That's what she said. And she meant it...without irony.I suppose the phrase wouldn't have struck me if she and her troupe hadn't just spent the previous so many minutes trying to convince the rest of us that they were so much more advanced than us in every way: general sophistication, professional knowledge and the almighty and indisputable measurement of Twitter followers. One even made a veiled comment on those of us sipping cups from a nearby coffee shop by calling a disaster when her ceramic travel mug from her favourite ubiquitous overpriced coffee house tumbled and smashed upon landing on the icy pavement. Yeah, you know the type.
It's amazing how one little phrase, not intended to be heard by anyone other than the two who accompanied her, can not so much chink an armour, but tear a hole in dollar store tin foil. No, I didn't buy their earlier assertions of superiority: her phrase simply confirmed my first impressions.
I know there are people who don't cook. And I know there are people who think heating a frozen dinner and serving it in china serving dishes is counts as cooking, or filling frozen pastry shells with tinned pie filling is scratch baking. I'm fully that there are those who, because of an accident of wealth, think their opinions are worth more than those who don't have the means to buy top end ingredients or eat at the finest restaurants.
I also know that someone's inability to make pancakes from scratch does not mean s/he is any less capable in areas that really count in life.
But really...these are pancakes.
Flour
Fat
Sugar
Salt
Eggs
Bicarb
Milk
The above is my version...I'm sure there are versions which don't use eggs, milk or other ingredients. And I'm positive there are versions that add fruit, nuts, spices and other flavours or textures.
It's not as if you need esoteric equipment or source an ingredient that's only available in a remote region half a world away to make nummy nummy pancakes. Heck, I'd argue using a box mix is probably a guarantee that you won't get nummy nummy pancakes. Just pancakes.
But it was Pancake Tuesday and I was already in a pancakey-type mood. Instead of either following Nigella Lawson's recipe or finding my lost recipe for blueberry buttermilk pancakes or even going back to my ricotta pancakes, I decided to trawl the web for something new.
With a small tub of cottage cheese in my fridge (why, I no longer remember), I decided to follow Whole Foods' recipe, but add a splash of vanilla to the batter.
Delicious, creamy and so easy to make.
No box needed.
Recipe: Fluffy Cottage Cheese Pancakes
cheers!
jasmine
I'm a quill for hire!