Family Traditions and Crepes
Do you have any core memories involving food?
I have many special memories involving food, but this is a little story about breakfast, and how simple traditions can warm your heart and belly, for a very long time.
When I was a little girl, I slept over my grandparents’ house on many weekends. Whenever I did, I would wake up on a Saturday Morning before everyone else, sneak down the hall, flip on the TV, and scroll through the channels until I found Winnie The Pooh. When my grandmother woke up, she would start making breakfast. She ALWAYS made me her, from scratch, pancakes topped with some Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup from the glass bottle shaped like a woman. It has been so long since I had them, I honestly don’t even remember what they taste like, but the mere thought of pancakes immediately brings me back to those mornings. On any other morning, I ate the usual and boring weekday breakfast, maybe cereal or nothing at all, because I wasn’t much of a breakfast fan as a kid. But, those pancakes were so special, because she made them, just for me, with love, and I knew they would always be waiting for me on a Saturday morning at her house.
As an adult, those memories became a part of a love language. On weekday mornings I would eat something typical like cereal, oatmeal, etc., but my hubby and I would spend extra time whipping up a delicious weekend breakfast together. Many times, we would cook something with meat, eggs, and potatoes, but on occasion we would make a store-bought pancake mix.
But, our weekend routine changed, when our kiddos were born… I have always been motivated by the desire to share and pass on special memories with my kiddos. It is like handing them a little piece of your happy childhood memories. You hope that it will bring them as much joy as it has brought you. So, when we discovered that Cora and Ada loved when Tam made them pancakes on a Saturday morning, a dormant memory awaked in me. It made my face and heart smile, to hear the girls gleefully cheer: “YEEEEAAAH,” whenever, I asked: “who wants pancakes?!”
In the early days, we were still making the pancakes from store-bought mix, but the kids did not care, just like I don’t even remember what my grandmother’s pancakes tasted like! The girls were responding to our time and effort in the kitchen, just for them, and to the break from the daily routine, the sweet treat to start off the weekend, and the comfort of knowing that most Saturday mornings would begin with a handmade breakfast!
When the girls were very little, a typical Saturday would start with Cora & Ada waking up before us, bouncing in our beds to steal some snuggles, followed by pleas for breakfast, to which I would reply: “Who wants pancakes?!” And, the girls would shout their excited reply: “YEAAAAAHHH!” Tam always climbed out of bed to start the pancakes, but sometimes he did it with more enthusiasm than others. He wasn’t really a pancake fan, but did it for the girls, anyway. I guess he needed a new challenge to stay interested in the task, so one day Tam decided to start making the pancakes from scratch using a recipe he had found in one of our cookbooks. But, he soon tired of that recipe, as well.
Tam had heard my story about my grandmother’s special homemade pancakes, and he knew how much the girls loved this little tradition too, so he soldiered on, but he needed to put his own spin on the tradition to feel a connection to it. So, one morning Tam decided to try his hand at making crepes. Of course, as is our style around here, he researched several recipes and combined a few different ingredients from online recipes and a basic one from our “Good Housekeeping Cookbook.” He toiled away in the kitchen lovingly making each crepe individually. It turned out that the crepes were a huge hit, WITH EVERYONE! Tam even diverts from his usual breakfast of rice and eggs to enjoy a crepe, occasionally. Our homemade crepes even have a little extra love added, since the star ingredient, is our very own fresh eggs, plucked straight from our chicken coop the morning before.
Now Saturday Mornings, look like this: The girls wake up before us, they sneak in a quick snuggle, then run off to play together. They only return to let us know when they are “STAAARVING!” After, some futile attempts to delay getting out of bed, Tam and I make our way downstairs. Tam starts mixing up the crepe bater in his Vitamix, while I hand grind our coffee beans for our special pour over coffee.
When I was little you would find me on my grandmother’s plaid couch watching Saturday Morning Cartoons, while my grandmother toiled in the kitchen making her handmade pancakes, topped with Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup. Those simple memories have stayed with me all these years!
Now, my little ladies sit in our modern livingroom, each watching their favorite YouTube cartoon on their own devices, while the roar of the mixer echoes from the kitchen. The mixer finally stops, to be followed by the delicious smell of fresh crepes wafting around the house. You will find Tam at his special flat cast iron skillet with his wooden crepe flipper, taking orders from all the ladies in the house: Two crepes with powdered sugar on the OUTSIDE, two crepes with powdered sugar on the INSIDE, and one crepe with bananas & walnuts in the center, drizzled with honey on top.
While the faces and morning routines have changed a little, and the recipe shifted from simple pancakes to special order crepes, the heart of our Weekend Breakfasts remains the same. I hope Tam and I are around to see this wonderful tradition carry on and evolve with a new generation. 💜