Coming Full Circle

It was 7AM on a Monday morning when I found myself in the kitchen with my sister and her 5 year old daughter. My sister thought it would be a good idea to teach her daughter the rudiments of preparing hot cakes for breakfast. Out came the bowls, measuring cups and measuring spoons. Out came the flour, the salt, the eggs and milk. And in the center of it all was my mother’s hot cake recipe pulled out from my sister’s recipe notebook. My niece being a take-charge person, soon had flour on the kitchen counter after sifting the dry ingredients together.

Memories of similar scenes came rushing through my mind. I see my mother first preparing and then teaching us the same hot cakes recipe. Then I see myself teaching my daughter. Flash forward and I see my sister teaching her daughter.

I brought this up to my sister and we both smiled at how our lives had come somewhat full circle because of a recipe.



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Before the flooding of the market with hotcake mixes and fast food chains serving breakfast pancakes, every mother had her own hot cake recipe. Even the syrup that came with it was made from scratch. Sure, commercial mixes are breezy to make but they would contain preservatives so as to last long on the grocery shelves. Plus, there’s nothing like hot cakes made from scratch to build fond memories on.

My Mom’s Hotcake Recipe

2 c all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c melted butter or margarine or cooking oil
1 1/2 c milk
1 t vanilla

Sift together the dry ingredients. Set aside.



Mix sugar with eggs; then add milk, melted butter or oil and vanilla.



Add wet mixture to flour mixture. Stir until blended but somewhat lumpy.

Pour about ¼ c of this batter in a heated non-stick pan that had initially been oiled. You may also use butter.
When you see lots of bubbles bursting on the surface, turn pancake to cook on the other side.



Serve with butter, your favorite syrup and some slice fruits on the side.