the return of pancake sunday

pancakes again today, for the first time in many months, during which we used every plate, mug, and champagne glass in the kitchen. we are now also the happy custodians of a bottle each of elderflower and boysenberry syrup, collectively divers and arguably exotick. pancakes are an eminently scalable weekend breakfast food particularly the mix is home-made in bulk. alton brown's formula is foolproof, but his instructions for wet ingredients are unnecessarily fiddly.

1. buttermilk is expensive and what else do you use it for? -- a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in the milk works just fine;
2. for that matter, no need for milk. water makes a fine, light pancake with a crisper surface;
   
3. eggs can be beaten in whole. separating them makes for a tenderer pancake (or, at least, so it appears) but is not worth the trouble;
   
4. melted butter is messy, especially without a microwave. a dribble of olive or canola oil is just as good and significantly easier.
   

my theory about cooking food for many people is that it is a fine pretext to inventory and draw down the contents of the fridge, use all the crockery and cutlery, and then clean everything after. it's a bit like taking the vintage car out for a turn around the mountain every couple of weeks, just to keep the fluids running right -- healthy in general, and good for the tubing.