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Monday, June 2, 2008

Socks - but not in the waffles


When it comes to laundry, I inevitably wind up washing at least two loads of dark clothes to every load of light-colored clothes. It's not that I intend to discriminate against the light wash, it's simply that the loads of dark clothes always seem to contain our more urgent items - jeans, running shorts, Zach's scrubs. The fallacy in this method, I've just concluded, is that by the time I do pop a load of light clothes in the wash, the pile has become almost exclusively Endless Socks. We are both blessed to possess A Lot of Socks - friends and family know I love "cute" socks, and tend to bestow adorable new pairs upon me at birthdays and holidays, and my father once, in a gesture of vague but well-intended male solidarity, gave Zach an enormous package of white sport socks - so our socks escape the "must wash now" category - and gradually accumulate until they are poised to take over the laundry bin and stage a coup in the rest of the house. (Lest it sound like I'm tardy in my laundry duties, let me assure you that I wash clothes daily... Despite our best efforts to conserve water, the need to change out of scrubs and into clean clothes so as not to smell like formaldehyde, alcohol cleanser, and, well, germs, necessitates a lot of washing.)

Needless to say, I just came from sorting and matching the latest mammoth batch of clean socks. I actually enjoy doing laundry - I'm just detail oriented enough to find the act of neatly and quickly folding clothes pleasurable - but socks and I part ways on the "oh, this is fun" scale. It is amazing how effectively an armful of distinctly non-identical white socks can suddenly camouflage themselves in that moment to look alike, with all the diligence of a small lizard lurking in the backyard bushes, and how dramatically they will not look alike the next morning if I cast caution to the wind, conclude that "yes, they really all are the same" ("sure, that is just a bit of leaf and not a lizard"), and match them up haphazardly.

Cooking - unlike our socks- welcomes the haphazard. Even baking, with all it's purported claims to precision, welcomes an unexpected dash of rosemary or splash of amaretto.

And cooking revels in the purest, simplest standard of excellence: Joy and delight, which know no bounds, no creative limits. As my grandmother mused one morning when we were about to bake waffles, "hmmm, we like waffles... and we like pecans... Do you suppose we would like pecan waffles?"





Toasted Pecan Whole Wheat Waffles

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
2 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 T raw sugar
4 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
4 T olive oil
1 T vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans



~ Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
~ Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
~ Stir the egg yolks, milk, olive oil, and vanilla into the flour mixture until well combined.
~ Fold the egg whites gently into the batter, then fold in the pecans.
~ Cook the waffles as per the directions on your waffle iron or griddle, taking care not to overload the waffle iron with batter as these waffles puff up A Lot thanks to Grandma's secret trick of beating the egg whites! (as I'm sure you can guess, I'm writing this note of caution because I've spent many a time cleaning overflowing batter off the outside of my waffle iron... :-)
~ Serve warm with maple syrup and whatever else you fancy on waffles!






11 comments:

  1. HAHA!!! Good to know that you're not eating the socks ;0) Man oh man, do those pecan waffles sound fabulous - yum!!

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  2. :), toasted pecan waffles with syrup, sound so tempting.

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  3. I read that as, "Socks - but not on the willies" (like that picture of the RHCP: http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a254/KEUKENETTE/rhcp_socks.jpg) Please don't get the wrong impression of me.

    I'm in awe of a ... waffle... iron. We just buy our waffles, but those pecans are making me dribble.

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  4. Whatever you do, never eat my socks! Waffles are much better.

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  5. LOL! I know what you mean about those socks - don't mind laundry, either but find socks equally as droll! Good to know it isn't just me! Oh and those waffles look scrumptious!

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  6. Socks? No thanks. Waffles, yes please. I just recently rescued my waffle iron from hibernation. A must try.

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  7. Mmmm... waffles!

    Also: cute socks! :-)

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  8. Hi Astra Libris,

    My name is Shannon and I'm the editorial assistant at Foodbuzz.com. I am very impressed with the quality of your posts and to that end, I’d like to invite you to be a part of our newly launched Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program. I would love to send you more details about the program, so if you are interested, please email me at Shannon@foodbuzz.com.


    Cheers!

    Shannon Eliot
    Editorial Assistant, Foodbuzz.com
    shannon@foodbuzz.com

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  9. VeggieGirl, thank you so much!! *giggles* :-)

    Zita, many thanks! I'm so delighted that you found them tempting! I'm all for tempting one with waffles... ;-)

    MissBliss, your reading of the title is TOO funny!! :-) I giggled and hiccuped with laughter for quite some time... Thank you for the wonderful laugh! :-) I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one who (mis)reads things like that... :-)

    CookieMouse, I promise never to eat your socks... :-) *tons of laughter!* :-)

    Jackie, thank you so much for visiting! You're definitely not the only one - I'm glad to know I'M not the only one! :-)

    Lisa, thank you so much! Happy waffling! :-)

    Ann, many thanks - on both accounts! :-)

    Shannon, thank you!

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  10. Pecan waffles sound good. I have been wanting to pick up a waffle maker for a while now for recipes like this.

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  11. Kevin, thank you! Waffle irons can become quite addictive... ;-)

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