Sunday morning breakfast

It's a fine Sunday morning, cool outside (57ºF/14ºC) with a slight breeze. I made vegetable pancakes and ate some standing while they cooked. Then I sat down to more pancakes with oolong tea and "Bach for Breakfast" (a CD of that name).



These pancakes are my version of the yummy Japanese pancake known as okonomiyaki. I make mine different each time. This batch of batter has broccoli, carrots, freshly grated ginger root, shredded purple cabbage, green onion slices, and shiitake mushrooms. The flour is a mixture of whole wheat pastry flour, spelt, and yellow corn meal. I use soy milk instead of regular milk, baking powder, sea salt, and eggs (according to the basic pancake recipe from the classic Tassajara Bread Book). I eat them dipped in soy sauce.



See that little round pancake? That's an entire meal for an ant family.


The first batch is a test batch. The cast iron skillet is still getting to the right temperature and the first few pancakes are always too oily.



Variations: add grated butternut or acorn squash, little cubes of tofu, sesame seeds, eda mame, hijiki, arame, or wakame seaweed, yellow onion instead of green...

Besides enjoying the music, I like the illustration by Josh Gosfield on the CD cover of Bach for Breakfast; it reminds me of Maira Kalman's style: light and whimsical, yet with weight due to the oil or acrylic. My favorite piece on the CD is the very joyful, Concierto in A for Oboe
d'Amore.