johnguinness's Diaryland Diary
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Pancake Compendium AKA an hour of your life you'll never get back
Save this one for when there's literally no other activity available to you:)
I follow some British celebrities on Twitter - presenters, actresses, Chrissie Wellington and that sort. Seeing what they had to say on Pancake Day reminded me of a few cultural differences between the US and UK, and it finally occurred to me that some are due to what resources are readily available.
That light bulb moment came after reading of pancakes with lemon and sugar, and other toppings I'd never heard of. Before I run amock, I'd best preface this by letting you know that to me, pancakes are a food to be eaten at home, at the kitchen table if one is available. I've seen online menus for pancakes with whipped cream on top, and other dessert like toppings, but they haven't been a part of my life.
My Mom used to make really good pancakes. The best were when we had Bisquick in the house, but some times she made them from scratch, and those were hit and miss. On an especially cold, snowy day, instead of making me normal sized ones, she'd make one hat filled the plate. Those were great, because the (real) butter and toppings would stay on top and soak in instead of running off the sides.
Most of the pancakes in my life were covered with the default - Log Cabin brand maple syrup. The banner about not having high fructose corn syrup is because that stuff is ubiquitous, and widely blamed for problems like obesity. It's one of those differences that are based on availability. We had tons of farm land to grow corn, and the government wanted to subsidize the farmers, so we have things like HFCS, and ethanol in the gasoline.
I haven't researched the politics, but there's a high cost, or law against, imported sugar. It could have to do with Cuba, but sugar prices are kept too comparatively high to be used in a lot of products, and we insist on cane sugar from Hawaii and refuse to eat the stuff made from beets. Blech.
So yeah, option one is maple syrup, table temperature or warmer. And it occurred to me that not everywhere in the world has a lot of sugar maple trees, or the other varieties that can be tapped for sap, and that's why there are other topping traditions.
I remember when I was at Harlaxton, and I went to the supermarket to buy a bag of pretzels, along with some other things. There were dozens of flavors of potato chips; cel salt and vinegar, beef, chicken, prawn freaking cocktail, but zero pretzels. I finally found a bag during my travels. I showed it to Ed the coach driver, who was in his fifties or sixties, and he said he'd seen them once in a party mix somewhere.
I know even less about prawns than I do about the politics of sugar, but I imagine if I wanted to find one in it's natural habitat, I'd have to go 2000 miles West, or 1000 East, or 500 South. Maybe on the coasts they actually have prawn cocktail chips, but here in the Midwest, as long as there are dairy farmers cranking out cheese products, we'll probably pass.
The absolute best option for home pancakes was my Mom's strawberry preserves. When the strawberry patches were open, she'd head out with her sisters to pick (I stopped going after I got impetigo), and she'd come back and start boiling them up and filling up the mason jars. The juicy parts were just thin enough to soak into the flapjacks. Breakfast at the start of summer vacation were the best.
My favorite commercially available (if you're lucky and look hard) is Smuckers Cherry Preserves. Ohmigod. I haven't tasted it in years, but if I ever get food stamps, I'm buying a jar.
I'm still going through pro cycling rehab. I'm a Contador fan, but he's not yet safe from being banned, and I'm trying to break my dependency on the sport to help fill my day. There was some bad news in the political aspects of the sport, so while I'm still following a few Contador stories on Google News, I'm taking a ten day vacation from other cycling websites. There are overlapping long races in Italy and France right now, that in the past have had great scenery, but I'm trying to avoid them. To help fill the gap, I'm embracing World Cup Women's Biathlon on Eurosport, and having a couple of week crush on Masgdalena Neuner. This is her:
Athletes who race on cross country skis are some of the fittest in the world. They start out with genetic advantages,like a high VO2 Max, and train like crazy. The biathletes have to race hard, then get total control of their breathing a bit while they take five shots at targets, then it's more racing, shooting from a different position, rinse and repeat. Yesterday they did it in Russia, with variable crosswinds, brutally cold temps, and difficult snow conditions. Some, like Magdalena, raced so hard that after crossing the finish line, there was nothing to do but get down scrunched on all fours and breathe.
I had to drive my sister to a doctor's appointment yesterday - the one where I drop her off at the curb and then sit in the car in the parking lot until she calls. I took a second to grab a book to take along, and one of Maestro Evangelista's was in the stack, so I took that.
I'd practically memorized both of his books back in the day, and while I was scrunched up in my car, I still felt comfortable reading again that on parries my hand should be partially supinated with my thumb at one o'clock, and seeing familiar phrases like doubles and une-deux, degages and ripostes, and it being like I was looking through a year book at old friends I hadn't seen in a while.
When I arrived home, my supplements were waiting outside my door. I'd pushed the envelope a bit on staying awake for a safe drive to the doctor - I tossed down a six pack of Diet Mountain Dew during the night - so I didn't stay up long enough to sense any benefits, but I got my first dose.
Also in the mail was a new debit card for my checking account. That wouldn't normally be newsworthy, but my old one vanished years ago, and I've done without since then. I had the numbers written down, so I could order online, but I couldn't pay at the pump, or use free Red Box codes, get cash when the bank was closed, or go to McDonald's when I had no cash. I had a card that went with my unemployment benefits, but that ran out a year ago. I had to call the bank to send me a pin #, because I hadn't used that in years, but it's good to have options that can save me money on nights when pizza delivery seemed to be the only choice.
Hulu has fewer shows available for non-premium patrons all the time. Four new episodes of Justified aired without my knowing about it, so I caught up on them yesterday. The ongoing plot needs a bit of diversity. Right now it's all meth labs, Oxi buses, and marijuana as the biggest cash crop in Kentucky, with steady doses of Man's Inhumanity To Man mixed in. My view of Kentucky had pretty much come from Interstate highway drives to The Smokies. There was tobacco, and thoroughbred horses, and tracks and exciting uphill and downhill stretches. I remember a lot of green. Thanks to this series, which I doubt is supported by the Office Of Tourism, it's almost on my list of places too dangerous to go, like Mexico and wilderness areas of our National Parks.
Thursday my goals are to get in a walk, visit the Food Pantry, and stay up until at least four in the afternoon. TV tennis coverage starts Saturday, and California is two hours earlier than here, so featured night matches could run way late.
11:19 p.m. - Wednesday, Mar. 09, 2011
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