Nice Weekend Day

We went to a lovely birthday party this morning at La Madeleine. I got to see a gift bag with fur trim on it.

I got to hear about a party from a guy who's going to Mali for four months. They're throwing a here-today-gone-to-Mali party. I asked if there would be tamales.

I got to learn a little about trying out for a roller derby team. It turns out that just knowing how to skate really fast is not enough to get you past the first cut.

I learned that you can order French toast at La Madeleine even though it's apparently not on the menu anymore.

Then we cleaned. Then played. Then ate. Then cleaned.

And now we're watching "The Rockford Files." It's fun to watch a show from the 'seventies where most of the phones are still rotary, etc.

It's also fun to watch with a guy who is an expert on cars. He can tell, for example, when it's a different set of bad guys, because they're driving a different kind of car. He can tell that they must have lost part of the film and spliced in a short scene with a version of the car Rockford was driving that hadn't been made yet.

Saved with Pancakes

We had our first party in a while, and it was good. The plan was pancakes and a movie. Everyone liked the pancakes (banana chocolate chip pancakes), and I think everyone liked the movie ("Saved!"). So, it was a success.

This kind of party wouldn't work so well if you didn't like the food and had to be hungry the whole time or if you didn't like the movie and there was nothing better to do. Especially when most of the guests came in one car. So I completely lucked out with this plan.

I think the next party should be more normal, with more than one food and more than one activity. But meanwhile, here is the recipe as I made it today. (I doubled the recipe below.) Oh, I don't like to wash a lot of dishes; that's why the recipe reads a little weird.

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES

2 bananas
1 egg
1/2 cup fat-free yogurt
1 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons corn oil
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips
(also I had a small jar of pumpkin butter which was as empty as I could get it with a knife, but which I rinsed with the milk because, hey, free vitamin A)

Mash the bananas with a fork in a large bowl. Add the egg to the bowl next to the bananas and beat the egg. Add the rest of the liquid ingredients and mix it all together well.

Add the flour in a small pile on top of the liquid. Carefully sprinkle the baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon on top of the flour. Mix the dry ingredients as well as you can without digging into the liquid part. You can tell when it's fairly well mixed by when the cinnamon is distributed.

Preheat an electric skillet (or non-stick pan) to medium heat and smear butter on it.

Meanwhile, mix the dry and liquid ingredients together, then add the chocolate chips and mix again.

Use a 1/4-cup measuring cup to scoop batter onto pan. Cook until edges get bubbly. Flip, cook until golden brown, remove. Serve warm, or whenever.