Lemon & Ricotta Pancakes ~recipe

Ebi-kun picked this recipe out and I have to share because they were so, so, so good! Yes, that good! We made them for breakfast on father's day, which was a change because usually daddy makes the pancakes at the weekend.

Recipe:

Makes 12 small pancakes

200g ricotta cheese

pinch of salt

50g caster sugar

25g melted butter

3 eggs, separated

zest of 2 lemons

50g plain flour

Sauce

200g mango (we used frozen)

2tbsp cointreau

little sugar (to sweeten if needed)

Banana or other fruit to decorate.

Make the sauce:

1. Stick everything in a blender and whizz until smooth. Put aside.

Make the pancakes:

1. Beat together the ricotta, salt, sugar, melted butter, egg yolk and lemon zest.

2. Fold in the flour.

3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff then gentle fold into the pancake mix.

4. Heat a pan or griddle and brush lightly with melted butter.

5. Place tablespoons of batter in the pan, with space between them, then they have bubbles on the surface, flip them over for a minute, then place on a place and keep warm whilst you cook the rest.

Try not to burn your finger or anybody else's in the process (lesson learned!)

6. Pile the pancakes on a plate, decorate with some sliced fruit and drizzle mango sauce around the edge.

7. Invite me round to try them out, just to make sure they are up to scratch :)

 Lovely start to the day, well except for the burnt finger incident, but he will live! Daddy was happy with his new t-shirts. The rest of the day, we did the usual, aikido, lunch, grocery shopping. Then the boys watched the recorded Japan Vs Brazil game. Nice to actually sit and chill for part of the weekend! 

Happy father's day Yasutoki, you really are a great dad!

the day that wasn't...

It was father's day here in Japan yesterday, I'm not sure if it is the same day for the rest of the world or whether it is like Mother's day which seems to be held on different days depending on where you are. Anyway, it all started out well, we had a nice breakfast of crumpets and fresh fruit and Ebi-kun gave daddy his presents - a home made book about daddy and a new coffee filter thing.

We decided that we would have a day out and go to the science museum in Odaiba which is almost 2 hours away by train. 

So, we got on the local train and a few stops along Ebi-kun says he feels sick, so we get off the train, he has gone white as a sheet so we leave the station and sit down for a while until he is feeling a bit better. He doesn't feel like getting on the train again so we walk down the road to the lotus farm, I figured the fresh air would do him good.

It was already getting on for 10am by the time we got there so there was only one flower still open, you need to be there early to see all the flowers.

We spent some time looking for turtles and other interesting bugs, it is actually a great place to go to catch zarigani (crayfish) but of course we hadn't got any equipment with us.

Ebi-kun thought it was a lot of fun to move the leaves with water in them, he was trying to get the water to jump from one leaf to the next. As we left the guy at the farm gave us info about when the farm is officially open and the best times to see the flowers, we will have to go back in a couple of weeks time and take zarigani catching equipment with us.

So, we headed back home.... what we did next will have to wait until tomorrow, too much for one post!