Bennett & Pancakes

For my birthday last week, I got the cutest, heart warming birthday picture from my good friend Carolyn's little boy Bennett.  He asked his mom if I would know what the heart meant.(sniff, sniff)  She said this was all his idea and she didn't help him at all.  This was especially special because the "Sophie" he drew is my little dog that bit him last xmas eve.  Oh yes she did.  :-( Sofie is not the most friendly dog to other dogs or children and yes she did bite him, which I felt terribly about.  Worst because I didn't want him to learn to fear dogs. So you can see, this was sooo sweet of him to show how he loved me and my dog.  (Sniff, sniff again.)

Carolyn said that he when couldn't come to my party (it was adults only), he was sooo sad and thus I wanted to thank him for my wonderful card and love. I invited both of them over for breakfast...a pancake breakfast.

I realized, I've not made pancakes from scratch in like forever.  When I worked at the bakery, we served mainly French Toast and so I really couldn't think of the last time I made pancakes other than as a kid with a box of Bisquick.

Where to start, I wasn't sure. The first recipe I thought of was the Clinton St. Baking Co. pancakes.  They are famous for it in NYC, suppose to be one of the best. They also went up against Bobby Flay for it in the throwdown but didn't quite win.  

This was the recipe I wanted to try.  My first real pancakes from scratch.  The unique part of this recipe is separating the egg yolks and the whites.  You whip up the whites until stiff then fold them in the batter.  I also used one of the best vanilla I have that I picked up from a store in Napa. It's from Zeron Fine foods, it's their Double Intensity, pure Veracruz Vanilla extract.  It was $20.00 for a 100ml bottle, worth every cent...so much flavor.  I also used buttermilk vs. the whole milk in their recipe. I love a little tang and the richness that buttermilk gives.

I also set up various topping that they could choose from and help themselves to.  

The pancakes turned out pretty good.  Carolyn said one of the best she's had.  She liked the cake like texture and the vanilla favor.  Bennett ate more bacon than the pancakes.  I'd like it to be alittle more fluffy and soft.  I'll try this again and prob serve it at my next brunch. I love this concept.  I just think homemade pancakes is so special, that you should only do for people you really care about and love.  It just is...

Here is my tweaked recipe from the Clinton St. Baking Co.  I used half the recipe and still managed to make about 12 6" pancakes.  You can use the full recipe below for a large crowd.

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

6 large eggs, separated

3 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

2 teaspoons unsalted butter, unmelted for the griddle and lots more for serving

-Measure the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into a large bowl.

-In another bowl, whisk together the yolks, milk, melted butter, and vanilla until combined. Slowly whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture just until combined. The resulting should be slightly lumpy yet still combined.

-Whip the egg whites by hand with a whisk or in the bowl of an electric mixer until they reach medium peaks. You can whip them by hand with a whisk or place them in the bowl of an electric mixer. (Peaks are “soft” when you put your finger in the whites and they fall over. Peaks are “medium” when you put your finger in and they drip over a bit and stand up. “Stiff” peaks develop when you whip the whites longer and they stay up.) You don’t want to over whip the egg whites.

-Gently fold half of the whipped whites into the batter with a large rubber spatula. Then gently fold the remaining whites into the batter. The batter should be slightly lumpy and have large parts of egg whites not fully incorporated and should look like whitecaps in the ocean with foam on top. 

-Heat a griddle — either an electric griddle, a stove top griddle, or a big flat skillet — over medium to medium-low heat. Grease the hot surface with a teaspoon or so of the remaining butter. Drop 1/4 cup of pancake batter on the griddle. When you see bubbles start to form on top, lift the pancake halfway up to see if it’s golden brown and crisp at the edges. If it is, flip the pancake and cook until golden brown on both sides. Remove to a plate with a spatula.

-Repeat with the remaining batter and filling, adding more butter to the griddle as needed and cooking several pancakes at a time. Serve immediately with butter, maple syrup, fresh fruit, and nuts.

Bennett had some fun creating faces on his pancakes. Little kids just love that. He is such a cute loving kid, gave me lots of hugs and kisses this morning. He made my day....

Portland Trip

Coldplay, Books, and Food

I had a short visit to Portland for a Coldplay concert. Show was amazing! Highlight was Powell's book store, and I didn't get to go to a lot of food places but here are a few highlights.

Went to a place called The Original Dinerant http://www.originaldinerant.com/. It's a place with glorified and modern comfort food. We stop by for brunch. There some hits but also some misses...

I am a big fan of biscuit and gravy. As a vegetarian, this is hard to come by, but I always ask when it's on the menu. It's usually made with sausage in the gravy. Here they made it with mushroom. It was yum!

They had some good omelets that came with salad option.

Soung is always on the quest for the best egg's benedict. This one was a miss for her because they made the hollandaise sauce with sour cream.

They also had this mac and cheese pancake. Yes..pancake. It was suppose to be a good combo of sweet and salty. Major miss. It was a bit rubbery and not much flavor...

One nice hit was homemade pop tarts. Who doesn't remember pop tart which is basically a fruit pie folded. This one was apricot. Yum!

Lastly, who can forget Voodoo Doughnut. I was a bit disappointed because it's such a tourist destination now...who have been wowed by all the food show...me included. The doughnuts were really good but the line I could do without. They did have the maple bacon that Jason ate and seem to enjoy. I had a banana fritter with peanut sauce and chocolate. The most memorable was cock and balls. Our most famous phrase of the trip...which will now be put to rest. :)

What do people eat on a 27 hour relay?

Ragnar Relay Road Food

As runners, we can eat whatever we want during the period of a relay race since we are running about 11-20+ miles and burning lot of calories. The factor is do we want to? Do we want to use our license to eat or eat healthy to run better?

Well...I just did the Ragnar relay this past weekend. Our team ran a total of 180 miles with 12 runners from Blaine to Langley.

Some people did eat whatever they wanted and paid the price during the legs.

Like "Diablo" pizza and beer few hours before the run. It's all fun and happy when you are eating...

But not so happy when you have to run...

Some ate well during the race....

and stayed happy....

And ran well...

We drank our waters and gatorade...

Or got excited to wear the water during the heat...

There were morning food...

And desserts...(this is a peanut butter chocolate pie I myself enjoyed after 2nd leg of running...I think.)

Some of us chose not to eat any solid food at all and ran sub 7 mpm smiling the whole time...

While some of us ate too much and had to take a nap...

We also had the usual bagels, pretzels, power bars, and banana...but nothing beats a burger and onion rings from a road food establishment...(well for some...)

At the end of it all...we had beer which made us all happy!