Monday – May 29, 2017 Memorial Day
The morning was a pea soup fog kind of morning, we could sort of see the water but the fog and light mist made the island feel cold and unhospitable. We were fairly convinced there would be no visitors today, the fog was just too thick.
In honor of Memorial Day, our US flag was to be flown at half-mast in honor of the men and women who lost their lives protecting our freedom. We spent some time reading up on the flag protocols to be sure we were honoring this tradition in the correct manner. I never realized when a flag is flown at half mast, it is to be flown at full mast and then lowered, with the same sequence followed at sunset. Making sure our flag is flown correctly every day is something we take seriously and will do our best to carry it out daily.
As we suspected, it was a quiet day on the island. Yes, we spent more time weedwacking trails and raking more grass, but that is now the norm in our day. My blisters have blisters from the amount of raking we have done in the past 10 days.
The dogs did their best to stay warm by ‘cocooning’ in the blanket on the couch in front of the heater, they do have the life! They were only willing to make an appearance when a potential treat was offered or they could beg something from us during lunch.
Since our nor’easter on Friday, the main light in the lighthouse was out and the emergency lights were on. After spending time on the phone with the US Coast Guard trying to trouble shoot the problem, Brian was unable to get the light to stay on for more than 2 minutes before the circuit popped. The result was no main light, a foggy day, and the USCG would be out sometime this week with a crew to work on the light and start the updating process for the fog horn.
The afternoon was spent in comfy fleece (multiple layers) and sitting with the dogs in front of the heater. It was a lazy afternoon of solitaire, knitting, and listening to a little country music on the satellite radio we finally have working.
Today’s recipe will be one you should keep around for the end of the summer when the garden is producing zucchini in record number and you are stumped as to any other ways you can eat zucchini, I present to you Zucchini Potato Pancakes. I put this recipe together last week and froze half which I used last night as a side dish.
Zucchini Potato Pancakes
1 medium zucchini, shredded
1 package of dehydrated hash browns that had been soaked in hot water per the package instructions
¼ onion, red or white, finely chopped
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6-8 tablespoons of flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp of black pepper
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
Any other spices of your choice
Mix the zucchini, hash browns, onion, eggs and garlic. Stir in 6 tablespoons flour, baking powder and seasonings. The batter should be fairly stiff, if it is too wet add the additional flour. You want the mixture to stay in form when placing in skillet.
Heat a large skillet and use 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in pan, once melted together, turn the heat to medium heat. You do not want the butter to smoke or burn. Place a heaping spoon of the batter into the skillet, do not crowd the pancakes in the pan, make several batches, cook on each side 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Remove to cookie sheet in keep warm in oven when finishing the next batch. Drain the used butter/oil mixture and start with new butter and oil, cook next batch as described above.
I made enough for leftovers and I froze them when cooled in a Ziploc bag. Last night, I pulled them from the freezer, placed in the pan with the rest of the dinner, cooked at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. If the pancakes had a chance to thaw first, I would have only heated them for about 15 minutes to crisp them on the outside. The end result was the zucchini potato pancakes were as good as leftovers as they were freshly made.
Guests today – 0
Guests total – 27
Temps hovered at a raw 48 degrees, gentle mist or dense fog for most of the day.
NW winds 15-20 mph
