Monday. Again. And gloomy too. My going-nowhere-desk-job coupled with the rainy D.C. weather has left me stuck on a past Saturday.
Some Saturdays I abandon my post as a glorified printer and desk occupant to do what I really like, write. Often it’s a food blog, other times about beer, social media too, and once a month I write for a print magazine about a little town close to home and my heart. Maybe you remember it from my Almost Made It Marshmallows?
When last month’s list of assignments was posted, I boldly selected “Vintage Cars” versus my usual food profile. I wanted to challenge myself, write about something new to me; and, if it worked, reference Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.
I knew of a vintage car show in my hometown and thought that would be a good place to start. My guy and I crawled out of bed before daybreak and hopped in my own classic car – 2002 CTS – excited to be on assignment. We mixed, mingled and admired cars – old school Jags, souped up Ferraris, a battle-worn British Race Car complete with English drivers and a chocolate lab in goggles named “Bentley.”
I snapped photos and collected quotes, confidently approaching strangers with “Hi, I’m a writer for…” ringing in my ears. Four hours later, I was full of workplace purpose but otherwise running on E and craving pancakes.
Just as we were leaving, gleaming rides started to scatter as rain fell with increasing intensity. Back at home and back in pajamas, I whipped up a batch of crazy tasty pancakes for S and me to munch on as we looked through my photos and listened to the rain. It was, truly, a great Saturday. A lot of work, a lot of play and a big stack of pancakes to split with my favorite “assistant.”
Here’s my recipe:
Making pancakes is incredibly easy. I’ve said before – I have no hate for the boxed game – but making them from scratch is delicious and rewarding! There are literally eight ingredients!
Place flour in a large bowl and whisk in baking powder, salt, and sugar.
Next, in a separate bowl or liquid measuring jug, whisk together the milk, egg, melted butter and vanilla. Add that mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Some lumps are okay, some lumps are good!
Melt a pat of butter in the non-stick skillet of your choosing and spoon about…1/4 a cup to a 1/3 a cup of batter into the sizzling butter. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes on the first side and then flip. Cook for an additional few minutes on the second side until the pancake is nicely browned.
Keep cooking and flipping and stacking until all the batter is used up! It will make about eight pancakes depending on how large you go.
My favorite part – eating! Slather with butter, maple syrup, berries, confectioners’ sugar, whatever — it’s your pancake experience!
A handsome guy, a rewarding freelance career and a big stack of hotcakes – now that’s what I call a Saturday. Enjoy!
Post Car Show Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups of whole milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (or almond, or maple)
3 tablespoons of melted butter
extra butter for pan greasing
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
In a liquid measuring jug, whisk together the whole milk, egg, vanilla and melted butter.
Add the wet to the dry and whisk until just combined. Some lumps will remain — that’s fine.
Heat a non-stick pan over medium flame and add a pat of butter. When the butter is sizzling, add about a 1/4 a cup of batter to the butter.
Cook for about three to four minutes on the first side. The pancake is ready to flip when little bubbles have formed around the border.
Flip the pancake and cook for an addition two to three minutes until the pancake is cooked through and nicely browned.
Repeat the process with the rest of the batter.
Serve immediately!