Sunday 19 April 2020

All the pancakes





Anyone else sitting around on the grass idly making daisy chains to hang round their dog? No? Just us then.

Four weeks of lockdown and I have been appreciating the chilled moments of everyone sitting around chatting and playing games and generally spending a whole lot more time together than they normally would. I am less appreciating the constant eating and how the fridge goes from stuffed full to half empty in the blink of an eye. A normal supermarket shop for me looks like I am stockpiling for the apocalypse, so I'm finding the amount of stuff in my trolley a bit embarrassing. I may make a sign saying 'Teenage boys at home' to ward of the judgy looks. A conversation over tea the other day - Littlest Boy: [Biggest Boy], if you had to, who would you eat, dad or mum?' So you can see, I cannot afford to let the fridge fall empty, already they are sizing us up for digestibility.

I made pancakes for breakfast yesterday and today, which is a new thing. The littlest boy always approaches the idea of breakfast as a thrilling adventure to discover some exciting new tasty dish, whereas I'm fundamentally opposed to cooking first thing in the morning as well as at ALL THE OTHER TIMES. But Lucy had a simple-looking oat pancake recipe on her blog this week and then I happened upon Smitten Kitchen's carrot cake pancakes, so we gave it all a go. Lucy's are brilliant, the littlest boy will be able to make these by himself (in theory). The carrot cake ones were excellent too, but a bit more involved.

My favourite pancakes are the vegan coconut pancakes I made on Shrove Tuesday this year. I didn't have any 'coconut drink' so I used a tin of coconut milk and they were utterly delicious. I can't see myself making pancakes regularly for breakfast though, I'm not a huge fan of starting the day by washing up frying pans and jugs and goodness knows what else. Although of course now I've done it once I will no doubt be expected to do it all the time.

The dog has had a bit of a rubbish week, although I suspect he may just be a big drama queen. The little lump on his tail has been annoying him mightily and we had to switch to a bigger (labrador-sized) cone to prevent him licking it. He decided he no longer cared to go for a walk, and even if we managed to tempt him out, he sat down after a hundred yards and had to be carried home, lolling upside down in my arms, legs and paws flopping up and down, head hanging down to the ground, in the manner of roadkill.

The neighbours asked me what was wrong, imagining him to be at death's door. In fact, having had the results back from the vet, the lump is something that can be itchy, but that's all. I had of course built it all up in my mind to be some huge ghastly thing, causing absolute agony, when in fact he is just being dramatic. He has had people waiting on him hand, paw and finger, feeding in his kibble piece by piece, bringing his water dish over to him in case getting up was too much of a trial and tempting him with tiny tasty morsels. He has done it before, and I fear he may turn out to be the dog that cried wolf and next time we will just ignore him. Oh, who am I kidding, of course we won't, we live to serve him.

I hope all is well lovelies, look after yourselves and your beasts. CJ xx

18 comments:

  1. This post had me chuckling. Good to read that Bertie is okay and just being a bit of a drama queen. My dad used to make plain pancakes, paper thin and lots of them eaten with lemon juice and sugar.
    I'm okay, thanks and you too. xx

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  2. Those are very lovely-looking pancake recipes...*dribbles*. I make an oatmeal variety, in large quantities, that gets hoovered almost instantly by the Teen Boy so I absolutely can't imagine what feeding three of them must be like....I feel like I spend most of my day providing food....not much as changed since infanthood, then.:D

    Bertie. Ah, Bertie. He knows how to work a room...

    Be safe and well, lovely you...xo

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  3. You have such a way with words! I was laughing fit to drop as I read this post. Just what I needed. Thank you so much and a hug to Bertie!

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  4. I feel your pancake making may be the thin end of the wedge - once you've got them used to the idea.... Although it might be a good plan to make yourself indispensable when it comes to the 'which parent do we eat first' conversation! Poor Bertie with his itchy lump. I'd love to see a photo of you carrying him home like some swooning damsel! Thank you for the vegan coconut pancake recipe -I'll definitely be giving those a try. Stay safe. xx

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  5. Well done on the pancakes, they sound delicious although a bit more of a faff than bran flakes. Bertie looks very 1960s in his daisy chain. Enjoy next week chatting with your boys. x

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  6. Glad to see you have become a pet slave too. The things we do for our furry friends are endless 😹. Glad his problem isn’t serious though. Like the sound of the oat pancakes. I better make them quickly while I still have oats as that will be the next missing item in the supermarket.
    My comment to my children if they suggested eating me would be ‘oh no I’m much too stringy, not good to eat at all’! I feel for you constantly shopping, I do so remember those endless fridge refilling days. Now youngest looks forward to ‘ Mummy pots’ from my freezer. He’s only 28 but cooking for himself isn’t his favourite thing.
    Reading problems here too. Once I get into something worthwhile I’ll let you know. I blame covid. Have a good week. B x

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  7. Ha ha ha! Couldn't help but laughing at how your boys are sizing you up for dinner. I think I'll put my kids on the spot and ask them straight up: Who would you eat? Me or Papa! Will be interesting to see what they will respond. ;)
    Xxx

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  8. New reader here and I'm delighted with your beautifully worded and often humorous posts! Sizing you up for digestibility indeed!! It's just me and the Best Man now but I'm sure my children may well have had the same thought in these circumstances. Too funny - Evi :)

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  9. Tell Bertie that dogs have masters and cats have staff, so he better shape up or start meowing.

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  10. Oh that pretty furry darling. How cute he looks with his daisy chain around his neck. I do think that he is very smart and is training you all to do his bidding. Our Mocha comes to cuddle up each time I have something good to eat. Then if I don't put my arm around her soon enough.. she licks my hand until I move it and boom.. she's where she wants to be until I give her the last bite of whatever I'm eating. See.. she's training me. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  11. We have 2 cats, and one went off her food, would not eat ANYTHING that was put down for her. We thought maybe a neighbor was feeding her. Then one evening she came to eat later than the other one so we brought her plate into the living room, so the first would not eat this too, and lo and behold she ate every bite! So now the princess eats in absolute majesty, alone in the living room, and downs it all! Susan is right - cats have staff and they get us trained very quickly! Stay safe CJ!

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  12. I am with you on the cooking front. I might make waffles very occasionally, but only on a Sunday. Breakfasts should be quick and easy and not involve too many dishes... I am so glad Richard does the shopping, I would also be embarrassed about my full trolley. We spend more in the supermarket at the moment but then we don't hand out coins everyday for lunches and we don't top up in the corner shop much... and there is six of us eating.

    Poor old Bertie, I hope you feels his usual bouncy self soon. He is probably suffering from too much human company. I think this is what Jack suffers from. He is used to spend quite some time snoozing on the windowsill and making sure no foxes or evil cats intrude the front garden. Now, when we take the lead off the hook, he gives us the most pitiful look. He also hides (not very well) beside the compost bin... I hope you have a lovely week xx

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  13. Glad the lumpy tail isn’t anything serious. I just hope dog groomers are back at work,soon.

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  14. I am glad it is not just me with the embarrassingly full trolley in the supermarket. My fridge is just like yours maybe they are in cahoots? My two make their own breakfast oldest has porridge which he cooks himself and washes up. Youngest has pancakes just like the ones you mentioned except that we soak the oats and yogurt overnight and then add the egg in the morning. We invested in a pancake pan which you are not meant to wash you just chuck some boiling water in which produces dramatic steaming, pour the water away and it is clean! Mine kind of washing up!

    Glad to hear the lump on Bertie's tail is not serious hope it stops itching soon x

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  15. Ah poor Bertie - though he does seem to be making the most of it! Just the two of us here now - I can't imagine what it must be like to feed 3 boys.
    Take care, keep writing your posts, they always make me laugh ....and try not to be eaten x

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  16. Poor doggie. The pancale maker in our house is Andy and he makes the thinnest crepes - perfect. Jo xx

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  17. I am getting a weekly shop for my mum as well as ours and picking up other random bits for neighbours so I also seem to have a huge amount too! The thought of your boys eyeing you up to eat did make me laugh. As for Bertie... of course you will wait on him. Stay well x

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  18. Oh you make me laugh because when Bear has his cone on he can't eat out of his dish only my hand. Now mind you he can easily reach his food without my help but he refuses. So of course I know that I injured him so I sit by his dish with kibble on my palm and feed him! Talk about drama! Glad to find our your boy doesn't have anything serious. As for food, I know how you feel. We have so many BBQ chips in our cart it is embarrassing, and only one young person eats them.

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