Elegant (Take Two)

elegant |ˈeləgənt|adjectivepleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance or manner: she will look elegant in black | an elegant, comfortable house.• pleasingly ingenious and simple
Ah, elegance. I want to "look elegant in black" and live in "an elegant, comfortable house." In my perfect, elegant world I wear pearls twice a week and clothes with "dry clean only" on the lable. I bake fresh scones every Tuesday. I have a personal masseuse named Helga and my hair is voluminous. (Brace for the jarring jerk back into reality.) My everyday elegant world involves a lot more Fisher Price and finger paints. I do make a great blueberry scone every year or so and I occasionally get to blow dry volume into my hair.
So where is my expertise? Am I audaciously writing about something I know nothing about? Well, maybe. I find Elegance in startling bursts of insight, in stolen, quiet moments to myself, in my children's laughter and in that one especially gorgeous burst of fall color on my carpool route. These things are my crystal chandeliers and champagne flutes. I have simple, pleasing moments.
This morning I had a taste of my kind of elegance. It began when I entered a -gasp- sparkling kitchen. (We had company over last night and one does like to keep up appearances.) I made whole wheat pancakes in a cast iron skillet and made an applesauce/apricot preserve sauce to go on top. My children sat happily at the table and loved the food. (ahhhhhh) Then child #3 went poop in her little potty. My life revolves around poop. Even the elegant moments get sucked into into the omnipotent orbit. This is a huge success because: child #3 is only 21 months old child #2 helped her do it and child #2 is still pulling out of a year long potty training regression and this moment indicates light at the end of the tunnel.
I am reveling in this. That is why I am blogging instead of scrubbing my bathtub. Here are my recipes, just in case you are interested.
Sauce Recipe: 1 1/2 quarts homemade applesauce + a generous scoop of organic apricot preserves. Preserves are clumpy, so I mixed mine with a potato masher. Elegant, no?
Pancakes: This must be made in a Vita Mix or similarly powerful blender.This is not for lesser machines. 1 c red wheat (whole and uncooked) 1 c milk (or 1/3 c dry milk + 1 c water) 2 eggs 2 T oil 2 t baking powder 2 T sugar or honey (I use sugar) 1/2 t salt
Blend. It is recommended to blend the milk and wheat first. I'm lazy and do it all at once. Heat your skillet. I rub the end of a frozen stick of butter on it before I put the first batch in and again between each successive batch. Frozen butter won't melt too fast or go gooshy on you.
Wishing you an Elegant day,Bethany