Houston's Restaurant Week

"Do you eat to live or live to eat?" was the question posed from my grandaddy to my newly chubby Uncle Mike. As the family story goes, Mike didn't really appreciate grandaddy's interest in his weight and huffed off, annoyed.

Regardless of poor Uncle Mike's feelings, the question is valid. And, here's my answer: Both! Food is sustenance but it's also entertainment, fun, fulfilling. All great reasons to get involved with this year's Houston Restaurant Week. Wait, but there's more!!

When asked why I'm participating in Houston's Restaurant Week my answer will be "to donate money to the Houston Food Bank, of course." But my tummy knows different. The donation is icing on a beautifully gourmet cake from places like Mark's, Ibiza, Feast and Catalan, restaurants offering pre-selected menus at reduced prices through August 21.

Most of the restaurants on the distinguished list offer both lunch and dinner. At lunch, for $25 per person, you'll choose one dish from three pre-selected courses. Then, $3 of your meal goes to the food bank. Similarly, dinner will cost $35 and $5 of your meal goes to the food bank. What better way to feed the hungry than to feed yourself? Everybody wins! (I'm only half kidding.)

Seriously though, the opportunity to assist a very worthy non-profit organization and enjoy a special meal at a reduced price is something worth checking out. So do it!

Check out restaurants serving it up to help the hungry here.

Best ever and simple to make homemade pancakes

My husband and I have a strange obsession with breakfast. It's our favorite meal of the day and sometimes we cook in while other times we prefer to do brunch. For us, breakfast doesn't necessarily just start the day since we also enjoy breakfast food for dinner.

On a quest for a delicious pancake recipe, I really lucked out when I found this one on allrecipes.com. It's easy, requiring few ingredients which you'll most likely have in your pantry and fridge already (I love that because grocery shopping is something I like to avoid as long as possible).

I've made the recipe three times now, first with blueberries then blackberries and this morning with wheat flour, topped with fig preserves and cane syrup for me (as pictured), maple syrup for hubby. The wheat provides a denser texture than white flour. Personally, I prefer the white flour which lends a really light, fluffiness to the pancakes. Either way, you can't go wrong.

Here's how you whip 'em up and 'cause a stir at your house in the morning.

First, place all dry ingredients in one bowl while you whisk the wet ingredients in a second bowl. Then, make a little "cave" in the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture in. Mix until smooth (I always have some bumps so no worries if the batter isn't entirely smooth).

Next, place about 1/4 cup of batter in to a lightly oiled skillet on medium high heat. Watch for bubbles. Once you see them rise from the pancake, gently flip the pancake to the other side. Generally, these cook pretty quickly and I find myself burning them with some frequency. Once the second side looks done (prod with your spatula to be sure) plop the pancake on a plate and apply some butter. Then, repeat the process with the remaining batter.

Expect 10 medium sized pancakes with each serving. For a list of ingredients and complete instructions, visit allrecipes.com here.