Recipe of the Week: Blueberry pancakes
Looking back to the first day I moved into the dorm, I wonder when it all started. I remember one of the first things the RAs told us during the very first (and last) floor meeting I attended: “You guys are going to get on each others nerves eventually. Try to work it out and develop a good communication system.”
I’m taking a break from my usual writing style to talk about confrontation. Over the past few months, there has been a little tension between my roommates and me. For the longest time I couldn’t really figure out why. Was it something I did or said? I’m not an unfriendly person, and so I couldn’t figure out when the divide started.
I would get upset, and annoyed, but I would never talk about because at the end of the day, I felt I had no reason to be upset. But the other day, the discomfort level rose to an all time high, and I found myself escaping to my parents house to avoid seeing anyone.
I was, of course, frustrated, not only with the situation, but also with myself. At some point during that day, I even came up with some lame excuses I could tell my roommates, and my parents, so that I could move out of the dorm. I needed a distraction, so I did the only thing I could do to distract myself: cook.
My first cooking accomplishment was learning how to make pancakes. It’s very messy, and can get frustrating at times, but making them always calms me down. As I was attempting to flip over the pancake perfectly, it suddenly occurred to me that I was about to change my entire living situation just because I was feeling bad about the dorm. How ridiculous is that? No one should feel that way, and furthermore, no one should let him/herself feel that way.
The next morning, I ended up (a million bus transfers later) back at my dorm. Just as I was about to chicken out and leave the room, I walked up to my roommate and told her how I was feeling.
The point of this story isn’t about what happened with me, or why I was so upset, it’s more about the issues that arise when you’re living with a complete stranger and have to share a space with them. Sometimes, it helps to be passive-aggressive, but most of the time it doesn’t. I know it seems like common sense, but if something is bothering you, speak up. I can’t promise that it will fix the problem, but it will make you feel better.
And on that note, here is the recipe for blueberry pancakes!
Ingredients:
-1 and ¼ cups of all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1 and ½ tablespoons of brown sugar
-1 egg
-1 cup of milk
-1 stick of melted butter
-frozen or fresh blueberries
Step One: Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in separate bowl. In another bowl, beat the milk and egg together. Then stir the milk and egg into flour mixture. Mix in the melted butter, and fold in the blueberries.
Step Two: Lightly oil or butter a frying pan over medium heat. Pour the batter (do little amounts at a time) into the frying pan, and let it sit until you see significant boiling around the side of the developing pancake. Quickly flip the pancake.
Step Three: Once the pancake is flipped (it should be a golden-brown), wait approximately one minute (peak under the pancake to see if it looks cooked) before taking it off the frying pan. Repeat until you’ve finished the batter.
I hope these pancakes give you some inspiring epiphany as it did for me. Or at the very least, I hope you guys like them. Enjoy
