hepatica & zucchini pancakes

i had always thought that hepatica nobilis (sinivuokko) and anemone nemorosa (valkovuokko) are kinda same plant with different color flowers. i have, once again, educated myself a bit more and found out that it's not the case. to make this simple (for me, that is) they do belong to the same family ranunculaceae but are different genus. (pay attention to this, there will be a test, not!)

anyways, there are plenty of hepatica at the shack and they always look like this







one evening i noticed one of the neighbours kneeling under a fir tree...did i think it was strange? no, as i knew they deal with elves anyway (they do! at least they used to. they have/had a small business making clay elves. i tried to find them on-line, no luck)

the next day i happened to walk by that particular fir tree and noticed these! completely different color...honestly, i didn't use any fancy editing options on the photo. there are plenty of the blue variety around, only this bunch chose to be purple







on sunday evening i found myself on wednesday chef's blog and saw the zucchini pancakes she had made. had to try them yesterday.

now, the recipe on her blog certainly gives nice pancakes, but when have i followed a recipe like it is written...so don't be shocked that i didn't do it this time either. i did use zucchini that i dealt with my mandolin (no broken fingernails nor sliced fingertips this time)







i did drain the zucchini and squeezed out a lot of moisture







and have a very dirty kitchen towel to prove it! i did add half a bulb of fennel and white parts of a leek (that happened to be in the fridge, left-over from the soup). i mandolined the fennel and minced the leek with a knife







crumbled one 200 gr package of feta







i did kinda followed the recipe with rest of the ingredients, except for salt as the feta is so salty. but frying the pancakes on a pan...nope, oven is so much easier. i smeared an oven pan with olive oil, divided the batter into 12 lumps and placed them on the oven pan, patted them down a bit and baked in 200C oven (with fan on) for 30 mins, flipping the pancakes after 15 mins







feel free to compare the pictures of wednesday chef's pancakes to mine...i confess, hers look a lot fluffier, but mine did taste great







i made these last night and now that i've had them cold for lunch...they might actually be a tad bit better cold...next time i will have to try the yogurt sauce as well







yesterday was a big day for certain someone, he finally got his new toy. not the one he originally bought, but one of the same kind...more pictures after it is waxed and polished

harley

certain someone has a bike, sorry, the bike of bikes, a harley davidson. it's his third, or fourth, i've lost count... i fail to understand the constant need to "upgrade" the machinery, like men do. i used to own a bike, i won't mention which one because it wasn't the right kind, also, how long ago it was. when i sold it i made a promise to myself, if i ever got another bike, it would be a harley. well, it's not that i couldn't afford it, it's not that i wouldn't enjoy riding it, right now i feel it would just be another thing to worry about, simple as that. anyone who knows anything about bikes, knows that they need fixing, always. i feel that i've got better things to do with my time than fix bikes, like baking! here are some snap-shots of his harley











when i was taking this one, i got a comment "the other side looks better"







so here is the other side. we took a ride yesterday to nummela for pizza. the weather was quite warm, an amazing 26C, just hoping it wasn't the last hot day of summer. oh, the pizza was great. i don't eat pizza that much, this pizzeria has a nice crust, crisp but chewy. my sin is to eat pepperoni pizza, so there was plenty of fat... my excuse was the aftermath of a migraine headache which feels like a killer hangover. those who get migraines know what i'm talking about, those of you who don't, well, you should feel blessed.