Kartoffelpuffer

2006-11-12 Kartoffelpuffer 001, originally uploaded by Turtlepace.

An old standby from my mom, Kartoffelpuffer (Latkes). I believe my mom cheated, she made them from a mix in a box. My kids like them, but I rarely made them as I don't have time to grate a kilo of potatoes and I hate anything made from mixes.

Well, I finally (after looking on the Buy and Sell and more recently on Craigslist for about 3 years!) found a used Cuisinart food processor complete with slicing and grating discs. I have used the wonder machine everyday since. Yesterday, to the joy of my children, I grated/shredded potatoes for latkes. Served with apple sauce they were a big hit.

Ingredients:

• 1kg potatoes, peeled and grated
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup of flour
• tsp salt

Mix ingredients. Place about two tablespoon fulls of the mixture in a frying pan with hot oil. Pat flat. You can fry several latkes at the smae time if you are using a large pan. Fry on medium to high heat until edges are crispy, then turn latkes over and fry the other side. Place on paper towel when done to drain oil. Keep warm on a plate in oven until all latkes are ready. Serve with apple sauce.

Post Jack O'Lantern Pumpkin Baking

Post Jack O'Lantern Pumpkin Baking, originally uploaded by Turtlepace.

Every Year, I fret about throwing the Jack O'Lanterns we carved for Halloween out into the compost. Last year, I laboured for hours, peeling pumpkins and making first pumpkin puree, than soup and pie.
This year, I was told that nobody in my familiy really likes pumpkin soup (and the pie was a disaster anyway). I had resigned to dispose of the pumpkins in the compost, only to find a recipe for muffins at the gym yesterday. They turned out great. Encouraged by the success I looked up a recipe for a pumkin loaf. It just came out of the oven. Not sure yet what the verdict of the testers will be...

Of Thieves and other Lowlifes

My bike got stolen. My trusted Norco commuter bike, complete with rear view mirror, fenders, bell, bottle holder, rear rack (for my panniers, which by sheer coincident for the first time in years were not on my bike), kick stand, attachment for a lamp and my helmet disappeared from my children's school yard.

My stupid fault for leaving - or rather forgetting - it there. Unlocked, left overnight...who wouldn't feel invited to take it for a spin? Oh, wait! This was not a fancy, expensive new bike unattended in a crummy neighborhood. We are talking about a 10 year old, dark green ladies bike that served as my transportation for buying groceries and getting the library books home left in supposedly one of the best neighborhoods (the Elementary School ranks as one of the best in the country) in Vancouver. Which leaves me to think that whoever took my bike did not need it. No more than they needed my nerdy helmet that I found the next morning smashed into a million little pieces.

No, whoever took my bike took it for the sheer thrill of it, maybe went on a joy ride and then tossed it into the bushes. Or worse, as happened to my little boys bike a few years back, vandalized it for the sheer thrill of destruction. Alas, I have not found any trace of my bike, despite constantly being on the lookout and having searched in all the local parks.

Now, this bike was a replacement for one stolen 10 years ago, when our apartment in Kitsilano was burglarized. I have gotten somewhat used (if you can call it that) to loosing property through theft. The police calls it minor property crime and it taught me not to get too attached to my material things.

What bugs me is not so much that my bike is gone...what bugs me is that there are people - probably young ones - out there who see a bike in the courtyard of a school and feel invited to take it. Apologies to all the honest, upstanding young citizens that I am sure must be out there somewhere. Just haven't noticed you lately.

The same night my bike was taken from the school, the school experienced - once again - vandalism. It's been about a month that my bike disappeared. A month of several incidents of vandalism and most recently, two accounts of arson. The week before Halloween the staff room at school got torched and Halloween night a store in the neighboring "village" was gutted by a fire. In both incidences it was sheer luck that the fires were relatively contained.

I finally found a second hand bike at a reasonable price to replace my commuter bike. It's a newer model mountain bike and came with a bottle holder and rear rack. I still need to replace the helmet, bell, rear view mirror (I am so used to navigate traffic with it) and kick stand (a must for parking my bike when the pannier are full).

What's the morale of the story? Is there one? Don't leave your stuff unattended (statistically, it's going to happen again - I am using my bike a lot, never forgot it anywhere and the one time I did it disappeared). I do feel the urge to find the people who are vandalizing our neighborhood, so do my neighbors. Eventually, they will get caught and the crimes will catch up to them...or so we all hope!