can attest to. But it keeps them busy and they love to do it.

We made cookies on Sunday and even the twins can get in on the action when it's cut out cookies. Charlie just wanted to eat the dough mostly, but we got him to cut out a couple.

There was a lot of variation in our gingerbread men, we also had a house, and an M and an N. We also had the fabled NINJABREAD MEN. Julia made a big circle for her Daddy. Daddy needs a big cookie she declared.

Miles felt certain that he should taste test them.

For our evening meal Louis wanted to make something together so I called upon my impressive arsenal of Home Economics formal education and we made these.

BBQ Chicken that's shredded, and cheese, stuffed inside crescent rolls. Oh Home Ec teachers of Perry Township - I did you proud !
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Cookies for You And Cookies For Me But Mostly Cookies for Mr C

I had this grand plan about making from scratch gingerbread men this holiday. I had read a few recipes online, and yeah it's a lot of work but I thought I GOT THIS. It'll be SO SPECIAL AND AWESOME and we'll make cookies and everyone will be so happy to have homemade cookies!

And then the stress of the universe dropped down on my shoulders like a ton of bricks.

I had promised cookies. Cookies were the last thing in this world I wanted to deal with.

But I was out shopping - and saw this gingerbread cookie mix marked down, and it was Betty Crocker and I thought oh god, ok find, I committed we'll just make these and I'll be a loser mom who didn't make proper home made cookies.

I felt bad. I'm not some PINTEREST MOM but omg I WANT TO BE ONE.

But as we mixed and stirred and the rolling took place, and I showed Louis how to flour the rolling pin the way my mom showed me something became clear.

They didn't care. We were making cookies. They were rolling dough and cutting out cookies and getting dough everywhere. My son kept saying THIS IS SO MUCH FUN! And Julia kept eating cookie dough.

So we made the cookies and we made the icing and we decorated them and they aren't pretty but they are ours, and they are actually delicious.

Who needs made from scratch, these are the best cookies from a mix I ever had.

I hope Santa likes them!
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Cookies for You And Cookies For Me But Mostly Cookies for Mr C

I had this grand plan about making from scratch gingerbread men this holiday. I had read a few recipes online, and yeah it's a lot of work but I thought I GOT THIS. It'll be SO SPECIAL AND AWESOME and we'll make cookies and everyone will be so happy to have homemade cookies!

And then the stress of the universe dropped down on my shoulders like a ton of bricks.

I had promised cookies. Cookies were the last thing in this world I wanted to deal with.

But I was out shopping - and saw this gingerbread cookie mix marked down, and it was Betty Crocker and I thought oh god, ok find, I committed we'll just make these and I'll be a loser mom who didn't make proper home made cookies.

I felt bad. I'm not some PINTEREST MOM but omg I WANT TO BE ONE.

But as we mixed and stirred and the rolling took place, and I showed Louis how to flour the rolling pin the way my mom showed me something became clear.

They didn't care. We were making cookies. They were rolling dough and cutting out cookies and getting dough everywhere. My son kept saying THIS IS SO MUCH FUN! And Julia kept eating cookie dough.

So we made the cookies and we made the icing and we decorated them and they aren't pretty but they are ours, and they are actually delicious.

Who needs made from scratch, these are the best cookies from a mix I ever had.

I hope Santa likes them!
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Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes

I made something off of Pinterest. I did! And it didn't turn out to be some dismal failure that is worthy of going onto some mocking tumblr created by a bitter basement dweller. It actually worked. It was good.

It was - BUFFALO CHICKEN CUPCAKES.

I started a pin category of FOOTBALL FOOD a few weeks ago because let's face it, this is some of nature's most perfect food, mostly because it goes well with beer.

So here is how you make this lovely food

Recipe - Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 pound chicken breast shredded
Franks Hot Sauce - or whatever you like for Buffalo
Blue cheese - about one cup
Pizza dough mixed (I used Jiffy brand, it's cheap and it's fine but you use what you like).

Oven Temp 400. Cook 15-18 minutes.

1. Make your dough and roll  it flat. I just use the palm of my hands. Flour your surface or you'll be pissed off like I was.

Make a rectangle on your surface.

2. Take your shredded chicken, and stir in your hot sauce to taste. At this point you can either drop in the cheese and mix it up or opt to add a layer of the cheese. I chose the latter.

The original recipe for this calls for mozzarella cheese. I put this in the same category of people who eat their hot wings with ranch dressing. NO. NO NO NO NO CRETINS. BLUE CHEESE with buffalo. But, as you like I suppose. You could use mozzarella if you had to. (Not insinuating you are ACTUALLY  a cretin if you like the mozz better but, BUFFALO! BLUE CHEESE! HEAR ME!)

3. The next step is the tricky one - if you've ever made cinnamon rolls you know what's coming - you roll it long ways - rolling the chicken and cheese mixture around in a spiral. 

3. Use liner papers or grease your muffin pan. Cut your log roll of buffalo chicken blue cheese awesomeness into about 1/2 inch tall cupcakes (I use this term loosely) and put them in the pan. I got 12 out of it. She cut her thinner in the original recipe and got more. You work out what you like. 

3. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 400. 

They were freaking delicious. How could they not be? Pizza dough, blue cheese, buffalo chicken? It's a magical combination of goodness.

And huge props and a thank you to the lady who recreated the recipe from her favorite stoney-run pizza place and blogged it. It's a cute story worth reading for sure. Plus you get her original recipe which is brilliant.

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Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes

I made something off of Pinterest. I did! And it didn't turn out to be some dismal failure that is worthy of going onto some mocking tumblr created by a bitter basement dweller. It actually worked. It was good.

It was - BUFFALO CHICKEN CUPCAKES.

I started a pin category of FOOTBALL FOOD a few weeks ago because let's face it, this is some of nature's most perfect food, mostly because it goes well with beer.

So here is how you make this lovely food

Recipe - Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 pound chicken breast shredded
Franks Hot Sauce - or whatever you like for Buffalo
Blue cheese - about one cup
Pizza dough mixed (I used Jiffy brand, it's cheap and it's fine but you use what you like).

Oven Temp 400. Cook 15-18 minutes.

1. Make your dough and roll  it flat. I just use the palm of my hands. Flour your surface or you'll be pissed off like I was.

Make a rectangle on your surface.

2. Take your shredded chicken, and stir in your hot sauce to taste. At this point you can either drop in the cheese and mix it up or opt to add a layer of the cheese. I chose the latter.

The original recipe for this calls for mozzarella cheese. I put this in the same category of people who eat their hot wings with ranch dressing. NO. NO NO NO NO CRETINS. BLUE CHEESE with buffalo. But, as you like I suppose. You could use mozzarella if you had to. (Not insinuating you are ACTUALLY  a cretin if you like the mozz better but, BUFFALO! BLUE CHEESE! HEAR ME!)

3. The next step is the tricky one - if you've ever made cinnamon rolls you know what's coming - you roll it long ways - rolling the chicken and cheese mixture around in a spiral. 

3. Use liner papers or grease your muffin pan. Cut your log roll of buffalo chicken blue cheese awesomeness into about 1/2 inch tall cupcakes (I use this term loosely) and put them in the pan. I got 12 out of it. She cut her thinner in the original recipe and got more. You work out what you like. 

3. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 400. 

They were freaking delicious. How could they not be? Pizza dough, blue cheese, buffalo chicken? It's a magical combination of goodness.

And huge props and a thank you to the lady who recreated the recipe from her favorite stoney-run pizza place and blogged it. It's a cute story worth reading for sure. Plus you get her original recipe which is brilliant.

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Define Typical

I've decided that learning how to make lots of kinds of bread is my new thing. Processed bread is just so...PROCESSED. It's normal to most of us, but when you start learning how to bake your own bread, the first thing you realize is that what you consider to be "typical" white bread, isn't typical at all. In fact, after having made a few loaves now, I'd like to throw out there that I'm not sure that any of us have any idea WHAT bread is supposed to be. We've lost the knowledge of what was once the norm.

Today I decided to learn to make English Muffin Bread. I recently picked up that Holy Grail of cookbooks at a consignment sale, the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I got the big one, not the version for girls who don't cook like I've used for 20 years.

The first thing I realized paging through the well worn BREADS section was this, there are about 1000 kinds of bread and bread products and none of them are a bit like your store bought white bread. They take work, they are hard and involve patience, and work. You have to pay attention to what is happening.

The girl and I made two loaves of English Muffin bread this morning, me doing the measuring and she doing the mixing. While the bread rose, I ran upstairs and took a quick shower, shaved my legs and hurried back downstairs. When I came back downstairs, I was overwhelmed with the undeniable fact that one or both of the twins needed a diaper. It was no joke and emergency status. 

A quick diaper change and and endless handscrubbing later it was time to bake the bread.

At that point a fight broke out in the living room, involving hair pulling and scratching. 

This is a normal Sunday. It's typical in my world. It's probably not typical in yours. It's unlikely that you have 8 year olds in diapers, or one who caterwalls like a desperate cat in heat for hours at a time. You don't have to juggle the 24/7 care of them with the balance of a two year old who is trying desperately to push her way out of the nest.

Life can be hard, take work and patience. But I think making bread has helped remind me that things worth having, ARE.

I feel more and more that there is no typical. Just variations of reality that are more or less in line with the mainstream. My typical kids are typical unto themselves, as are my special little guys. That's probably all that actually matters.

And they loved the bread. Which is obviously most important.

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Define Typical

I've decided that learning how to make lots of kinds of bread is my new thing. Processed bread is just so...PROCESSED. It's normal to most of us, but when you start learning how to bake your own bread, the first thing you realize is that what you consider to be "typical" white bread, isn't typical at all. In fact, after having made a few loaves now, I'd like to throw out there that I'm not sure that any of us have any idea WHAT bread is supposed to be. We've lost the knowledge of what was once the norm.

Today I decided to learn to make English Muffin Bread. I recently picked up that Holy Grail of cookbooks at a consignment sale, the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I got the big one, not the version for girls who don't cook like I've used for 20 years.

The first thing I realized paging through the well worn BREADS section was this, there are about 1000 kinds of bread and bread products and none of them are a bit like your store bought white bread. They take work, they are hard and involve patience, and work. You have to pay attention to what is happening.

The girl and I made two loaves of English Muffin bread this morning, me doing the measuring and she doing the mixing. While the bread rose, I ran upstairs and took a quick shower, shaved my legs and hurried back downstairs. When I came back downstairs, I was overwhelmed with the undeniable fact that one or both of the twins needed a diaper. It was no joke and emergency status. 

A quick diaper change and and endless handscrubbing later it was time to bake the bread.

At that point a fight broke out in the living room, involving hair pulling and scratching. 

This is a normal Sunday. It's typical in my world. It's probably not typical in yours. It's unlikely that you have 8 year olds in diapers, or one who caterwalls like a desperate cat in heat for hours at a time. You don't have to juggle the 24/7 care of them with the balance of a two year old who is trying desperately to push her way out of the nest.

Life can be hard, take work and patience. But I think making bread has helped remind me that things worth having, ARE.

I feel more and more that there is no typical. Just variations of reality that are more or less in line with the mainstream. My typical kids are typical unto themselves, as are my special little guys. That's probably all that actually matters.

And they loved the bread. Which is obviously most important.

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C Is For Cookie

What do you need to bake cookies.

First you need a container of 100 cookie cutters.

Then, you need a couple of boys to help.

And then after you roll out the dough and cut out the shapes, you can put them in the oven.

There is a secret about these cookies. These are the best cookies in the history of the world. They are thick and huge and wonderful. And I slather them with butter cream icing.

These are Marian Davis's sour cream cookies. Marian Davis was my grandma's neighbor. She lived two doors down. And her sour cream cookies were not a trifle. She didn't just make them randomly. No. It was for special occasions. Easter. Halloween. And you had to be on the A List. Random neighborhood kids DID NOT GET SOUR CREAM COOKIES. No, just her granddaughters friends.

I was on the A list.

I usually only made them at Christmas. But we had a batch left in the freezer so we took it for a spin. Surprisingly, it was fine.

I once tried to ship these cookies to The Queen of Spain after she had surgery. But it was a tragic mess by the time they arrived. I learned that no matter what Martha Stewart says, soft iced cookies DO NOT SHIP WELL. Erin received an iced blob in the mail.

This is my secret cookie recipe. But, lately I consider sharing it. Because it seems wrong to horde the best cookies in the world when everyone should have them. I will ponder this further. And decide later.

Until then.

I had the best cookies in the world.

And you didn't.

C Is For Cookie

What do you need to bake cookies.

First you need a container of 100 cookie cutters.

Then, you need a couple of boys to help.

And then after you roll out the dough and cut out the shapes, you can put them in the oven.

There is a secret about these cookies. These are the best cookies in the history of the world. They are thick and huge and wonderful. And I slather them with butter cream icing.

These are Marian Davis's sour cream cookies. Marian Davis was my grandma's neighbor. She lived two doors down. And her sour cream cookies were not a trifle. She didn't just make them randomly. No. It was for special occasions. Easter. Halloween. And you had to be on the A List. Random neighborhood kids DID NOT GET SOUR CREAM COOKIES. No, just her granddaughters friends.

I was on the A list.

I usually only made them at Christmas. But we had a batch left in the freezer so we took it for a spin. Surprisingly, it was fine.

I once tried to ship these cookies to The Queen of Spain after she had surgery. But it was a tragic mess by the time they arrived. I learned that no matter what Martha Stewart says, soft iced cookies DO NOT SHIP WELL. Erin received an iced blob in the mail.

This is my secret cookie recipe. But, lately I consider sharing it. Because it seems wrong to horde the best cookies in the world when everyone should have them. I will ponder this further. And decide later.

Until then.

I had the best cookies in the world.

And you didn't.

Jelly Blogrant

I don't understand liking jelly.

I'm serious. I mean, I GET liking the taste of it - which is an improvement because as a kid I wouldn't even eat it. It just seemed, sticky and gross. I've gotten over that, and I agree it's tasty but my issue with it is this.

It destroys bread.

Bread which has been toasted. Unless you are getting rock hard restaurant toast, bread just disintegrates under jelly. Ok that's an over statement. But it tears up the bread a bit. Rather unpleasantly.

It annoys me. I completely accept that I've got issues, and how something looks plays a huge part in HOW and WHETHER I will eat it. And I just don't quite understand eating something that has been partially destroyed in an effort to spread cold jelly on it.

And why DO we keep the jelly in the fridge? I don't really know. I should ask the husband,as I'm more than partially jelly-ignorant. Restaurants keep jelly on the table but it's in different packaging so perhaps this is why.

I was so frustrated yesterday, I swear I glopped out two lumps of jelly onto the toast and told the seven year old GOOD LUCK as I handed him his toast. Of course, he thought that was a riot, and some how conjured magic and spread it around.

Jelly. You VEX ME. VEX I SAY.

*Photo Courtesy of THEMAYFLY.COM

Jelly Blogrant

I don't understand liking jelly.

I'm serious. I mean, I GET liking the taste of it - which is an improvement because as a kid I wouldn't even eat it. It just seemed, sticky and gross. I've gotten over that, and I agree it's tasty but my issue with it is this.

It destroys bread.

Bread which has been toasted. Unless you are getting rock hard restaurant toast, bread just disintegrates under jelly. Ok that's an over statement. But it tears up the bread a bit. Rather unpleasantly.

It annoys me. I completely accept that I've got issues, and how something looks plays a huge part in HOW and WHETHER I will eat it. And I just don't quite understand eating something that has been partially destroyed in an effort to spread cold jelly on it.

And why DO we keep the jelly in the fridge? I don't really know. I should ask the husband,as I'm more than partially jelly-ignorant. Restaurants keep jelly on the table but it's in different packaging so perhaps this is why.

I was so frustrated yesterday, I swear I glopped out two lumps of jelly onto the toast and told the seven year old GOOD LUCK as I handed him his toast. Of course, he thought that was a riot, and some how conjured magic and spread it around.

Jelly. You VEX ME. VEX I SAY.

*Photo Courtesy of THEMAYFLY.COM

My Inner Cave Woman - Satisfied

Last night was a ground breaking event here at our household.
We cooked meat. OVER FIRE.

Yes that's right - we COOKED OUT!

Why is that such a big deal? Because it was the first ever cook out in our new house. First ever time we cooked meat over fire in a cave of our own. There is something fantastically primal and wonderful about that - isn't there?

Here is what else is great, I sat on the deck of my own backyard looking out into my own forest (yeah that's right, we OWN a forest) and listened to the Earth sing itself to sleep. It was very peaceful and quiet, there was not interwebs bothering me and some part of me could have sat out there all night, if it weren't so feckin' spooky when the sun goes all the way down.
There was only a little wildlife that came out to see me, frogs and bunnies mostly. I got a bunny pic though!

And now for my favorite part,besides the meat and fire.

The frogs. I couldn't get a picture of them because by the time they really got singing it was pitch black in the backyard and forest area and well - I was skeered.

But I took a video so if you turn up your sound you can HEAR the frogs singing!

My Inner Cave Woman - Satisfied

Last night was a ground breaking event here at our household.
We cooked meat. OVER FIRE.

Yes that's right - we COOKED OUT!

Why is that such a big deal? Because it was the first ever cook out in our new house. First ever time we cooked meat over fire in a cave of our own. There is something fantastically primal and wonderful about that - isn't there?

Here is what else is great, I sat on the deck of my own backyard looking out into my own forest (yeah that's right, we OWN a forest) and listened to the Earth sing itself to sleep. It was very peaceful and quiet, there was not interwebs bothering me and some part of me could have sat out there all night, if it weren't so feckin' spooky when the sun goes all the way down.
There was only a little wildlife that came out to see me, frogs and bunnies mostly. I got a bunny pic though!

And now for my favorite part,besides the meat and fire.

The frogs. I couldn't get a picture of them because by the time they really got singing it was pitch black in the backyard and forest area and well - I was skeered.

But I took a video so if you turn up your sound you can HEAR the frogs singing!