Library Nirvana

It took two weekends, a lot of driving, and several trips to the store to find the right tool, but we at last have enough bookshelves for our books!

Several weekends ago we bravely ventured forth to the Schaumburg IKEA, determined to spend our hard-won Christmas monies on bookshelves. The overflowing piles of book boxes in our family room had simply become too much to bear. So we turned our gaze to ikea.com in search of answers, and one word leapt out at us, promising to solve all our storage needs. It was "Billy". We considered ordering online, but decided against it; we had to witness Billy in person. We had to be sure.

Thus we found ourselves in Schaumburg, IL. Knowing full well the magnitude of the task before us, we stopped first at Macaroni Grill, where we spent another hard-won Christmas present: a "gift card." After filling ourselves with eggplant parmesan and margarita pizza, we began our task. IKEA beckoned. Making our way through the turbulent throngs, climbing floor after floor of home furnishings, and maintaining a sharp, laser-like focus, we found ourselves amidst the Billy showcases. And it was good.

We secured our items and proceeded to checkout. Our plan was to have IKEA deliver the goods to us, but another, cheaper alternative presented itself. There was an on-site Enterprise store with vans available to rent. So we found ourselves driving back home not in our car, but in a full-size cargo van. After one hour to get home, half an hour to unload, one hour back to drop off the van, several minutes of being lost, and one more hour back home in our car, we had accomplished our goal. Bookshelves! At least, bookshelves in a box.

The next day, Sunday, saw us put the bookshelves together. We soon found this was the easy part. Getting them properly aligned and anchored on the wall was a task we left for the next weekend. Working well into the night the next Saturday, with the aid of dogged persistence, wooden shims, an offset screwdriver, and caramel-chocolate-chip cookies, we finally finished. The next day, another Sunday, we put up our books. And, again, just as before, it was good. Billy was right.

From start to finish:







With our books off of the floor and into their rightful place, I couldn't resist cataloging them via LibraryThing. The above shelves hold 346 books of all sizes, shapes, and subjects. We're not done cataloging, but we estimate this is about half of our total collection, with the rest scattered among smaller bookshelves throughout the house.

Sunday Breakfast

I like to make Sunday breakfast. I don't always cook Sunday mornings, but I would say more often than not I make muffins or pancakes or waffles or something. This morning, I made Four-Grain Pancakes, and they were so tasty that I knew I had an obligation to share the recipe with the world.

Here's my recipe, slightly adapted from one of my cookbooks. Next time you're hungry and you have some extra time for breakfast, make these. Seriously. You can thank me later.

Four-Grain Pancakes

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
This is the part that I think completely makes the recipe:
1 packet of instant flavored oatmeal
The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup quick-cooking oats and 3 T maple syrup, and you could certainly do that, but I used 1 packet of Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal in Maple and Brown Sugar flavor, and it is insanely good. The packet was about 1/2 cup of uncooked oatmeal.
2 cups buttermilk
I also did not use buttermilk, but soy milk made a fine substitute. I'm sure regular milk would as well, although you might want to use slightly less than 2 cups, since neither is as thick as buttermilk.
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten

In a large bowl, combine everything. Stir just until it's all mixed together - don't overmix.

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. I use a non-stick skillet, and you'll definitely want to spray it with non-stick spray or grease it with butter for the first set of pancakes. You'll know the griddle is hot enough when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it and they dance around before evaporating.

Cook the pancakes - they should sizzle a little when they hit the griddle, because you want them to be slightly crispy on the outside. They'll take a few minutes on the first side and only a minute or so once you flip them. This recipe made about 16 pancakes, which is always enough to feed the 2 of us twice. So, four servings, I guess. Pancakes freeze really well, if you have leftovers. Just let them cool, put them in a ziploc and put them in the freezer.