Mango pancakes

Some of my family came into town this past weekend so I decided to make brunch on Saturday morning, mango pancakes with candied pecans, pan fried potatoes and ginger, strawberry lemonade. The mango pancakes were made by using a basic buttermilk pancake recipe and adding diced mangoes to the pancakes after pouring batter onto the griddle (or in my case, the pan). Being from Vancouver, BC, my sister asked whether the maple syrup I was serving with the pancakes was Canadian maple syrup. I'm happy to say that my reply was 'Of course!

My uncle's girlfriend, C, has a keen interest in tea so we were able to visit a few tea places on their last visit and this most recent visit. We visited Sassy Teahouse in Redmond on her last visit since I had driven by many times, but never quite got around to going in. They serve tea in the traditional English manner. The chocolate, hazelnut tea that we had was fragrant with a nice nutty flavor that was enhanced by adding a little hawaiian rock sugar that was presented with the tea. Unfortunately, it seems that the Sassy Teahouse has closed their doors.

We also visited Teavana inside Bellevue Square where they offered more Asian style teas and retail traditional Japanese style teapots. C picked up a beautiful deep green teapot with a dragon engraved on the front. I sampled their Strawberry, Kiwi Rooibos that had a sweet fruity flavor. Teavana has locations all over the US; however, the Bellevue Square location seems to be the only one in Washington.