February 2012

My special one and I started watching Twin Peaks to keep ourselves busy during the snowy, wintry, gray hibernation months.

We’d heard about the cult classic, but we had no idea into what we were delving!  There were a lot of “what the f&*k, David Lynch?!?” proclamations, as the show lured us into its addictive snare of plot twists, ridiculous melodramas and supernatural oddities set in the pristine, green hills of a fictitious, Washington town.  There we sat, poised in front of the projector while it snowed outside.

A Few Thoughts…

Shots of James on his motorcycle, just being a tough yet sensitive and misunderstood guy with the “masculine” musical theme…makes me laugh everytime!

Donna…honestly…stop being a bitch!

“Who’s that?”
“Oh her?  We call her ‘Log Lady‘”
So glad she became a significant character!

We get it, Lynch, cops like coffee and donuts!

I can’t get this song out of my head, especially since my special one does the perfect impression.  Is that what Lynch thinks teens do on a school night?  Oh wait, they don’t really have “school nights,” since they skip school all the time to tease the emotions of agoraphobic shut ins.

I keep threatening to don an eye patch and scream, “Oh Ed” while running toward my special one at full force.  He says this threat makes me a really weird person.  I’m not convinced.

Next thing you know, we found ourselves repeatedly watching “just one more” episode and rapidly working through the series.  Accordingly, we enjoyed a number of our meals in front of the projector, including a pancake brunch, in which the owls, a prominent Twin Peaks symbol, took the spotlight.

Very, very, very rarely will you find me listing the word “mix” in my recipes.  A pet peeve of mine is seeing “cake mix” as a first “ingredient” in a recipe.  In my purist (and possibly extremist?), self-assigned set of rules, it’s an oh no no’s.  Yet, rules are meant to be broken!  I make an exception for this locally grown mix of flours from a mill I like to visit every now and again, mostly because it comes in a stamped linen bag with a small, colorful ribbon.

In my hypocritical use of a mix, I stuck to my guns about embellishing the recipe.  I went above and beyond the mix’s instructions, so in the end, it was really just rule bending (probably something rule breakers say).

Though I’d like to say these pancakes correlated to flavors in Twin Peaks, they didn’t.  They were simply a delicious, owl accented approach to pancakes, to accompany a snowy morning of viewing.  I ambitiously schemed a more themed meal until I watched the finale.  I won’t spoil it, but the end left me wanting, and that wanting cut my brainstorm quite short.  Thus, these pancakes may be as Twin Peaks as it gets around here… at least for the time being as we try to fill the log sized void in our lives.

Whole-Wheat Pumpkin Cranberry Pancakes
Perfect for Brunch & A Twin Peaks Binge 

Ingredients

Saint Vincent’s Buckwheat Pancake Mix (unbleached flour, buckwheat flour, sugar, baking powder and salt)
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg
Dash of Ginger
2 cups organic milk
4-5 Tablespoons organic, unsalted butter, browned
1 Tablespoon organic almond extract
1 ¾ cup organic pumpkin puree
1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 cup homemade cranberry sauce (similar to this recipe)

Directions

Empty contents of pancake mix into a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine a scant 2 cups of milk and 1 egg, mixing well.

Slowly stir the egg/milk mixture into the dry ingredients.

Gradually, add browned butter, stirring well.

Add the almond extract, pumpkin puree, maple syrup and cranberry sauce. Stir to combine.

Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes.

[This is when I pass the batter (a lot like passing the baton) to account for my inability to flip pancakes well]

For each pancake, pour 1/4-1/3 cup of batter onto a hot, lightly greased skillet. Cook until tops of pancakes are covered with bubbles and edges appear slightly dry. Turn and continue cooking until bottom sides are browned.

Serve with butter, lots of maple syrup and perhaps some homemade whipped cream.  Most definitely serve with a mug of chai!

Had I been strictly adhering to my supposed theme, we would have been drinking strong, black coffee.  However, this chai is worth breaking supposed themes!  I highly recommend two mugs of Rishi Masala Chai prepared with a touch of almond milk and a generous squeeze from the honey bear.

Remember…

“Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair or two cups of good hot [chai].” – Agent Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks