whole grain pancakes

I know what you're thinking.

I was just talking about how for the next five years I'm only gonna have protein shakes for breakfast and here I am making you pancakes. Well. I'm a woman that way, I guess. Deal with it.

Speaking of unexpected--you're never gonna believe what happened to me the other day. I was sitting in the nail salon, waiting for my toes to dry when I heard some bloop bloop police sirens on the street outside. I glanced up to see three motorcycle cops drive by, one-by-one. A person running with a flag followed and then came a peleton of about 8 runners, one of which was carrying a FLAMING TORCH!!!!! A couple police cars trailed behind. I looked around the quiet nail salon. Had anyone else seen that?????????

"Wow!" I said, looking around, trying to elicit responses from the most passive people in Los Angeles.

"Ohmygod, was that, like, the Olympic torch?" A tattooed girl said while two women massaged her. She was a little too nonplussed for my taste.

"YES!!" I said, "The OLYMPIC torch!! Amazing! What are the odds?! We're just sitting here getting pedicures and happen to glance outside at the exact moment the freaking OLYMPIC TORCH runs by!!!"

An older, WASPy woman piped in. "Was that the torch for the Olympics?" She asked, cooly, while inspecting a cuticle. Did you not just hear me screaming about it? I thought.

"YES!!" I said.

"Cool." She replied.

Cool? It's THE OLYMPICS! It's a little more than cool! I couldn't believe the casualness of these people.  

After getting over my irritation, I sat there with my jaw hanging open feeling such gratitude for the synchronicity of life! And being so in the flow! I couldn't wait to tell David about it:

"It was so cool, Chicken! You shoulda seen it! I kinda got a little teary!"

"Huh." He said.

"'Huh'? What do you mean, 'Huh'?"

"Well. Did you look it up online to see if it was the actual torch? Seems kinda weird that it would just be running down Ventura Boulevard with such little fanfare."

I was giving it plenty of fanfare! I thought.

Sadly, a reluctant google search confirmed that it was, in fact, not the Olympic Torch. Not only did I feel like a gullible idiot, my Olympic dreams were dashed. To add insult to injury, I couldn't even confirm what the torch signified. I think it was for a Sheriff's Law Enforcement Torch Run. 

I'm going to go eat pancakes now. With Lena.

Whole Grain Pancakes
adapted from Gourmet
yields about 20 3" cakes

These are my favorite pancakes outside of Claire's in Solana Beach. Beating the egg whites separately makes them fluffy and frying them in a little extra oil makes them deliciously crispy on the edges.

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cornmeal (or corn grits for a little more texture)
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup coconut (or vegetable) oil, additional for skillet
1 1/2 cups plus 2 T milk
blueberries if desired**
maple syrup for dousing

Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, oil and milk. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix well. It will be a thick batter. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites just until stiff peaks form. Add them to the batter and combine with a whisk gently but thoroughly.

Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet over medium heat and add a swirl (1/2 t) coconut oil. Drop the batter in 2T blobs and take care not to crowd the pan otherwise they're hard to flip (I know this from messy experience). After a couple minutes, when the top starts to form bubbles and/or look drier, gently flip and finish with another minute or two. If you like crispy edges (my Dad's specialty) add a little more oil to the skillet between batches. Watch your heat throughout--you don't want the oil to smoke or burn.

**optional--after you've spooned the batter into the skillet, add a few blueberries to the top of each batter blob. Alternatively, you can add them to the whole batch of batter but they tend to sink to the bottom.

Serve with copious amounts of maple syrup. Or honey. Or jam.

xoxo
jolie