Dutch Pancakes

It's Saturday morning and I've decided to allow myself the luxury of sleeping in and not going swimming until later this afternoon. That means I finally had some time to make Dutch pancakes! In Dutch, they are known as pannekoeken. It's been so long I had almost forgotten, and as it was, like Phillip said, they "could be a little thinner, Mom." No matter, they were still good, especially with the blueberries on top!

There's a whole etiquette to eating Dutch pancakes... and I cannot remember whether this is something I have invented along the way or whether this is the way it really is... but Dutch pancakes are not stackable pancakes... each one is meant to be eaten alone. They are thin, more like crepes unlike the thicker American pancakes (which are also good). Dutch pancakes are eaten with sugar instead of syrup... however, in a nod to blending the Dutch and the American in our household, we use both!

They are rolled instead of cut into pieces, and the blueberies are always a tribute to my Father, who so loved blueberries! If you were to ask me for the recipe, I'm not sure what to say except that Dutch pancakes are made with a lot of eggs, a substantive quantitive of milk, and a small portion of flour. My secret ingredient is to add some cinnamon to the batter. Cooking requires a stick- free skillet and a ladle... and I fill the ladle 3/4 full when I pour the batter into the pan. Another requirement is to open the window because this will smell up the whole house! Saturday mornings and Dutch pancakes... one of the simpler pleasures of life!

Architectural Features of Fort Delaware

Pea Patch Island, aka Fort Delaware, looks like a castle complete with a moat surrounding it. The walls are thick and strong enough to withstand artillery fire from the enemy.

The entrance is known as the "sally port" which in the modern vernacular means a controlled, secure entry way into an area. While it's easy to understand the word "port" as meaning portal, or entrance, one might ask, Where does the term "sally" come from and what does it mean? The term "sally" actually comes from the Latin word "salire" which means to jump, or the term "sortie" which refers to a military manuever in which soldiers create a defense and then retreat behind it waiting for the enemy to attack.

Today this term is used to mean entry into a controlled area in which the entire area is "safe" or protected. So now you know! :)

Although this fort was used as a prisoner of war camp during the War Between the States (this is the Southern term for the Civil War), the architecture of this fort is elegant by today's standards. This bleached wooden door and hand forged black wrought iron hardware caught my eye. There is a blacksmith shop in the fort.

Throughout the fort small openings covered with bars provided a view to across the moat.

Smaller doors like this led to well developed and clean water closets-- it's just funny that this one was a two seater!

Wonder how comfortable it would be to "do your business" with a companion at your side??? The social scientist in me wants to know if there's ever been a study done on this...

These walls are amazing! They are massive and beautiful... the worn brick and the arches speak of another time...

Imagining how this place was built with the tools and equipment available at the time strains the brain, and yet, it is an exercise in learning to think differently, seeing something from a different perspective, and trying to absorb the mood of a bygone era.

Old places that survive tell a story and pass on the old present to the future...and we who visit ccommemorate past lives and past times.

Pea Patch Island

We are still in the middle of a heat wave with temps above 90 degrees each day, but that didn't stop Ed and I from visiting Pea Patch island last Sunday! The temp hovered around 94 degrees-- but our saving grace was a gentle cool breeze from the North. Pea Patch Island sits in the middle of a narrow part of the Delaware River-- a busy shipping channel for the Port of Philadelphia.

It was originally built in the early 1800's but then was destroyed and rebuilt just before the Civil War. While at one time the island positioned 91 big guns to protect points north of it, The guns were said to have never fired in anger. Not sure what that means... did they fire at all? All I know now is that many of the guns were taken for their value as a source of metal for the war effort.

To get on Pea Patch Island, you have to take the ferry from DE City. The trip takes about 7 minutes-- I know because I timed it. Upon arrival to the dock at the island, visitors are taken via a little tram (pulled by a pickup truck) to the fort itself.

The official name of Pea Patch Island is Fort Delaware-- now a state park. Thank goodness because it probably would have been bought by some developer if it hadn't been purchased by the state park service! The island was originally owned by Dr. Henry Gale, a New Jersey resident who used this for his private hunting grounds, and when he declined the State of Delaware's offer to buy it from him for $30,000 around 1811,the State of Delaware legislature seized the island from him. DE was desperate to establish a protection in the Delaware River because of the British attack on Lewes in the War of 1812. The fort is constructed much like a castle, with walls three feet thick and a moat surround.

It's been about twenty years since I've been here last, and much work has been done to preserve this place. Re-enactments are performed by volunteers who freely give their time to "become" a Civil War character. At the height of the Civil War, Fort Delaware housed 33,000 confederate soldiers as the Fort was now a prisoner-of-war camp.

A smallpox epidemic in 1863 was responsible for about half the deaths that occurred on the island.

There is still a lot of restoration work to be done, because the ramparts-- the walkway on top of the fort-- is crumbling badly. When the kids were little coming to Pea Patch island was an annual Spring pilgrimage, and I remember walking along the East and South side of the ramparts, but now only the North side is open to visitors.

Pea Patch Island is just one of those wonderful day trips that is a reminder of history so close to home. I love day trips like this because they feel like little mini-vacations. It's always great to experience a change of scenery-- I really do think it rewires our minds!

The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from A Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service

All I kept thinking of when I was reading this book was how much I'd like to hear about those stories he can't tell, because this was a good book to read! Ambassador Henry Crumpton looks like he could be anybody's neighbor or the weather man, and maybe that's what made him so great at intelligence.

Even with CIA limitations on what can be shared and what has to stay under cover, The Art of Intelligence revealed a gripping story of the chase for BinLaden even before 9/11. Then, immediately after 9/11 we were so close to getting him. Ambassador Crumpton knows how to tell a story, and the thought occurred to me that this book might serve as a tool for recruiting future CIA members. It was hard to understand how anyone could be a CIA operative and also have a normal family. But, this is the life he had and service seems to be the theme of why anyone would want to live this kind of life. This book was suspenseful and interesting; mixed in a little history, and added a dash of political policy. I recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about the war on terrorism.

Light Summer Reading Fare

It's time to update my reading list, and share my reviews of books I've been reading... This summer I started with a few "beachy" type books-- usually set on the shores of North Carolina's Outer Banks or somewhere near Cape Cod, Nantucket, or Martha's Vinyard. Summer Rental was a fun book to read- after all, who wouldn't want to identify with an attractive 40-something career woman seeking love? Tis story takes place in North Carolina's Outer Banks, although I have to admit at first that I was puzzled as to why the characters in this book would want to rent a beach house on the Outer Banks in August. That is a fine season for northern beaches such as Cape Cod and the outlying islands, but the beach in North Carolina in August is awful-- talk about hot and humid!!! This is the time to avoid the beach there, but oh well. the characters in this little novel were likeable and fun. The plot revolves around 4 women in a beach house and a good looking unattached landlord with financial troubles. Need I say more? It's a light read and allowed the mind to wander through beach scenes from my past... all good stuff.

I chose this second beachy-book, Nantucket Nights, because last summer I read Barefoot by Elin Hildebrand and I liked it. This one was a bit less satisfying... the plot line is complex enough to keep readers interested, but the end of the book appeared to be somewhat artificially constructed; almost as if the author didn't know how to end it and so put this ending together after consulting over wine with friends. The book starts out well enough with the main character, Kayla, a wife and mother who wound up making Nan tucket her home after college, not wanting to respond to a voicemail on her phone. The story backtracks from there as you learn more about the characters-- 3 women who shared a summer rental right after college, and how their lives entwined so that they each wound up living on Nantucket and making there lives there. The story line is complex enough to keep readers interested, and the descriptions of Nantucket made me long to hop on the ferry and spend a summer in a clapboard summer rental myself. However, the ending is not one to my liking, and I did think it really didn't fit with the book. Read it yourself and let me know what you think. Happy Reading!