Strawberries

Fresh Strawberries, San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market

I finally got around to making pancakes for breakfast this morning – heaps of steaming hot silver-dollar pancakes drizzled with real maple syrup and topped with juicy fresh strawberries.

The strawberries came from Costco yesterday, purchased along with too many other things as the wife and I waited for our prescriptions to be filled at their pharmacy. One of the reasons I don’t like going to Costco is because it’s always crowded and we spend way too much money. Plus, it was the Friday before the Independence Day weekend ... 'nuff said.

Be that as it may, the strawberries were beautiful – deep red, plump and virtually blemish-free – reminding me of the strawberries we saw at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market a few months ago in San Francisco’s Embarcadero district.

Without my knowing, the wife (bless her wonderful heart) graciously hulled the berries last night while I was in bed watching some nerdy science programs on the Science Channel.

To add icing to the cake (or perhaps syrup to the pan-cake), the Food Channel’s “Brunch with Bobby (Flay)” this morning featured silver-dollar pancakes with real maple syrup. Was that an omen, or what?

So … the first thing I did after turning on the coffee maker was slice and macerate the strawberries, sprinkling them with a mixture of brown and white sugar, and letting them stand while I did the rest of the stuff.

“Did I make the pancakes from scratch?” you ask. Well, if you call measuring out a couple of cups of Bisquick, adding a cup of milk and one beaten egg making it from scratch, I did. Oh, I did add a teaspoon or so of baking powder for fluffiness, and a teaspoon of vanilla for additional flavor. So yeah, I scratched.

Some Portuguese sausage on the side, my steaming mug of finely ground Peet’s Italian roast coffee, and I was set.

It’s gonna be a great day.