Photo-prayer

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting

I took the above photo with an old little Fuji Finepix on a family trip on the Yorkshire Dales. It's not a fancy widelens - just three photos taken side by side and stitched together.

Lord Jesus, it's been a tough day. My mind was discouraged, but You already know that. You know my thoughts. I just want to declare Your goodness in all situations. Your faithfulness reaches to the heavens. Your righteousness is like the mountains. Your wisdom is deeper than the ocean's depths. You are my strength and my joy. And Your love! Your love! Your love is indescribable. Thank you Lord.

EZ

Winter '09: Breakfast for two - Sweet pancakes & spiced potatoes (21/12)

I woke up that morning, walked into the living room and poked D buried in the couch.

Me: Hey breakfast? Savoury or sweet?
D: Mpphrgghhh.
Me: Ok both.

Before I start, I just want to explain that these two breakfast goodies are NOT meant to be eaten together. Unless you're a little bit strange. And lets face it, we're all a little bit strange, which makes those who are perfectly normal the strange ones.

Think about it.

Right, first the pancakes. Cinnamon is actually one of D's favourite things. I like cinnamon too, but he takes his love for cinnamon to a completely different level. Cinnamon flavoured chewing gum anyone?

So I present to you a step-by-step guide to making Cinnamon Apple Caramel pancakes... from scratch.

First get half a cup of sugar, two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of water and bring to a simmer. Be careful, simmering sugar is VERY HOT. You want to get it to a point where the sugar has dissolved into a syrup, and the syrupy mixture turns a caramel brown colour, like so:


Prior to mixing the sugar, you will have of course been super organised and cored and diced some apples. Most people prefer the apples peeled, but I like the texture of apple skin, so I kept this on. Remember, you need to get the apples ready because there is a point where the bubbling caramel mixture turns into caramel and is ready to engulf the apples in its warm sugary love. Wait any longer, the sugar burns and there's no turning back. You'll have a pan of burnt sugar which you need to scour, and missed out on really good caramel.



So go ahead and dunk your apples in! Mix to coat and let it simmer awhile more.
Now take some cinnamon. I happened to be in Tesco when I got this but cinnamon is cinnamon, so any one will do. Haha, my thumb is FATSSSS.

Dunk it in baby. Liberally. Don't hold back. Mmmmm... Arllughghhhlllhhgghhh (*Homer Simpson style*)


Now for the pancake batter, this is the mixture I have been using since time immemorial. Well not really, since a French friend of mine taught me how her mummy makes it: One egg, one cup flour, half cup water, half cup milk, and a little bit of salt. Only I changed it a little bit, and tweaked it to how I like pancakes! One cup flour, one cup milk rested with a teaspoon of vinegar (makes a good buttermilk substitute) one egg, a little bit of salt. Simple right? But soooo good trust me.


Next spray the skillet with some oil and put a little bit of batter, swirling to form a thin pancake. When the top starts bubbling, it's a good time to flip. Unlike this prematurely flipped pancake.

Make a stackful. I'll present the final product in a bit :)

Whilst you're doing all this, you would have been boiling some diced potatoes for your Spiced Potatoes! I boiled these in a chicken stock for extra flavour. Mmmm..

Spray some oil in a pan, cook some diced onions until translucent and soft and lay the cooked potatoes in one layer (so they all get the chance to be coated in a lovely crispy outer layer). Season pepper, cayenne pepper and Lawry's Seasoned Salt.

Get a little closer...


When one side is to your satisfactory level of crispyness (crispiness?), flip them and do the same with the other side.

Dish and serve!

Here's what the pancakes looked like stacked and drizzled with apple caramel topping, and of course the potatoes: