On pancakes
Last week I fell into a cooking slump. We were on week 3 of the same mix of vegetables in our CSA box and I was buried in lettuce. I mean that in a literal sense but also metaphorically, because I was processing a lot of feelings and news this past week. I don’t think lettuce works well as a metaphor for really big emotions but we’ll just go with it for now.
This is just to say… I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox. Sorry- is it possible to start a sentence this way and not think of that poem? Let me try again. This is just to say… that I don’t remember what I cooked this week. However, there is something I have the mental energy to explore and that is: pancakes.
I have always been a savory breakfast person all the way, I think mostly because I have a deep love of condiments. Hash browns are not hash browns without hot sauce and ketchup. And I’ll never forget watching my high school journalism teacher at a celebratory lunch at Leo’s Coney Island mix yogurt and mustard as a dipping sauce for her greek omelet and feeling… so much respect.
However, as delicious as savory breakfast foods are, is there anything more magical than the premise of a lazy weekend pancake morning? If I close my eyes and picture the ideal weekend morning, it has to include standing over the stove, sunlight filtering in the window, flipping pancakes (and cursing, because I struggle with flipping them too early), with one of three songs playing in the background [La vie en rose by Grace Jones, Sunday Morning by the Velvet Underground, or Wakin on a Pretty Day by Kurt Vile. Note to self:- need to create pancake playlist on Spotify.]
As much as I like making pancakes on the weekend, judging by my photo library, I also like taking pictures of them. And I have to say, when everything feels transient and change feels inevitable, looking back at years of photos of pancakes is kind of soothing, you know? It’s a reminder that even when everything feels like it’s changing, there’s still some thread, some syrup trail if you will, of constancy.
And with that, I present to you - photos of pancakes from the past 3+ years, in no particular order.
