The postman must have questioned my sanity, witnessing the broadest smile he'd probably seen for weeks, delivering what he thought of as just another package. Well, he had no idea! What he didn't notice was the fact it came straight from the US, Maine. A lovely and thoughtfully put together package from dear friend Mav over at port2port (a very inspirational website with a charming concept, maintained by the highly creative duo Mav and Arc!).

One item I'd like to pick out in particular is the wonderful Maine Maple Syrup, as it immediately reminded me of breakfasts O. and I had together while he lived abroad, including pancakes and granola with maple syrup. So those two sweet treats have been on our list since last week, but had to wait until just now because ...of a fully consuming day job :) which kept both of us from having a decent breakfast lately, instead we had to mostly skip breakfast altogether and just so made it to the coffee shop next door for a little something.

On the pancakes front, I guess I took some creative liberty, they look more like the European version - that'd be at least my excuse for not matching exactly the original. They tasted great though. We made different variations, with raspberries, pecans and plenty of syrup, mhhhh, yummy! Usually I make them by guess and by gosh, but this time I weighed the amounts I used.

Combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar (regular sugar prepped with used vanilla beans/shells) in large bowl.

Whisk eggs with the milk and the melted butter together in a separate bowl and add to flour mixture.

Heat half of a tsp of butter in a (non-stick) pan and add a large scoop of batter as soon as butter throws bubbles. On top add the chopped pecans and raspberries. Bake until set (be careful not to burn the bottom), turn and bake until both sides have gained a nice light brown color.

Just before serving top with maple syrup. As the package contained some wonderful honey, I couldn't resist and added some drops of it, too!

The granola turned out very nice, too. You don't have to worry about adjusting the ingredients - almost anything goes.

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Melt the butter in the saucepan, add the scraped out seeds from a vanilla bean, add the syrup and blend well. Then mix together oats, melted butter and the maple syrup in a large bowl. The amount of butter and syrup depends on how you want your granola - I used an amount that would evenly cover the oats (make them stick together), but not fully drench them.

Add all the nuts and the coco chips and spread the granola on a cookie sheet. Put it in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the mix gets dry and takes on a golden, brownish color. Stir occasionally and be careful to not let it get too dark.

Remove from oven, let cool and then add the dried fruit. The fresh fruit, yoghurt and milk is added just before serving.

Note: All amounts can vary based on both your personal taste and the overall yield needed. You can experiment with different kinds of nuts, dried fruit, and maybe even some spices (cinnamon, cardamom, etc.) to find the mix you like best. It'll easily last for at least 2 weeks in a tightly sealed container (if it ever makes it that far...)