First Pancakes, Then Ice Skating
February 13th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Posted in kids
A hearty breakfast before heading out into the cold
With snow being cleared, the ice skating rink in the Smithsonian Institution’s Sculpture Garden finally reopened yesterday. Daughter invited friends to walk a little over a mile over not-entirely-shoveled sidewalks to the rink. But first, they sat down to pancakes. Marion Cunningham, in The Breakfast Book, says, “This basic pancake tastes better than all the others I’ve tried.”
And it is basic. Normally, I would make my pancakes with buttermilk and some corn meal. But daughter has rejected that. Her favorite is a pancake dotted with raspberries. But today, the best we could offer were blueberries we froze over the summer and some chocolate chips.
First, melt five tablespoons butter in 1 cup milk in a saucepan over low heat. Set the pan aside to cool a little. Meanwhile, beat two eggs in a mixing bowl. Then stir the butter and milk into the eggs and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt.
Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until all of the flour has been incorporated, no more. Don’t overmix.
Heat a griddle or heavy skillet to moderately hot, grease with butter and ladle about 3 tablespoons batter for each pancake. At this point, you can dot the pancakes with blueberries or raspberries or chocolate chips–or perhaps you have another favorite topping. When bubbles break the surface, they should be ready to turn. Hold them warm in the oven until ready to serve.
The finished pancakes make a handsome presentation
Then it was on with the snowsuits and begin our trek through the streets of the District of Columbia, which have been almost impassable for most of the week following two snow storms. We’ve set a new record for winter snowfall this year: 54.9 inches.
Room enough for three
Along the way, we found that someone had started building igloos in the park at Logan Circle. Lots of them, some more finished than others. These are always fun to play in.
Nowhere to park here
Snow is still piled up everywhere in the nation’s capitol. I’ts probably easier getting around on foot. But walking is still an adventure. There’s a whole new controversy brewing: How to deal with property owners and businesses that don’t shovel their sidewalks?
The sculptures are still covered with snow
It was a perfect day at the skating rink–bright sun, lots of room on the ice to fool around.
Little ones were learning
Sun, snow, ice: glorious
And just in time for International Pancake Week!
I’m adding this variety to my list. YUM!
ED! Melt the butter with the milk – brilliant!I have never figured out how to add melted butter to cold milk/eggs (when making waffle batter) without the butter getting all weirdly solid again. Thanks for the tip, buried in post about pancakes and snow. 🙂