Monday, January 19, 2009

Pancakes And Syrup

This blog has never been about what I had for breakfast.

Yawwwwn!

You'd be bored, I'd be bored......

But today I'm making an exception. This morning I had pancakes for breakfast. Nothing fancy, nothing from scratch; just the kind you grab from the freezer, pop in the toaster, dab with butter, a dribble of syrup, and quickly munch while gathering your wits to dash out the door to the dentist.

Something slowed me down though. It was the sweet smell of the syrup, good old Log Cabin. And not so much the syrup itself as the memories it stirred. Memories of the first time I ever had pancakes and syrup for breakfast. As my mother, may she rest in peace, would say, it's far from pancakes for breakfast I was raised! Good old stick-to-the-ribs porridge, and hunks of brown bread with marmalade, more like.

But the first time I came to the States with my dad, we stayed in the middle of New York city. For breakfast we would go out and pick one of the many little hole-in-the wall breakfast places. And I fell in love with this uniquely American idea of starting the day with pancakes or waffles. Until that time pancakes, to me, were the things we had on Shrove Tuesday, supposedly to use up all the eggs, since we'd be starving ourselves for the good of our immortal souls for the forty days of Lent! Those pancakes were more like crepes. Delicious in their own right.....

The thing that struck me the most about that first visit to America, was the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, the crazy mad traffic, the uninhibited shouting and honking of horns, the brash, loud, chaotic way Americans rushed at life, and the way the very air crackled with energy and vitality. In this country, you felt, anything was possible! If you could dream it, this was the place you could do it!

For me, that feeling of excitement and endless possibility is forever linked to the smell and the taste of pancakes with syrup!

"So," you're wondering. "Where is she meandering to with all of this?"

In recent years that "pancakes and syrup" exhilaration has been diminishing.

With the inauguration tomorrow of Barack Obama as the president of the United States, I'm thinking there's a good chance we're about to get it back!



Sayonara Dubbya!

11 comments:

meggie said...

I enjoyed this post. Pancakes for me, were the thin crepey ones my grandmother made. They were so delicious, & we had them with sugar a little butter, & lemon juice.
I think the world is watching & waiting for new hope that is Obama.

Ali Honey said...

Yep, those pancakes sound good.

I very much hope for the sake of USA and the rest of the world that Obama manages to make some changes for the better. I just hold my breath, that no body tries to assasinate him. I wish him well in his challenge.

Anonymous said...

May the thrill of pancakes stay with you for a while.

Anonymous said...

Like meggie, my pancake memory is somewhat different. I'd suggest it's a cultural thing.
Your post echos of home values and sentiments. Perhaps that is what this political change inspires in people.

raining sheep said...

It amazes how Americans are excited about this inaugeration day...I can't imagine anyone in Canada getting excited about anything. Our prime ministers are so boring and they wear boring clothes. I wonder sometimes how your new president can ever come close to meeting the expectations that people have of him. I have watched interviews of Americans and some feel like Obama is the solution to everything...wow! I would not want to be the President of the United States. I am totally watching the inaugaration on television tonight. It is supposed to be one of the biggest ever.

Ralph said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
J Cosmo Newbery said...

Never had pancakes and syrup.. Perhaps now is he time.

Thimbleanna said...

Yummmmm....I LOVE pancakes and syrup. Just too darn bad they're so dang fattening! I think I'm feeling much like Raina -- I was feeling sorry for our new president last night -- how on earth can he ever live up to the expectations??? I think the mood has been so depressing and people just need something exuberant to cling too, so viola! I'll be content if he doesn't make anything worse -- such are my high expectations for any politician.

StitchinByTheLake said...

I could eat pancakes and syrup every single day (Aunt Jemima syrup, thank you very much) but I don't. My hips wouldn't make it through the door if I did that! But they are so homey to me, a girl raised in the south where pancakes were served often. blessings, marlene

Anonymous said...

May you enjoy pancakes for a long time to come!

My mother used to make buttermilk pancakes on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon if we were short of bread. No measuring scales were involved and we would eat with butter and sprinkled sugar.

Warty Mammal said...

Lovely memories.

I hope these coming years will be good and honest ones for the country.