Free mazes of unknown difficulty

Just the other day, my hands, eyes, and brain called on me to draw a maze. 

I did this as a kid for a short time - drew mazes. I think they were very tight, intricate doodles done in pencil. Long lost. But the other day, maybe it was the sight of the graph paper and marker right next to each other, something made me write the word "START". And then lines, diverging and converging pathways...

It was my nephew's fifth birthday that compelled me to draw five more mazes, three of which I'm sharing here with you. Use them!

I find drawing mazes challenging, relaxing, and fun. Since resurrecting this hobby, I have to advise against drawing mazes in permanent marker. When you draw a maze, it helps to pre-see what is happening further ahead in the maze. Being very out of practice, my hand moved before my brain at times, leading me to be all, now what the hell am I gonna do? Pencils first.

If you do happen to use these mazes, I ask that you do me a favor and report back with your opinion of how difficult (or not) these are. Ballpark. Appropriate for which ages?

I don't have a calibration on child attention spans, frustration tolerance, and general interest in mazes. So when I did babysit my friend's four-year-old the other night, I seized the opportunity to get some data. I gave her what I thought were my two easiest mazes. I presented her the rules. She seemed to enjoy the mazes visually, and was eager to learn where "START" was. She carefully selected the perfect pink pencil to do the job, and then said, "But this is just paper, so I can really draw through the black lines. Because the rules don't matter, cause it's paper."

Yes, dear Neo. Thank you.

Clafoutis-like plum flaugnarde

It's not every day I hit a recipe on the head with my first try. It's not every year I do this with baking. But yesterday, I did it. Faced with dozens of plums, I made plum clafoutis (I say erroneously, the proper name being....) and for a time, heaven was mine.

I first saw a plum clafoutis recipe during an Instagram/blog spiral that led me here. I had no idea what a clafoutis was, but the recipe looked oh so simple. A little research later, I found that Julia Child puts forth a venerable clafoutis recipe in a book on my shelf no less! One quick recipe hybridization and 2 hours later, a rustic, flan-like angel tart was mine.

Here's what I did:

Wash, slice in half, and remove the pits from 1 pound of plums (or cherries, apricots, peaches, etc.) Set aside.

Generously butter a glass pie dish. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the food processor (or blender), add:
1/3 cup almond flour (I ground raw almonds in the food processor first, then proceeded with below)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 and 1/4 cups 2% milk (have tried many kinds except skim, all with success)
1/4 cup cane sugar
3 eggs
1 T vanilla extract (see note)
1 generous pinch of salt
1 generous pinch of house special spice or just plain cinnamon
1 tsp olive oil
(later you will also need 1/4 cup brown sugar)

Mix the crap out of the above (excluding the brown sugar) for about a minute until frothy and well-combined.

Borrowing from Julia's method, pour enough batter into the pie dish to cover the bottom by about a quarter inch. Put this in the oven for ~5 minutes and turn the oven down to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Carefully take the dish out of the oven and arrange the plums in the bottom of the dish, cut side down. (I started with one plum in the center and then did two tight concentric circles around it.) Then sprinkle ~1/4 cup of non-packed brown sugar all over the plums. Finally, slowly pour the remaining batter over everything.

Bake for 25 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for ~25 more. When it's done the top will be lightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean. There will be an intoxicating vanilla smell. Given a small shake, the center won't giggle (or only an area the size of a dime in the very center will giggle).

Enjoy warm or room temperature. Excellent for breakfast.

Note: I later got feedback, like months later, that the vanilla was too strong. The nerve of some people to not be direct from the beginning! So lately (see next note) I've dropped this down to a generous tsp and all is well (although I sneak in some almond extract too now).

Another Note: I've done this a hundred times now with all kinds of fruit, even frozen berries, and all kinds of proportions. Use any type of flour. Use a nut milk. Use a different nut. Spice is up. This is wildly adaptable. It's always delicious.