Fire! More holiday art and yay, I finally made it - Finnish pannukakku

Earlier this morning before heading on the 805 North from H Street, I saw a thick black plume of smoke in the distance...

You don't see it anymore in the photo above since it was taken about an hour and a half later...

but you can still see the mostly dissipated smoke which I later found out came from a warehouse fire in the Middletown area of San Diego.

These views were taken from Gayle McCandliss Park, a very small rest area right next to the J St. Bridge, overlooking the 805. It has great views of downtown, especially if you stand on the play structure. This is the veiw looking south. That's TJ in the far far distance.

and this is the bridge that connects to the west side of CV.

When I got home, this was on the news. Cathy and Bert had texted me about this after I sent them photos of the mostly gone smoke cloud.

That morning however, it was pretty scary looking even though I was miles away.

Before hitting the J St. bridge, I took the scenic route home after my morning appointment. This nativity scene was the northwest corner of J St. and Del Mar Ave.

Further up on J St. after you pass Hilltop Middle school is this small neighborhood business area. There's a liquor store, a  hair salon/barber shop and a taco shop right in the middle of the nieghborhood.

Of course, I had to stop because I saw the painted windows...


This one is my favorite, Santa getting his hair trimmed by Mrs. Claus.

It was fitting since there's a hair salon in this complex. Barbershop Heaven also had paintings on their window but it was blocked by a truck.

After watching the news about the fire, I got started on my next task...making a recipe I've been wanting to make for years especially after having read about it and actually tasting it a few years ago.

This recipe is called the Finnish oven pancake (pannu kakku in Finnish). Here's what you need (recipe linked at end through Cathy's post):

OMG...if this could only be in Smell-o-Vision. Very buttery this was!

It was quite puffy and high when I took it out of the oven. The browned bits? That's from the stick of butter melted right in the pan while I was mixing the ingredients, which you then dump on top of the melted butter. This recipe is so damn easy. There is no way to mess it up.


I had a friend and her visiting brother coming over for lunch and asides from my chicken macaroni soup, I was also serving the Finnish oven pancake. I know they say never to serve anything you've made for the first time, but I think it's safe to say that this recipe came out pretty well and was a hit.

I served it with maple syrup and  blueberry preserves. You are supposed to eat it with either one and not both.

These were pretty big slices. Eight total in the 9x13 pan.

KD and I loved the crispness of the top crust...

The inside was a textural contrast - spongy from the cottage cheese.

I'll have to make this again to perfect it since I still have the other half of the cottage cheese container. Hmmm...practice makes perfect.

Please see Cathy's post from 2006:
"Episode 13 - 2 Easy Weekend Breakfasts" October 2006

Previous appearance of the Mister's oven pancake:
"Food Gifts" September 2013

I also wanted to try a new recipe and make use of a new Christmas gift tomorrow...