Thursday, December 11, 2008

Malcolm and Pancakes: A Love Story

As I mentioned in one of my recent DWTS posts, I missed Lance Bass' fall during his dance routine because I was preoccupied with my preparation of some pancakes. Ever since my mother used to make them for us as a kid, I've had a love affair with flapjacks that continued into adulthood. A few years, I had an amicable parting of the ways with pancakes. During that time, there were a couple of quickies if I happened to be ordering breakfast at a restaurant. However, these brief encounters were the extent of our "relationship".

Earlier this fall I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Thoughtful Reflections (written by Jessica). In one of her posts, she linked to a previous one she had written about flapjacks. That was all it took for me to fully embrace my fixation once again. When I went grocery shopping shortly thereafter, I made sure I bought a box of pancake mix and a bottle of syrup. Once I got back to my apartment, I couldn't wait to fire up that skillet! When it comes to pancakes, I am a fairly basic guy. I don't need strawberries or whipped cream (however, those two items have me thinking about something else entirely). Anyway, back to the pancakes... as long as they are oozing with butter and syrup, I'm fine. Because I don't allow the time of day to dictate what I eat, I was having pancakes for dinner on some nights. It was getting to the point where I strongly considered hanging an IHOP sign above the entrance to my apartment.

As a kid, the only syrup I remember my mother buying was Alaga (the name is a combination of Alabama and Georgia, the home states of the company founder and his wife). Unfortunately, the grocery store in my area doesn't carry it. In early November, after doing my radio show one Friday night, I stopped by one of the Kroger locations in Flint hoping that they carried Alaga syrup. Kroger management didn't let me down. The original sugar cane flavor of Alaga is just the way I remembered it: sweet and so thick that when it dries around the mouth of the bottle, you can get a decent workout trying to unscrew the top.

I took me awhile, but I realized that I had to abandon my love once again. At the rate I was going, it wouldn't have been long before I'd be saying, "Hey, hey, hey" as I headed to the local junkyard to join my band and play bubblegum soul songs with a message. Even though I've bid farewell to flapjacks for now, I know that we will hook up again at some point in time. What's cool about our relationship is that there are no hard feelings. When I was in the pantry of my kitchen tonight, the bottle of Alaga temporarily morphed into Mrs. Butterworth and said to me, "It's OK Malcolm, I understand. You have to do what's best for you right now. Just know that whenever you want me, I'll be right down here waiting."

Are you a pancake lover? If so, what are your favorite toppings? To help put you in that pancake state of mind, check out a clip from the 1965 Chilly Willy cartoon titled Half-Baked Alaska. This scene features Chilly at a diner getting set to eat a stack of flapjacks.

6 comments:

Jessica said...

What an amazingly cool post about pancakes!!! Very funny as well. That clip is so cute. :)

pjazzypar said...

I hear you Malcolm,

I still love pancakes too. As a matter of fact I keep a box a bisquick around to feed my jones :-) There is no way I wll be getting any Alaga syrup to go with my "jacks" cause they don't carry it here (at least I haven't seen it).

Candy Minx said...

Nope. No pancakes for me. They are too dry. And WAY too fattening.

I love crepes though...and they are with protein so not as fattening as pancakes. I recommend you try to experiment with crepes...

there are several recipes available, like this one


2 tablespoons vanilla sugar (see recipe below)
4 eggs
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons milk
1 pinch of salt
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons sweet butter
Thin strips of orange zest, for garnish

See, there is very little flour, mostly protein from the eggs. So the low carb isn't challenging to your waistline!

here is the website:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/CrepesSuzetteHistory.htm

You can make crepes both sweet or savoury. I put just a little confectiners sugar and lemon. Or maple syrup. NO!

NOT sugar syrup!

Maybe in Cananda maple syrup is more common...but for me it has no replacement. Did you know that maple syrup is not only delicious and sweet...but it has minerals and vitamins. So you can make crepes with maple syrup and it is a healthy version and flavours of pancakes...how about it?

Savoury crepes can be made by rlling swiss cheese and ham inside the crepe...yum! Pack it for a lunch even.

Cheers

Thembi Ford said...

I had to leave them alone for the same reasons as you...

Anonymous said...

Malcolm - I thoroughly enjoyed this post about your obsession with pancakes!

I was never a big fan of them until a few years ago. For some reason I woke up one morning with a craving for pancakes with maple syrup. Now I will get that craving every so often.

Instead of giving them up completely, maybe you could designate one day a week as "Pancake Day" to enjoy them?

Happy Flapjacking!

Malcolm said...

Jessica: Thanks... I knew you'd appreciate this. Also, I'm glad I could turn you on to Chilly Willy.

Pjazzy: It's probably a good idea to keep some mix and syrup on standby. If you really want some Alaga, you can order it from their website.

Candy: Thanks for the information/recipe for crepes. They sound like a tasty, but less fattening, alternative to pancakes.

Thembi: I heard that.

Pop Art Diva: Thanks! I'm not giving pancakes up completely, just for the time being. I'm not sure when I will welcome pancakes back into my life, but the pancakes know that our relationship isn't over.

 
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