Ruined for Others

This blog post isn't about Boyfriend of Amazingness... although I'm certain that the title led you to think it absolutely had to be.

No... instead, this post is about pancakes.

This past Sunday was Mother's Day. When I think of Mother's Day, I consider a day mostly celebrated by individuals who buy flowers and remember that they probably ought to thank their Mom for being awesome.

This is simply not how we roll.

Much like our response to Valentine's Day, Boyfriend of Amazingness and I (along with our moms) think that it's pretty important to love people every day, not just on the arbitrary date that the calendar dictates.

Sometimes that means "Hey, Mom, it's Tuesday... wanna get dinner together just because?"

Sometimes it means "No, we don't have any real plans today, except for relaxing. It's not a problem for us to come take a look at your lawn mower. Just give us a few minutes to get dressed and we'll hit the road."

And sometimes it's just a "Hi, I wanted to call and tell you I love you."

Earlier this month, I wrote my Mom a post to thank her for being my Mom.

On Saturday, we went out to a little yarn shop and checked that out together.

And on Sunday, my sister asked me to bring Mom to the restaurant where she (sister) works so she (sister) could cook her (Mom) breakfast.

It's that breakfast that brings me here today.

My sister is pretty incredible in the kitchen.

(Actually, she's incredible everywhere. It's just what she does.)

I'm not a huge morning person. It takes me a little time to get going, and then a little more time to figure out which end is up before I'm ready to eat.

But when I looked at the menu on Sunday - even in my caffeine-less state - something jumped out immediately:

Cheesecake Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce.

My God.

These pancakes, I'm pretty certain, were made of pure magic.

I don't know how they did it.

I only know I'll never - not ever - be able to replicate it with any degree of success.

Firstly, they were the perfect temperature. When I make pancakes at home, I often make a full batch and then (and ONLY then) will I sit down with Boyfriend of Amazingness to dine upon them. Which means that, often, they're tepid and slightly soggy by the time it's time to eat.

These were piping hot. And by piping, I mean that I had to funnel up my face and blow little smoke rings so my tongue wouldn't spontaneously combust. They were the perfect temperature.

Secondly, they actually tasted like cheesecake. When I ordered them, I wasn't certain what to expect. Would there be little chunks of soggy cheesecake in the batter? Would it be weird?

No. It was the perfect mixture of cheesecake magic without losing the pancake consistency.

Thirdly, there was no butter on them. That's the best way to ruin a pancake for me - I don't want butter all up in there. I want to taste the syrupy goodness and nothing else.

And that's exactly what I tasted. The blueberry sauce over the cheesecakey goodness left me thinking "Yum... I just ate the best cheesecake I've ever had in my life."

I've been ruined for all other pancakes.

UPDATE:

Inquiring Minds Want to Know:

"Sunny, where did you get these amazing pancakes? They sound so fabulous that I simply must get some of my very own!"

Well, ReaderFriends, I wish you all the best with that endeavor... However, they were served for breakfast at a restaurant which only opened for breakfast on Mother's Day. They're typically only open after 2:00 p.m., at which point they don't often serve pancakes. However, I'm not one to crush a dream so willy nilly - if you'd like to try to find these pancakes for yourself, get in touch with the good folks of the Back Burner restaurant in Brownfield, Maine. You can find more information here.

Dancey Dancey, Jump for Joy!

Woah!

No, seriously - Woah!!

Today, upon returning from my long weekend away from the bonds of technology**1, do you know what I found?

(Of course you don't. I haven't told you yet, and you aren't psychic. If you were, you'd be using your powers to figure out the deeper meaning behind the Matrix movies or something, instead of wasting your time here on my ramblings.)

We have just hit 1,000 views!

DearEngineerFriend has been looked at 1,000 times within the past 14 months.

That's 71 views per month!!

That's 2.3 views per day!!!

That's SO EXCITING!!!!

And in celebration of this momentus occasion...

I have absolutely nothing.

(This kind of snuck up on me.)

I didn't prepare something in anticipation of reaching this milestone... I just figured it would happen eventually and the perfect words would be at the tip of my fingers.

(Because spur-of-the-moment words are so easy to come by, doncha know...)

They aren't.

Instead of crafting perfect verbage, I spent my morning weeding through e-mails that came in over my long weekend**2 and trying to figure out how the world will handle my impending 2-week vacation.

But as I was doing that, I did assemble a snippet to share... So we'll call this the celebration.

Public Service Announcement to Fellow Office Dwellers

We've covered before how I feel about Monday Mornings. They are just the life-sucky-est. But we forge boldly onward, secure in the knowledge that tomorrow is NOT Monday, and the week will get better.

However, what Monday mornings are is a termination of the weekend. That means we buckle down and get back to the unsavory duties we must accomplish within our Establishment of Organized Chaos.

And by 'unsavory duties,' I do NOT mean clipping your fingernails at your desk. No, I'm serious. Your morning schedule should include e-mails and returning phone calls... not basic hygiene. You had a whole weekend just a few hours ago in which to fling little clipping shards about your home with wild abandon. Which leads me to believe that one of two things is happening:

1) You have only one pair of clippers, which you keep them in your desk drawer next to your emergency roll of duct tape. And you accidentally killed a hobo with your claws this morning, so a police officer mandated that you groom.

2) You use clippings to spice your morning coffee, to give your Monday morning a little extra pick-you-up.

Either way, my Monday morning routine - and my Me - is being thoroughly and deeply disturbed by your Monday morning routine. Something's gotta give... And at the rate you're going, it's going to be the tip of your finger and my stomach.

RaYD,

Sunny

**1 And when I escape technology... I do it pre-7th-century style. And it's epic.

**2 Did I mention that it was epic?

Storytime

Once upon a time, there was a jelly doughnut.

It was a happy little doughnut, because it wasn't little at all, really.

It was actually quite huge.

And it was very proud.

It had powdered sugar all over, but not too thick...

It was just the right coating.

And it was filled with sticky sweet strawberry jam, which was just runny enough to give the jelly doughnut a proper squish, but not so runny as to leak out the jelly belly button.

This jelly doughnut lived a happy life. It came out of an oven one Friday morning, put its perfect coat of powdered sugar on, and sat in the bakery pastry case waiting for its person to come along.

And then suddenly, the shop bell rang.

What a happy day!

A tall, heavyset man had come to give the doughnut a home.

The doughnut smiled.

It was going to make someone very happy.

And very full.

So it sat in its little cardboard box with some other jelly doughnuts, and some cinnamon rolls, and one peppy little blueberry muffin with crumbles on top.

One by one, the jelly doughnut's friends started to disappear.

First one cinnamon roll was taken out by a very smiley admin.

Next, the peppy little blueberry muffin with the crumbles on top went to an EngineerFriend.

And then one of the other jelly doughnuts ascended to the heavens, aided by the hand of a hungry manager.

The jelly doughnut just smiled and waited, knowing that its time would soon be nigh.

Quietly it sat there, unassuming and unafraid as EngineerFriend after EngineerFriend strolled past to grab their morning swill from the coffeepot.

And then, it's moment came!

"Ooh, a doughnut!" heard the jelly doughnut.

And it puffed up its pastry and readjusted its coat for optimum deliciosity.

It wanted to make its hungry human very happy.

And very full.

But then...

OH THE HORROR!

Something sharp and pokey sliced nonchalantly through its puffy pastry, scattering powdered sugar all over the counter.

But that wasn't it.

No, more horrors were to come...

Although the jelly doughnut didn't know what they might be.

The jelly doughnut tried to be brave, and maintain its puffy pastriness and it's powdery goodness and its sticky sweetness...

But then came the worst part.

THE NINNY ONLY TOOK HALF OF THE JELLY DOUGHNUT.

Seriously. Who does that?

And the sticky sweet strawberry goo leaked everywhere.

And the powdered sugar got all soggy.

And the puffy pastry gave up the fight and went flop.

And so ends the tale of The Jelly Doughnut.