Freezing avocados

Avoados are cheap and everywhere at this time of year. I love a good avocado they have so many uses: guacamole, sushi, on toast or crackers, on pizza, add some cottage cheese in half an avocado and scoop out the yummy goodness. 

Avocados out of season can be so expensive to buy and no doubt imported? (we're not sure about this). I’m trying to get better at only buying food when it is in season not just because of the high monetary price but also the food miles. Though I have been known to buy food out of season; sometimes I’m just not that good. So this year I’m freezing a stash of avocados for later.

We were able to buy 6 avocados for $3; so we bought a few bags. I cut them in half and scooped the flesh into a bowl then mashed the avocados all together. I then spooned the mixture into ice cube trays that I bought for John’s baby food. Once the cubes are frozen I'll take them out of the trays and pop them into containers. I want to buy some more avocados and freeze even more of them.
I read that the frozen avocado can be kept for about five months but is only good for guacamole but I figure even if we can save several weeks worth of avocado this will save us a lot of money.
I really want our own avocado tree. I've found a local grower who has grafted a tree that will produce avocados in our area. I can't wait to buy one. My dream is to grow and save enough of our own food so that we can live off this all winter long.  
Linked to homestead barn hop, everything under the moon,

Wholemeal lemon cake

I like to bake but I find that most cakes have so much sugar in them. I know this makes them taste so great but I thought it would be nice to take one of my favourite cakes and reduce the sugar content. I also decided to make it with wholemeal flour; actual this was by accident as I ran out of regular flour but I much prefer the wholemeal flour and lemon combination it gives it a kind of nutty taste. 

This recipe is adapted from the Edmond’s cookery book butter cake recipe. I love the Edmonds book a real New Zealand must have. My parents bought us this book as a wedding gift. It’s kind of a Kiwi tradition that when someone moves into a flat this cook book is given to them. We’ve got the 100^th year edition (wow that’s now four years ago!).

Ingredients:

150g butter, softened

1 tsp vanialla essence

½ cup sugar (this cake still works with ¼ cup but it wasn’t sweet enough for my liking)

2 eggs

1 cup wholemeal flour

½ cup plan flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ cup milk

½ - 1 juice of a lemon

Soften the butter. Cream butter, vanilla and sugar until a light and smooth. Add one egg at a time and beat well after each egg. Fold the flour and baking powder into the mixture. Add the milk and half the juice of half a lemon or a whole lemon depending on how lemony you like your cake. 

Pour/ spoon the mixture into a greased cake tin. Bake at 180°C for 35 to 40 minutes. Bake until the cake starts to brown and poke a skewer in the centre when this comes away clean the cake is ready to take out of the oven. 

Lemon syrup:

1 juice of lemon

¼ cup sugar

Heat the lemon juice and the sugar until the sugar dissolves then pour over the warm cake.

This cake is very forgiving, you can make it with only ¼ cup of sugar if you like but I found it wasn’t sweet enough for my liking. You can also make this cake with only wholemeal flour but it doesn’t hold together very well (so doesn’t look very pretty) though tastes lovely.
This cake is best eaten hot.  If you can't eat it all when it's hot (which I don't suggest as it's not a good idea to eat a whole cake!) pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to heat it. I love this cake as it's so super easy to make and comes out great every time.      

John was so cute eating crumbs from the table. 

New ring

I finally have my wedding ring back! Woohoo!!! I had to take it off when I was six months pregnant as I put on quite a bit of weight while pregnant. I cried when I had to take my ring off and ever since I’ve been wearing a Russian wedding that belonged to my great aunt but it just wasn’t the same as wearing my own ring. So last weekend we went back to the jeweller who made our rings and we both got our rings resized. I’m so happy that I have my wedding ring back on. 

I love my ring it is so super special not just because it’s my wedding ring but because Mr Ecochick designed it for me, a girlfriend’s mother made it and the centre diamond comes from a ring that belonged to my opa.

The ring my diamond came from had two other diamonds in it; my sister in law has used one to put in her wedding ring and the last diamond is for my other sister in law. Very wonderful. 

My ring is even more special now since I got it enlarged and Mr Ecochick had to get his made smaller so the jeweller used the metal from his ring to make mine bigger so now even our rings are joined. 

Bathroom toys

John loves having baths but with kids you get toys and with toys you get mess. John was given this cute bath net to keep all his toys in. I like that his toys are all organised and kept in one place; he knows where they are and I don’t have to step over toys to get in the shower. However this net is made from plastic and so won’t be recyclable at the end of its life. So I thought of some different options that are cheap and environmentally friendly. 

I love these bags made out of old t-shirts. This bag has so many uses first of course as a bag for shopping; it could be used to store kiddie’s toys in the bathroom or in the bedroom. I love the bright colours. Just attach some  suckers to the bags and stick to your bathroom wall. 

This great reusable string bag would also be cool for a kid’s room or as a bath net. What do you use to keep your kids toys together neat and tidy? 

Being a parent

I write a monthly article for my local parent’s centre newsletter. Normally my topics are around green parenting. This month I was asked to write about being a new parent. Rereading the article I wrote I guess I’m very emotional today the words really did flow out of me (maybe I’ll be a poet one day ha ha). I’ve touched on a lot of topics in this article that I definitely want to expand on one day but for now I have posted this in its unedited entirety. They may print this unedited they may not we’ll see.

Being a parent (especially a new parent) is exciting, scary, tiring, rewarding, heart warming, overwhelming, exhilarating, exhausting and amazing all thrown into just one day. Once your bundle of joy arrives you have no idea that that you can love another person so much. So much that there really isn’t anything you wouldn’t do for them.
All children are different and do not come with a manual but don’t throw out those books just yet there are many amazing books on raising children that a subscription to the local library is totally worth it – even if you only learn one thing.

The first year of being a parent can be the most challenging time of being an adult; having a child will test your marriage and relationships to the limit but also reward you so many times over with love, cuddles, smiles and hearing mama or dada for the first time.
You will do everything that you said you wouldn’t just to get a good night’s sleep; yes you will give your child a dummy (if you were anti them), you will have your child in your room or bed (if you said you wouldn’t), you’ll use a bottle (though you said you never would). We’ll go to any lengths to protect and love our child but please baby, just go to sleep.

Do not be afraid to ask for help there is no shame in saying you can’t cope with this small bundle all day by yourself. Keep up with your coffee groups and even start a facebook page for your antenatal group so you can all post on there your worries, hopes, fears, tears and loving moments. Reach out to other mums and dads to ask what they are doing. There is no shame in seeing a doctor if you are having serious issues. PND is very real and can affect men as well as women even up to two years after your child is born. Ask for help.

Bonding with your child takes time. Some women feel the hand of motherhood the second their child is born. Most of us do not. Much like falling in love; falling in love and bonding with your child takes time. Do not be too hard on yourself you didn’t love your partner the second you met them. Most of all love and cherish each other as your family’s love is the most important thing of all.

New chook book

Photo credit

Look what turned up today!! I'm so excited! I’ve been running out to the letter box everyday. I'm one step closer to getting my chooks. I’m still “researching” whether or not I want to have chooks. Well I know I want to have chooks but do I want them on my property at this point in time? I think I do but Mr Ecochick is not so sure. 

So I bought this magazine to help me work out the reality of having chooks since I know absolutely nothing about them. It’s not like getting a new bunny or cat. Lots of blogs I read have chooks and people seem to love them and have a great time with them. 

I hate that I don't know where my eggs come from and that just because the egg carton says free range this doesn't actually mean that they are. I'd love to have my own happy chooks which I know are well cared for and not wanting. Will keep you posted.  

 

Knitted kitchen cloths

Mr Ecochick’s mum made me some wonderful new kitchen cloths. I’ve had several different cloths but I find that they don’t really stand up to the test of washing and reusing over and over again. I hate having to buy new things when what I have just isn’t up to scratch. Grandma Ecochick was given some left over cotton and so knitted me up some cool squares to use in our kitchen. 

If I wanted to I could stitch some different colours onto each of the squares to colour code them for different purposes ie; blue for the bench, red for the floor, green for the bathroom. Though personally I’m not going to bother as we wash the cloths as soon as they get icky (which is pretty much every day) or if I have to clean up a mess on the floor I throw the cloth in the wash straight away. Best of all these are completely recyclable. Just throw them in the compost bin when they are spent. 

If you want to make your own kitchen cloths groovy mom and fave crafts have some cool free patterns.


Linked to the shady porch, frugally sustainable, crafty scrappy happy, your green resource, the grant life, Natural mothers network

Green cat litter

If you have a cat (or like me you don’t have a cat but when my family goes away our home is the cat hotel for them) you have to deal with cat poop. If you have a cat door this is easy as they just go poop outside, normally in a new section of garden where you have planted seeds. Grr. Cats are great pets but boy can they be destructive and annoying. Not to mention their impact on the bird population!

If you have an indoor cat or don’t have a cat door or your cat sleeps inside you’ll need a cat litter tray. You can use a number of items to hold the litter; a plastic tray, an old draw, a metal tray or a wood box. All these items have pros and cons; they are all cheap to buy. The wooden and metal items can be reused in the garden when they are no longer needed. The plastic tray can be recycled or reused at the end of its life. I personally use a plastic tray as it can be very easily cleaned to sanitise it. If I was doing it all over again I think I’d get a metal tray. 

Photo credit

You’ll need some kind of litter for the cat to poop on. Currently I’m using one made from recycled paper. I like this option as it doesn’t smell, is highly absorbent, relatively cheap and doesn’t stick to the cat’s paws. Also you can scope out the poop and flush it down the toilet and it doesn’t matter if a small amount of the paper goes down the loo too.

Photo credit

An even better and cheaper option is to use compost to fill up your cat litter tray. This is a great option as it will save you lots of money and to empty the tray simply throw it in the garden. Again you can get rid of the poop by flushing it or throwing it in the rubbish or if you don’t care just throw it on your garden and dig the compost through your garden.

If you think your cat has parasites such as Toxoplasmosis you must throw the cat poop in the rubbish bin. The easiest way to do this is to put your hand inside a plastic bag scope out the poop and tie the top of the bag closed. If you’re pregnant do not touch cat poop at all. Make sure you wash your hands carefully after touching any poop or compost.
Linked to Patchwork living blogging bee, Frugally sustainable

Asparagus container plants

At the supermarket the other day I saw some asparagus crowns and just couldn’t help myself so I bought them. I had to some research as I really had no idea what to do with these plants. Everything I’ve read says that they need permanent beds as it take four years before you can eat the asparagus so this is a long term project. Since my soil is really clayey I couldn’t put the crowns anywhere in the ground so I decided to plant the crowns in some great rubbish bin planters I was given. I found a video on youtube that shows you how to plant asparagus in containers.

I put my crowns in water overnight partly as I didn’t have time to plant them the day I got them but also I read that you should soak them for at least half an hour before planting them. I had no idea how pretty the ferns of the asparagus plant are. I also love the cute little white asparagus spears that are already growing.

Asparagus need really good drainage and high organic content. I put a layer of stones in the bottom of my container then a layer of leaves. I added (Mr Ecochick did as a 40L is pretty heavy for me to lift) 10L of ZooDoo (any compost will do) then a whole bag of potting mix, then another 10L of Zoodoo. Pat down the compost to get rid of the air. I dug a hole to put my crown in and added some dynamic lifter as I love this fertiliser. Then fill in the soil until the baby asparagus tips are just above the surface. 

Little John thought gathering the leaves in 

his wheelbarrow was great fun.

I love my cute new asparagus plants. I’ve put them in a site that gets lots of sun with the plan that one day I will make a permanent bed for them but for the next few years they will live in the containers.

Asparagus is a long term project as you can’t cut and eat the asparagus until they are four years old. The ones I planted are one year old Mary Washington crowns. When the plants are three years old you can cut some of the asparagus to eat but not too many as the crowns need all this time to strengthen. Once the plant is four years old you can keep cutting the asparagus spears at whatever thickness or length you like. I read that once the spears become pencil thin leave the plant alone till the following session.
Linked toThe prairie homestead, The Grant life, $5 dinners

Guacamole

Everyone loves a good guacamole and Mr Ecochick’s guacamole is super yummy. It’s fantastic with nachos, amazing on toast or pizza. Great with tacos or burritos or any kind of Mexican food really. Or just eat as a dip with vegetables or crackers and cheese.

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

1T sour cream

Half a handful of fresh coriander

1 large tomato or a bunch of cherry tomatoes

2T lime or lemon juice

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp cumin

½ large clove garlic

2T Maple syrup or golden syrup

Salt and pepper

Mash the avocado with the citrus juice (if your avocado is not ripe enough you can put it through the blender or food processor to smash it for you).

Peel the tomatoes by making a cross in the bottom of the tomatoes and covering it with boiling water for about 2 minutes. Rinse with cold water and the skin should easily be peeled away. Dice finely and add to the mashed avocado.

Add all remaining ingredients and mix to your desired consistency.

 

Nachos

I love nachos. I know it’s not the healthiest meal we make but it sure is yummy. People make nachos in many different ways this is just how we make it. 

 

Ingredients:

Nacho chips

Can of salsa, beans and corn

Refried beans

Cheese

Dips:

Guacamole

Sour cream

How to:

Take a large dish add a layer of nacho chips.

Dollop a thin layer of salsa, bean and corn and the refried beans.

Add a layer of grated cheese.

Repeat this process with another layer.

Put in the oven on 200 fan bake for 10-15 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn’t burn.

Once cool enough to eat dip the chips in guacamole or sour cream.

We've run out of refried beans at the moment so when we make some more I will do a post on this. 

Necklace hanger

A few years ago Mr Ecochick bought me this lovely flutterby hook for Christmas. I just love flutterbies I think they are so magical. I thought this hanger was super pretty and I immediately hung it on the wall to hang my necklaces and bracelets on. 

I love that I can see all my jewellery at once and choose one to match my outfit quickly without having to sort through all my stuff. I find if my necklaces are in a pile I can’t really see what I own so jewellery can get forgotten and I end up buying more jewellery that I don't wear. I like that I also don’t have to untangle my necklaces they are all hanging free and happy. 

Passionfruit garden

My first passionflower has opened today. WOW these are THE MOST beautiful flower in the world. They are just so amazing with their beautiful thin purple and white petals. I am so happy with the garden on the patio. I planted it back in November and since have added a lemon balm, lemon grass and sweet marjoram. All the plants are super happy in this hot garden. Even the original passionfruit I planted has sprouted leaves so it looks like we’ll have two passionfruits to eat from. The more the better. 

 

I love this "arty farty" (as he calls it) photo that Mr Ecochick took. I think this photo shows how badass this flower is and boy doesn't it know it!

Even more exciting we already have a fruit developing. I have to say though the leaves around the fruit are kind of creepy; very alien like.

Medicine cabinet makeover

I just love before and after photos. Don't you? 

We’ve almost finished our wonderful bathroom. I just love it and am so super happy with how it’s turned out. I bought lots of the things for the bathroom off trade me which saved us truck loads of money. Not to mention the fact that I didn’t have to leave the house and I can get lots of things online that I can’t get in shops. I love the internet! 

The medicine cabinets are made from recycled rimu that my brother was able to fix up as they were very roughly made. He sanded, oiled and added some mirrors for me. I didn’t see the point of having cabinets in the bathroom without mirrors. He also came up with the super clever idea of making two selves between the cabinets so they weren’t just float in thin air. 

The back of the cabinets were made of cheap chipboard and I saw a great idea on Organizing made fun of adding paper to the back of the cabinet for a fresh new look. Off to spotlight I went to buy some scrapbooking paper. I bought 6 sheets in total and some new craft glue. 
If I was to do this project all over again I would buy wallpaper or other paper that was wider than the cabinets as matching the paper was really difficult and time consuming. Even better if the shelves had been removable and then using a long piece of paper I could have just rolled, glued and cut! 

Since my paper wasn’t wide enough to go the whole width of the cabinet I glued one full sheet of paper up and then had to cut another sheet and match the pattern (which was no mean feat!). I measured my paper by pushing it against the back and cutting it off. This was a lot of guess work and a lot of this wasn’t very accurate at all! I should have used a ruler really. Once I had cut the paper to size I added a generous amount of glue to the back of the paper and rolled this out with a round wooden roller thing to avoid any lumps.

Once the paper was glued and in the right place I used one of my flattened spoons to smooth out the lumps and bumps in the paper. I used a knife to get the paper into the edges of the wood. I used a sharp knife to cut off the excess paper. I still have to go back and do this step as the paper breaks easily when it is wet so I’ll do this tomorrow.  

I love the new cabinets even more now. Next I think I’ll line the vanity drawers before I put everything back in the bathroom where it belongs.

Linked to: Liz Marie blog, handy man crafty woman, Tip Junkie, Romancing on a dime, Patchwork living blogging bee, Crafty Scrappy Happy, the shady porch, I heart organizing, organizing made fun, pretty handy girl, home stories a to z,

Garden hanger

When we were redoing the laundry we pulled this hook thingy off the wall and it sat outside for ages as I didn’t really know what to do with it. I thought about putting it on freecycle or maybe hang it in the garage to hang garden tools off. Then I got the bright idea of hanging it just outside the lounge door so that I didn’t have to open the garage every time I wanted to do some gardening.

I tied the hanger to the ugly concrete wall with some left over wire. I hung up a fork and trowel, I found a little bag I had that had been floating around I hung that up and put in a few pairs of gloves. I also hung up one of John’s hats. I love the ease of having these tools on hand and so a small gardening job is no big deal.

Stainless steel straws

Photo credit 

Little John loves straws; drinking from them, blowing bubbles with them and breaking them! I really hate buying plastic straws that will be used once then John will break it and it’ll have to go to the landfill; what a waste of resources. 

In the States you can buy glass straws which I think are super cool but I can’t find a supplier in NZ though Amazon does sell them. I was worried that the glass straws would break too quickly so I decided not to get these.

My solution; I bought John and my nieces some stainless steel straws. I couldn't find anyone in NZ that sold these so I bought my straws from ebay but you can also buy them from Amazon.

I love stainless steel it’s normally made from 60% recycled material and is completely recyclable at the end of its required life. John loves his new straws and they are easy to clean just chuck them in the dishwasher. It may pay to run a pipe cleaner through the straw once in a while as well.

Warning: these are steel tubes so please, please, PLEASE be really careful when you give these to your children. I only let John use the straw when he is sitting and I am sitting with him. Please don’t let your children walk around with these straws in their mouths. I do find these a little scary but I think they are an amazing alternative to plastic straws so I will continue to use them with care.
Linked to Frugally sustainable, Your green resource.

Garden Bloomers' Bloom Day - Jan 2012

It's that time of the month Garden Bloomers' Bloom Day; time to showcase what's blooming in my garden. I have lots of pretty pictures to share this month. 

My white and purple English lavender are looking so pretty. I also have a purple Italian  lavender but it doesn't have any flowers on it at the moment. I just love the smell of lavender and want some more plants. I also want a French lavender too. 

My hydrangea is doing really well after mum gave it a good chop last winter. They are very blue this year last year they were more of a purple. Crazy how they can change colour so much over the years. If I add coffee beans to the soil the flower will become more pink. 

My first cucumber flower. I can already see little baby cucumbers I look forward to eating them fresh. My zucchini is doing well too. Such pretty flowers though the leaves are really spiky.

My two Pepino El Camino plants. One has fruit on it and the other has pretty flowers. I have no idea what this plant is but I had a space to fill and these were bushy shrubs so they came home with me. The fruit is very pretty apparently it tastes like a cucumber, cantaloupe, and a honeydew melon. Can't wait to eat it. Now just to keep one certain baby away from the fruit until it is ripe (unlike my poor blueberries that wont be blue or berries this session).   

My yellow guava flowers are very cute and kind of look spongy. I love it when plants give you fruit in their first year. 

I love the purple pompom flowers of the chive plant. The flowers are edible too though they have a very strong onion flavour and I only ate a few petals.  

This pretty feverfew flower is one of the first of my medicinal herbs. According to James Wong if you eat two feverfew leaves everyday it can help prevent migraines.  

I love this pretty sweet violet. Another of my medicinal herbs which is also good for migraines. The violet just loves the spot where I've planted it and is spreading very nicely.     

My Roma tomatoes are doing beautifully. They are such a pretty tomato; I check on these three daily they are papa, mama and baby bear. So cute.  

Lastly I wanted to share my first passionfruit flower. This is the second passionfruit plant I planted as the first plant got completely eaten but is making a slow recovery. The second passionfruit I planted is doing really well. I love passionfruit flowers I think they are the prettiest flower in the world (I'm sad it wasn't open today but I will enjoy it when it is open).

What's blooming in your garden?  

Family calendar

Last Christmas and the one before I made family calendars for my mum and for Mr Ecochick’s mum. These calendars are loads of fun to make but take quite a bit of time so be prepared to spend hours looking at cute family photos. I got my brother from Australia to send me some photos and my sister in law gave me photos too so I had truck loads of photos to choose from this year. I love it when I have too many cute photos. 

I generally like to choose photos to suit the month ie For April I chose photos of Easter last year and one of John with Nijntje. December obviously has Christmas photos on it; so cute with John and my nieces in the snow last year. There are loads of companies out there that make these calendars I choose to use snapfish as I find their program's really easy to use and the calendar quality is fantastic. I guess the mothers will know every year what they will be getting still what a great pressie.  

Hotshot vest

Mr Ecochick’s mum has been busy knitting and has made John some wonderful new clothes. She made him a few wonderful new vests. I do so love knitted vests. I love dressing John in a t-shirt or long sleeved vest and then popping a homemade knitted vest over top. I love how this keeps his little body nice and warm. John looks so super cute and stylish. Like a real little dude. 

My favourite vest is this fantastic "hotshots” by Julia from Just One WIP. I love the way this vest sits with the super cute hood. Mr Ecochick’s mum loves the wool with different colour in it – I love the way this wool adds a great affect to the vests. Thanks so much for making these wonderful vests grandma.

Birdnest necklace tutorial

I saw this fantastic necklace tutorial on Sarah Ortega’sblog and just knew I had to make one for my bestfriend for Christmas. These necklaces look amazing once they are finished and are a fun, easy, quick gift to make. I will definitely be making more of these as they look really fabulous.  

Materials

1 metre 24 or 20 gauge wire
Buttons/ pearls/ beads
Pliers
Necklace chain

Notes:

I bought my wire from a bead shop their wire is much finer and also shinny and much prettier than the wire you would buy at a hardware store.  

For the centre detail you could use buttons/ beads/ pearls/ anything you can think of with a hole in it or if it doesn't have a hole in it drill one. I bought a beautiful glass bead that had a wire cage around it as it just screamed my bestfriend’s name. 

Instructions:

Thread the wire through the middle of your chosen bead(s). The bead I choose had loops on either end of the bead so I just threaded my wire through the loops. Wrap the wire around your beads five or six times until you have the desired birdnest affect you want.

Wrap the wire around itself through the space between the beads and the wire. I did three loops around the wire. I did this a total of three times around the bead. 

If you have left over wire wrap the remaining wire around the beads and through the loops you made until you have no wire left or you could simply cut the wire now. You might need pliers to help you pull the wire through the loops.

Make a small loop for the necklace to hang on then cut off the leftover wire and secure this to the looped wire. Attach a necklace and place in a pretty box or bag to give as a gift. 

 

Linked up to Tutus & tea parties, Everything under the sun, Sugar bee crafts, Tip Junkie, Romance on a dime

Pancakes

I love pancakes, I love thin pancakes, I love thick pancakes, I love crepes, I just love pancakes! Mr Ecochick makes the most amazing pancakes – actually the recipe is Jaime Oliver's. This recipe makes lovely thick super yummy American style pancakes. You can add any filling you like when you are cooking the pancakes. We normally make our pancakes with blueberries and cheese in them- though not in the same pancake! I love grated cheese in my pancakes then with a generous helping of golden syrup on top! Yummy!

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 cup plain flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1-1 1/5 cups milk (depends on what flour you use we use 1 1/5 cups of milk)

A pinch of salt

Toppings/ fillings of your choice

Maple or golden syrup

Instructions:

Separate the white and the yolks of the eggs. Put the whites in a mixing bowl and add the salt then mix on high (we use our beloved Kenwood mixer) for several minutes until the whites are stiff.

Mix the flour, baking powder, milk and yellow yolks in a separate bowl.
Add a small amount of the egg whites and mix this through the batter. Add the rest of the egg whites and mix through the batter until it’s all mixed together and smooth. 

Heat a pan and use a neutral flavoured oil (we use bran oil) to grease the pan. 
Put a dollop of the batter in the middle of the pan (aim for about 10cm across- this is a very thick batter). Add your chosen filling(s).
When you first start seeing bubbles on your pancake then turn it over (Mr Ecochick can flip his pancakes in the air but I fail miserably at this!). 

A little bit of guess work is required in making sure the pancake is cooked correctly. Cook both sides for about the same amount of time but you can flip the pancake over a few times if you need to cook one side a bit longer.

Pour maple or golden syrup over the pancakes and enjoy them while they are hot.

We use to buy maple syrup but at $8 a bottle it is super expensive so when we ran out we started using golden syrup and I haven't noticed the difference in flavour at all so we’re going to save ourselves a bunch of money and only buy golden syrup from now on. Enjoy these super scrumptious pancakes. 

Note: The difficult part of cooking the pancakes is getting the temperate right you want it low enough so it doesn't burn and high enough that it doesn't take ages to cook. You’ll have to play around with your element to get it right. We have gas and use a medium low setting.