buttermilk

At the beginning of the week I tried out a new muffin recipe that I found which called for buttermilk.

I bought my lait ribot (you can find it next to the fresh milk in your French grocery store). The muffins turned out pretty good but it made 12 with only 1.5 cups of buttermilk. That left me with the better part of a litre left over.

So the last couple days I've been churning (hehe) out buttermilk pancakes since I don't have a waffle iron. It's the first time I've made them adapting my basic pancake recipe to include buttermilk instead of normal milk.

All the hype surrounding buttermilk pancakes as being the best, yup - ALL true! They were SOOOO tasty! The batter was really light and they cooked up nice and thick but not rubbery or dense. Delish! I did eat a couple along the way - quality control is a must around here. The rest I froze! Yup, I read that pancakes freeze really well so once they were cool I stuck them on a baking sheet and froze them. This morning I transfered them to a plastic bag and tested one in the toaster - YUM! Just as good!

This way we can have some buttermilk pancakes whenever the urge hits instead of going out to buy buttermilk... not something I find very often on my shopping list...

Oh and what's up with no comments on my April Fool's???? You guys too embarrassed that you bought it hook, line and sinker??

hehe poisson d'avril!

Gotcha good!!

I even got Ksam - she deleted her first comment but let me reprint it to make sure everyone can see:

"Whoa, that is crazy!! Do you have any kind of idea what list it was?

PS. I totally would've been in pyjamas btw."

But no, no visit from the gendarmes, no deportation for me (yet!) and no news on the status of my dossier.

I do have to say that I credit should go where it is due - it was all Mystery Guest's idea! Well his original list was to have me on a terrorist watch list but I thought that might just be a tad over the top. Bravo MG!

surprise visit

This morning I was doing my normal unemployment routine (eat breakfast with MG, surf, watch podcasts... toodle around... eat second breakfast... think about getting out of my pjs and about going to the gym...) when I heard a car pull up in the driveway.

It was the gendarmes which really surprised me. When I answered the door they asked if I was MilkJam - I said yes. They said that they were sent over by the DST to look further into things.

Things???

Yup things. Apparently while in the final stages of my nationality application some flags were raised in regards to my name being on some list somewhere and they just need to double check things.

WTF??

Dude, thank god they were country cops and more curious about the wooden house out here than the American living in it but still it made me really nervous. I mean it sounds crazy but I've got scenarios of deportation running through my head! eeep!!

sneaky me?

After all the hassle with my driver's license I decided to just try something for fun, see if I can try one last time to exchange it (even though my state does not exchange licenses...) so I stopped by the town hall after work yesterday and asked the woman.

She was pretty clueless (yea! that gave me hope!) and didn't really understand what I wanted (an international license? huh?) but when I explained again she asked to see my American one. I showed it to her and she saw Washington across the top. She looked on her list of states and said:

"That's in Virginia right?"

She mistook the confused look on my face for not understanding her French and explained again,

"Washington, that's in Virginia right"

I realized that she thought my license was from Washington D.C. and saw this as my opportunity to try to slip one by her.

"Oh, yes of course, it's in Virginia!"

She made all sorts of photocopies, had me fill in the exchange document and told me to come back with pictures etc. (haha, showed her! I carry pictures with me at all times!) So she said she'd process it and let me know when it would be done.

Oh my god, fingers crossed! If this works I think I'll jump for joy!!! Trying not to get too excited... but whoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

big news!

I have big news for everyone out there!! Last night Mr. Mystery Guest popped the question!

I still can't believe it, it was just so romantic and perfect... so of course I said yes!

He came over to my house to pick me up for dinner and in his hand he had a beautiful bouquet of flowers so of course I went to the kitchen to get some water for them and when I put them in the vase I noticed a beautiful ring nestled in the center of one of the roses...!! Then he got down on one knee and I started bawling. Could hardly answer through the surprise and tears... I must have been really hot with puffy eyes! lol

Anyway lots to talk about now, but I've got to run to work, more updates to come!!! :-)


**update: hehe ohhhh I got you guys goooood! even Mystery Guest did a double take haha :-)nobody noticed the "empty" box?

ps. sorry mom!! ;-)