Today is a beautiful, clear day. Everything smells fresh and clean. We had a typical Highveld rainstorm last night. I wish I could post a picture that I have taken myself, but since my Galaxy J5 is hopelessly inadequate to capture the essence of the picturesque skies on a night such as this, I have to rely on someone else's photograph:
Beautiful, isn't it? Oh, I wish I can make you understand how wonderful a storm like that is, so full of rage and fury, majesty and beauty. If you listen to Antonio Vivaldi's "Storm", you might get an inkling of what passion it stirs within me.
But I digress.
For most South Africans, pancakes (Afrikaans: "pannekoek") on a rainy day go hand in hand like Tom and Jerry, milk and cookies, or, as we say in Afrikaans, "vinkel en koljander" (fennel and coriander). Now our traditional South African pancakes are different from pancakes in the rest of the world. Our pancakes can be likened to crêpes. Although "pannekoek", the way we do it, can be stuffed with all kinds of delicious fillings, such as spinach and feta cheese or banana and caramel, the particular match for a rainy day is pancakes with cinnamon and sugar.
Last night, while the storm raged outside, since we haven't had many rainy days yet this summer, my husband and I decided to make pancakes with cinnamon sugar. We always help each other when making pancakes. Last night Shaun made the batter, which had to stand for a little while before it is cooked. Then we watched an episode of the series "Dexter" while we waited for the mixture to settle. ("Dexter" ran from 2006 to 2013, and it is really worth watching.)
Traditionally pancakes are cooked over gas, but we do it on our electrical stove. Last night, when Shaun started frying the first pancake, I started mixing the cinnamon and sugar that has to be strewn over each pancake. I got another plate ready for the pancakes to be stacked on.
There is a particular trick to flip a pancake, and I tried to capture Shaun doing it, but once again, my photographic equipment fell short. Here is an example of someone who aced it:
Yes, Shaun does it just as dextrously as that! (Get the pun...?)
Each time he had a fried pancake ready, he slipped it onto the plate, I distributed the cinnamon and sugar over the pancake and immediately placed the lid on top, to allow the sugary mixture to melt into a delicious cinnamon syrup.
The end result looked like this:
Doesn't it look delicious?
Finally we rolled each pancake like this:
Sadly, this photo was not mine either.
While preparing the pancakes, working together like that, we enjoyed some wine and shared memories and jokes. After that, we went back to the television, binge-watching Dexter and enjoying the delicious, sticky pancakes.
Last night was truly a night filled with comfort food and fellowship.
