During the day I work with bright line rules and statutory standards. It’s often a world of black and white that takes into account some nuances. As a writer, cook, artist, I live in the grey areas. I turn to creativity to explain or distract myself from the goings-on of every day. Even when I’m afraid to look behind the curtain, I look behind the curtain, gingerly using the lessons I’ve learned along the way as guidelines for how to proceed and for how to embrace an inner life that seems so much more complicated than the outer one. It’s part of the beauty of living.
As a student, I lived in a world of restraint. In a way I still do, but restraint of a different kind. Scouring the aisles of the grocery store, buying anything that’s cheap is not a life I want to return to. However, having the world at your fingertips gives you so much freedom and choice that saying no to anything at all feels like restraint, not that I’m completely in that boat either. Restraint in diet, restraint in pleasure-seeking that will end in pain, restraint in conversation, restraint with the bottle, restraint from always seeking out bigger and better and more or different. Restraint and discipline. These are the parameters by which we must measure our days. There’s a well known passage in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar where she’s sitting under a fig tree weighing all of her options and future: career, marriage, lovers, children, etc.
“I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
Although I just posted a pancake recipe, I knew that this was an area where the word restraint has no place and discipline appears only in the effort to get out of bed. Don’t starve at the crotch of a fruit bearing tree. Make these! These pancakes are hearty and heavy and have only respect for the infinite. There is no poverty of choice here and no need to commit. You like flax seeds and not chia seeds? Go for it. Are you vegan? Skip the egg and add the chia to bind it. Substitute almond milk. Hate white all-purpose flour? Use whole wheat or almond flour. Hate bananas? Use strawberries, hell, use both! And granola. Which kind you ask? That’s a whole ‘nother post. This is where creativity is good for you. Plus, you’re spreading the love. Who doesn’t want to wake up to pancakes? To sit at a table and connect or reconnect?
Learn your lessons from your mistakes, recognize an unacceptable offer when one is placed before you by reading literature and taking notes. Tame your passions, gluttony, fervor and destructive behavior if you must in real life, but there are no rules in pancake making. Act on a whim. Indulge the devil. You’ve got guidelines, but go ahead and jump. Here you won’t hurt your future, your prospects or anyone else, not even yourself.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 2 bananas, sliced or whatever fruit
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds or flax seeds
- 1/3 cup granola of any kind, nuts fruits whatever
- butter for the pan
Directions:
Melt the butter and beat the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the butter, egg, and milk and chia seeds.
Mix gently with a spoon. The finished batter should be mostly smooth with no loose flour, but some lumps are fine and will cook out. Do not over-mix or the pancakes will become rubbery. Heat a large nonstick frying pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Add a very thin layer of butter so the batter doesn’t stick to the pan.
Spoon the batter onto the pan, using about two heaping tablespoons per pancake. Add 3 or 4 banana slices or fruit and granola to the top of each pancake. When the surface of the pancake bubbles, peek underneath with a spatula and, if it is nicely golden-brown, flip the pancake over. When the other side is golden, remove it to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding a little more oil to the pan in between each batch if needed. Serve immediately with real maple syrup or confectioner’s sugar. Top with more fruit and granola.
Wholesome, homey, and delicious. Beautiful photos too, I love the close-up perspective on the griddle. I can feel them right in front of me, at mouth level – chomp! 😉
Ha! Thank you. I was hesitant to post more pancakes, but these were just so darn good, I had to. Savory stuff is coming up.
Don’t you dare withhold pancakes from us 🙂 Keep them coming!
🙂 You’re the best.
Yummy!
Thanks, Arthur. How bout this snow?
Pancakes and Sylvia Plath. Where else can one encounter these two except in “What’s Cooking.” 🙂
You’re too kind, Xio. Without your support, this site would not exist. Nor would I have discovered the joy of photography. It’s nice toiling away side by side at the office with a fellow artist.
What a way to start the morning! These look resplendent!!!
Gracias, amiguis!
Who cares that you posted pancakes a few weeks ago? These look amazing, and the pictures are lovely, and so it your writing. I just made pancakes for “chandeleur” (Candlemas???), though the traditional thing would have been to make crêpes (but I don’t have a proper pan for those); I made lemon-poppy-seed-quinoa-flake pancakes and drownded them in a pool of maple syrup. But I really like your idea of whole wheat flour; I’ve recently tried whole wheat cookies and loved the specific taste of the wheat. Will keep the idea in mind for my next pancakes!
Wow, Darya, that sounds so good. I should have put lemon in these! I had no idea what Candlemas was, but I read about this crepe tradition on a Spanish blog I read. You definitely should post about these things. I’ve learned so much about religion from French and Latin blogs through food! This recipe was really just a good way to get out what was on my mind. I’ve got some really cool stuff on the way and I still owe you a kale bowl recipe. I’m excited to be excited again about food.
I just went and picked up the kale (and other stuff); though I am not 100% pleased with this CSA, so I might just go back to shopping at the market.
I also love cooking to get stuff (like my PhD) off my mind. I would have liked to post about Candlemas this year, but I am so disorganized… I will have to do it next year instead! And there is still the Russian Blini feast coming up in a few weeks, perhaps I’ll make something for that!
Oh you must. I love your Russian recipes. It brings me closer to my own roots without being antiquated. Has your mom ever been to Coney Island in Brooklyn? She would love it. They call it Little Odessa. It’s where my Grandma lives. They should go out on this trip and see Brighton Beach.
My parents lived in NY for many years (I never told you I was born there? We moved to France when I was 5), so I am sure she must know Coney Island! I’ll try to get my mom’s blini recipe, but it takes a whole day to make them, so I am not sure I will be sharing that specific recipe on the blog! 🙂 But I have other bilini recipes I want to try out too, and they could be an excuse for telling a story!
Every recipe for me is an excuse to tell a story. I’m a story teller by nature, a creative writing major. Ah I dont think i knew you moved at 5. So cool.
It’s quite seasonal – Fat Tuesday is coming soon and that’s Pancake Day in the UK 😉
So cool! Lots of good food holidays around that I’m learning about.
I was born late at night on Fat Tuesday – I love eating and I don’t like going to bed!
Aw so cool! Happy Birthday! Well these pancakes with no limits are perfect for you then. I hope you enjoy with gusto!
These pancakes look really good, Amanda. I will definitely try your recipe with blueberry sauce over them, very soon.
OMG blueberry sauce! Yum! Definitely post your recipe!
Delicious! And beautiful pics, too.
Thanks so much, Michelle.
Wow.. they look delicious! and what a healthy way to start your day. You take awesome pics Amanda.
Thanks, Namrata. So do you. I love your blog.
A meditative and sensual post, a gorgeous recipe and you even go and quote from one of my all time held-dear books. A pleasure without restraint for me
Thanks, Azita. It means a lot from you.
Hi Amanda, I love the photos. Yes, no rules in pancake making! I have a tendency to put bananas in mine 🙂
Thanks, Sofia. Bananas are so good, though blueberries and strawberries are so good too.
Amanda, this post just provoked a big ‘sigh’. I love this post, beautifully thought, written, photographed and the pancakes are a perfect accompaniment to your narrative. What a recipe for a perfect post. What a recipe for perfect pancakes. 🙂
Aw. Thank you so much. I’ve definitely been feeling all of this more acutely lately, maybe because it’s winter and there are fewer distractions. But cooking helps put the contemplation in perspective. I love your comment. On Feb 6, 2014 8:05 PM, “What's Cooking” wrote:
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Oh my gosh. This is an amazing post Amanda! Seriously, you had me re-reading that Sylvia Plath quote three times. Profound stuff. I love the choices we have as humans… they’re both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes I wonder how much time I would save if ‘sustenance’ just came in little blank cardboard packages… eliminating the creative process, deliberation of options etc. It takes me 10 minutes to choose between loaves of bread at the market so I could effectively reclaim hours of my life! But then again… how I love choosing. Creating. Experimenting.
Love this post. Love these chia pancakes. I’ll be trying them this weekend… xx
Thanks so much, Laura. It’s amazing how complicated we make things or just how complicated we are as human beings. It shows through our choices. But it’s what keeps things interesting! On Feb 7, 2014 2:35 AM, “What's Cooking” wrote:
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These look absolutely divine- would love for my weekend breakfast! 🙂
Thanks, Jessica. They really are delish. Glad you stopped by to take a look 🙂
The Bell Jar…brings back a distant memory. Books are like recipes for me both evoke a memory. Lovely, lovely photographs Amanda.
Thanks, Maria. I totally agree with you.
It is true that so many of us become paralyzed when we have to make decisions, but at some point you have to leap and hope realize that even if one fig isn’t quite as perfect as all the rest, at least its a fig. That sounds horrible, but you know what I mean. Make the best of whatever fig you get. Well now, I’m just getting terribly clichéd. The pancakes sound lovely by the way.
Thanks, Eliza. I totally get it. Otherwise you starve. You do have to make the most of the path that seems best at the time. There really isn’t a ton of room for regret in life. Life is an adventure and past of the joy is in living it and not letting your options drown you. I love hearing your thoughtful comments.