It’s been a whirlwind past couple of weeks. Exciting but absolutely hectic times at work, the details of which I cannot reveal lest they take away my super secret spy badge. Ok, not that exciting. But absolutely hectic yes, with lights flashing, sirens wailing, and a psychedelic cherry on top. After which, and thankfully, we had a lovely beach holiday over the Easter weekend. Family, friends, wine, lounging, old National Geographic magazines read under a ceiling fan, boat rides, playing in the sea and sand with little C (who, like a true island girl, loves the beach), and little time to peek online except for a tweet here and there (which was, on the whole, quite lovely as well).
But that’s not what I wanted to chat about. What I wanted to say is…little C has started school! Ok, it’s just summer play school, and it’s only twice a week, but still! School is school and a milestone nevertheless, even if they just sing that Mr. Sun song that I have never heard in my life (I promise you) yet every darned kid seems to know.
Her first day saw me agonizing over all-important decisions like: the skinny jeans + peasant blouse OR strappy denim playsuit ORleggings + positive feminine affirmation top (i.e. Wonder Woman t-shirt). The Dora backpack OR the Mickey Mouse backpack. Pack art supplies OR let her wreak havoc on the schools crayons instead. Ponytail OR pigtails. And wait a minute! What am I going to wear that says I’m a cool, calm, elegant, involved but not too involved, on-the-ball but laid back mum?
I should have been making these for her lunch box instead.
Whole Wheat Brown Sugar Banana Pancakes
(adapted from How Sweet It Is)
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2-3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- More butter for the pan
- Whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
- Measure out the milk and add the vanilla extract and egg to it. Whisk until fully incorporated.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Add the bananas to the mixture and mix. Add the butter and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add a thin sliver of butter. When it bubbles you can add the batter. For regular sized pancakes drop batter by 1/4 – 1/3 cupfuls onto the hot butter. For mini-pancakes, like I’ve made here, drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the butter. Cook until little bubbles form on top and the bottom is golden. Flip and cook until the other side is golden as well.
- Serve with Vanilla Maple Glaze (as the originalrecipe includes), your favorite pancake syrup, or, as I think is best, with a dollop of Nutella.
These taste like banana bread in pancake form, so, you can imagine, right up my alley. The original recipe includes a Vanilla Maple Glaze that sounds heavenly but I couldn’t keep the Nutella from throwing herself at these fragrant discs of banana goodness. Far be it for me to try keeping Nutella and bananas away from each other. I made mini pancakes, roughly the size of a cookie, because it’s easier and more fun for little C to eat it this way – she just grabs them and munches away. Although these didn’t make the first day of school, they soon followed as a celebratory breakfast. They would be perfect though to pack as a snack (or "baon" as we call it here).
So how was the first day? Extraordinary for me, but I would think fairly typical for all other more experienced mums out there. Some very dramatic “tragic face” looks. Shy moments. Reaching out moments. Moments of discovery. Warming up moments. Please and thank you’s. Adorable washing hands moments. Proud mum moments (lots of those!). And yes, Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. Golden sun. Where was I when they taught everyone that song? Eating pancakes somewhere I suspect.