We still have pancakes. (Recipe post)

For those of you who recommended movies for me for my sick day yesterday, I watched “Like Water for Chocolate,” and “Big Fish,” on Saturday. I liked them both, but I’m kind of pissed because “Big Fish” made me cry. Yesterday, I made cherry-vanilla pancakes and watched “You, Me and Everyone We Know.” It’s about the connections between neighbors and the greater community. Great movie. I give it two pancakes up.

The pancake recipe is below this here photo. Yes, my pathological obsession with pink continues. And yes, I used honey instead of maple syrup, despite the fact that the streets where I live are lined with Maple trees.

The original recipe is called “Ruth’s Pancakes,” in the Gourmet Cookbook, but I added the cherries and vanilla to it. Y’all know how I love cherries. The pancakes’ namesake is Ruth Reichl, current editor of Gourmet Magazine. I hope I get to meet her someday. [Edit: I posted this blog on MySpace in Sept. 2006. I met Ruth in 2008 while we were doing an event at Conde Nast, where Gourmet Magazine’s offices and test kitchen are located.]

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil (I prefer canola)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, completely melted and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder (Not the Arm and Hammer stuff. Baking POWDER.)
4 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
*handful of dried cherries
*1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract (I use Neilsen-Massey, but any sort will do)

*optional
Yields about 8 pancakes.

Directions:
1.In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and vanilla extract and then whisk in melted butter.

2.In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Be sure to mix the dry ingredients well.

3.Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then add the handful of dried cherries.

4.Heat 1/2 teaspoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet until oil is hot but not smoking. Working in batches, pour 1/3 cup portions of batter in pan and cook about 2 minutes on one side (until bubbles break on surface of pancake), then flip and cook about a minute more.

As a side note, I totally suck at making pancakes. I can stuff and truss a cornish game hen and make a lasagna better than your mama, but perfect pancakes evade me. Doesn’t stop me from making them, though.