How
often does your desire to do something get influenced but what
you don’t feel like doing?
It’s
not that you want to watch TV. You just don’t want to get out
of the chair.
It’s
not that you want a bowl of cereal. You just don’t want to cook.
The
thing is, apparently, the times are changing. Because we’re viewing
things differently than years before.
Apparently.
Friend
mentioned that he was doing some work around the house. Back had
been acting up. This morning, I sent a text his way…
“Hey,
let me know if you need any help today. Heading to the kitchen
to make some pancakes. Blueberry. Let me know if you want a
couple.”
Ha,
right? Good stuff. Offered to help. (Not looking for any credit
there, just pointing it out.) And, blueberry pancakes. Fun.
In
my day, there was a bit of a kindness found in the offer. Used
to be that such an exchange would move to some polite and fun
responses…
“Pancakes?
See you in five.”
Or…
“Can’t,
but thanks. Got a couple of errands to run. Talk later.”
But
we’ve moved on from that. Now, polite has shifted to…
“What
the hell, it’s 5 in the morning. Go back to bed you idiot.”
So
that’s how my day started. But, I do have a couple of observations
for you.
First,
don’t spill the vegetable oil. Just don’t. Try not to be tempted
by my experience and go off on your own to see for yourself. Benefit
from my troubles. Turns out, when you spill it, you can never
really get it all cleaned up. It goes everywhere, and then it
stays everywhere.
Second,
pancakes are delicious. Even when the batter looks right, but
maybe not right. You followed the directions, and yet it still
looks a bit too cakey or a bit too wet and… well… pretty much
anything that ends with butter and syrup is a success.
So,
let’s get back to the blueberries. Or, more specifically, cooking
for one.
It’s
a great scenario, night after night. Goes like this: there’s a
temptation each and every meal made at home to open the cupboards
or the fridge, consider your options, and settle on chips and
salsa. Easy. Not a lot of dishes. And, if you’re deep enough down
that road, you’ll start justifying it by deciding that having
the salsa means you’re eating your vegetables.
Once
you’ve cooked for two, four, or maybe even more people, it isn’t
as smooth a transition back to one plate as it might seem. And
don’t even get me started on recipes and servings and more.
Those
pancakes this morning? I’ve been using the same recipe for years.
Same cup of this and teaspoon of that. Difference is plain or
blueberry or banana chocolate chip. But three weeks ago when I
had some blueberries I wound up with eight pancakes. Today? Four.
And… how? How? Same darn recipe. Twice as many pancakes. And there
is absolutely no comfort to be found in knowing right from the
start the difference is me.
Sure,
there are some people that will ask if I used a different item
to scoop the batter. Some might go so far as to say that even
using the same stuff, I may not be scooping up as much batter
that time as I did this time. With other recipes you hear about
the humidity and temperature and not all ovens are the same. I’m
not buying it. Not with my pancakes today.
But
fortunately, I have more blueberries. In a day or two, I was going
to break out the leftover pancakes, maybe make some eggs, and
have another breakfast. Now I’ll just make another batch, freshly
cooked. Problem solved.
Now,
if only I knew what to make for lunch and dinner. Maybe I should
defrost something. I could use a salad. Maybe some soup. Or… wait…
are those tortilla chips?