Ali's Birthday, Part 1 - German Pancakes for Breakfast!

It is hard to believe, but 19 years ago today David and I began the most incredible journey. Oh yes, it had really begun approximately 41 weeks and 3 days prior and those weeks were full of trips to the doctor, a few to the hospital and many MANY trips to the bathroom, but on January 6, 1992, all of that melted away when the anticipation of this new adventure became a reality. We headed to the hospital early in the morning for the induction since she was 10 days past her due date. I will spare you most of the details, but suffice it to say that I was going to do this the "natural way! No drugs - just break my water and let it happen"... 15 hours later I relented and took the epidural... 2 hours later, due to lack of progression, we headed to the OR for a c-section. Not quite the way I had planned it, but within 15 minutes we had our firstborn delivered. I wanted a girl in the worst way. The doctor delivered her head first and said, "It's a baldy. Looks like a boy," to which I responded, "It's a boy?" I was so sad and disappointed. He quickly pointed out that he hadn't "gotten to that end yet!" and finished delivering the baby when he proudly announced, "Yup! Just like I thought. It's a girl!" A girl!! My heart soared. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen in my life. Later in the recovery room when I finally got to hold her and she opened her eyes and looked at me, I swear I saw my own mother looking at me through those eyes. The tears flowed then just as they are now as I remember wanting so badly for my mom to be there are that moment, to see this beautiful granddaughter that looked remarkably like her.

Motherhood... there is nothing in the world that can compare to that feeling, there is almost no way to fully describe how much you can love something you have never seen before, never talked to, never touched. It just IS. So happiest of birthdays to my beautiful firstborn daughter who has her grandmother's eyes and generous heart, her grandfather's intelligence and quietness, her Aunt Marcy's hands and graceful spirit, her Aunt Lani's artistic talent, her Aunt Lori's great hair, patience and faith in people and her Uncle Mark's tremendous sense of humor and fortitude. I'm not quite sure what she got from me, I just see those traits in her that are so prevalent in them!

On their birthdays, my kids always get to choose whatever they want for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ali is the "steady-Eddy". I always know what we are having for dinner, and you will get that recipe tomorrow with the dessert recipe following the day after. I know I am supposed to take pictures of this food and post it with the blog, but I am usually so "fantastically famished" that we dig right in and then a half-eaten casserole dish of Creamy Lemon Penne doesn't look so pretty! I am going to try and get some today, though. Anyway, Ali's choice for breakfast this morning is German Pancakes and sausage. I am not making sausage from scratch, although it is pretty easy and when I decide to perfect a recipe for that, I will let you know. But this morning, with eggs, flour and milk in hand, I am making those German Pancakes that my sister Lori first made one Sunday night and I have never forgotten them. I pull out the recipe occasionally, especially on a night when I don't feel like cooking and "breakfast for dinner" seems to be the best option. Ali wants them this year for breakfast, and so,

GERMAN PANCAKES

4 eggs
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
2/3 c. flour
2/3 c. milk
2 T. melted butter

Preheat oven to 400'. Butter well two 9-inch cake pans or pie pans. Blend eggs in blender and add remaining ingredients blending well until smooth. Divide evenly between the two pans and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350' and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve immediately with butter, lemon wedges, powdered sugar, jam or syrup.

Do not open the oven while they are baking!! This is the same recipe that the English call Yorkshire Pudding. Try it some time when you make a beef roast!

I have lots of people telling me how much they like these recipes. Leave me some comments!! Ask questions, tell me how yours came out when you try it, let me know what you think. And pass the blog link on to your friends! I looked at my stats the other day and have had people in Singapore and Croatia (one of my favorite countries) check out the blog. I love that!

Happy 19th Birthday, Alisandra Jo!