Arrived in LA last night and I am looking forward to spending a week in California.
I am traveling with 3 good friends from Denmark – Pancake Friendly of course – and we can’t wait to explore.
We didn’t know that it was Spring Break but I am sure that will only make the State even more alive.
So a week of Pancake Spring Break for us. I will keep you posted.
Some of my favorite childhood memories involve cooking with my grandparents and eating pancakes. How about yours?
My childhood was far from picture perfect, but I do have some very clear and happy memories, and a lot of them involve my grandparents, cooking, and pancakes.
In many ways I find, that cooking with kids, and cooking for kids, is an act of compassion.
I remember feeling challenged and valued at the same time, when I was allowed in the kitchen, and allowed to take part in the cooking.
I was very focused – especially when knifes where involved – and very eager to learn. And most important I think, I experienced cooking as something we did together! We cooked with each other, and for each other.
And the pancakes….
I remember my sister and I sitting in the living room, reading, drawing or maybe watching TV (one channel black and white) – and then suddenly we would smell the pancakes. “Mom is baking pancakes!”
The surprise because she had said noting about it, the joy because we loved pancakes – but primarily the feeling of love and compassion.
Don´t get me wrong, I am in no way saying, that cooking is the primary way of showing kids love and compassion – you can do that in so many ways – but for me, those are the memories that stick. And probably why I love eating and baking pancakes so much.
A great taste of pancakes, a new steel pan, syrup and sugar was what I took back home from Amsterdam.
I had a great weekend, and truly enjoyed the city as well as the pancakes and the shopping.
Amsterdam is an amazing city, and Sunday morning the sun was shining, and I had a chance to just walk the streets by the canals and take it all in. If you have never been – I suggest you put this city in your list!
I now have a new pan, and the sugar and syrup I need for the next Afternoon Pancake event. The pan is stainless steel, and I am excited to try it out. Traditionally the Dutch use a cast iron pan, but this pan is a bit lighter, and the woman in the shop promised me, that it would be at least as good as the cast iron one. I asked her, what she would recommend, and this is what she suggested.
Back home I found a very old dutch cookbook Wannée Kookboek from the Amsterdam Housekeeping School to give inspiration to a good Dutch Pancake recipe. I think that it belonged to my Dutch grandfather, and it looks as if it has been used quite a lot. I take that as a good sign!
I will make sure you get the new recipe in time to join me on April 12.
Would you wait in line outside for the best pancakes in Amsterdam?
I did! And it was absolutely worth the wait.
Before leaving for Amsterdam I did a little research on the Internet to find out, where to go for the good pancakes in Amsterdam.
One place in particular showed up in my search The Pancake Bakery.
Not only does it have a Wall of Fame with visitors like Alicia Keys, Paris Hilton and Miley Cyrus, they also have almost 2.000 likes on their Facebook page, and more than 10.000 visitors. AND they have the domain www.pancake.nl
Reservations at this place is only possible for parties of 6 or more people – so me, myself and I just had to show up, and wait in line, as it turned out.
The weather in Amsterdam was lovely today – sun was shining, no wind and about 8 degrees Celsius. So waiting in line was fine, and I had good company with two groups of Americans who had never had Dutch pancakes before.
I could write a at least a post or two in how I find waiting in line to be kind of a blessing. I will one day, but for now just trust, that it was a pleasure.
The Pancake Bakery is a great place, and the service was a pleasure. Most impressive was the cook sweating in the kitchen swinging the heavy cast iron pans around and flipping the pancakes.
Almost a type of Pancake baking CrossFit exercise!
Since I had pancakes with apple and cinnamon yesterday (#1) I decided to go for the Plain pancake today.
Just plain and simple.
Add a little of the thick syrup.
And some powdered sugar.
And what a treat it was!
Tomorrow I promise to do a follow up post about Pancaking around Amsterdam, and also share with you what type of pan I decided to bring back home for the next Afternoon Pancake event on April 12.
Arriving here quite hungry, Pancaking around the city was not the worst thing I could do.
And Pancaking that´s the right word to use, wouldn´t you say?
I think it describes what I am doing pretty well – but when I Googled the word I found out, that it is Urban slang for when a performer starts out well, but then ends his show really bad..
Hmm… Urban slang or not, I think I will continue to use the word in this other (and more positive) context.
So I took a taxi from the airport, and usually when I travel, I enjoy talking to taxi drivers. They know the city, and often have interesting stories to tell.
I asked him, if he could recommend a good place to eat pancakes in Amsterdam, and his first quick reply was; Pancakes are so easy to make yourself. You just need eggs, flour, milk and some salt. I asked if he sometimes put beer in the batter, and that made him look at me really funny and say; You put BEER in YOUR batter?
It was a nice taxi ride though, and he ended up looking in his Amsterdam Bible and recommend, that I tried pancakes at De Carrousel Pannenkoeken.
I often ask that question; What would YOU recommend – in restaurants, stores, taxis and in general when I talk to people. I find, that we all like to share, and I have seldom been disappointed, when I followed someone´s recommendation.
De Carrousel it was, and I had a great pancake with apple and cinnamon.
Today I will continue pancaking around Amsterdam, eating more pancakes and also finding a good pan and some syrup (stroop) to bring back home.
I will keep you posted.
I know I know, it should have been a picture of me eating pancakes! And I am sure that many such pictures exist, considering the amount of pancakes I ate as a child – I just haven´t found them yet.
But the fact is that I am part Dutch – my father is Dutch – and that might explain some of my passion for pancakes.
I grew up I Denmark, but we traveled a lot to the Netherlands when I was a child, and we never visited without eating pancakes (pannenkoeken) at least ones.
It was usually my grandfather baking them, and he would spend hours in the kitchen. All us kids would then consume an unrealistic amount of pancakes in a very short time – it never really seemed fair. But I sensed that he loved it, and it sure did bring a very big smile to all our faces.
Back then we had the hot meal in the middle of the day, and the pancakes where considered the main course. We always had soup first, and that would usually make us eat less of the main course, but never when pancakes where on the menu.
Dutch Pancakes are quite large, they are thicker than Danish pancakes, and you don´t roll them, but just get one pancake that fills the whole plate. They look like this.
We always had them with powdered sugar and a thick syrup (stroop), but they come in many variations with baked in apples, ham, cheese, banana etc.
I can reveal, that the theme of my next Afternoon Pancake event (April 12 th.) will be Dutch Pancakes – and I will visit Amsterdam this weekend to find inspiration for a good recipe, and to buy some of that special thick syrup that is a must have, when I serve them.
I will make sure to keep you posted on the trip and my findings!
Katrine is really the essence of Awareness Compassion Pancakes.
I know a lot of wonderful people, and Katrine stands out as one of the most aware, compassionate and pancake loving of them all.
I met Katrine many years ago, she was a student of mine, and she worked at my company for a couple of years.
Even at a very young age, she amazed me with her level of awareness and always positive attitude. She has her own strong believes – and at the same time she is incredibly unprejudiced. Something that is rarely seen.
With Katrine “what you see is what you get” – and WOW you get a lot.
Katrine is a master of self-compassion and compassion for others, and I think, that her ability for both is what makes her a great therapist. Katrine runs her own business and offers reflexology, massage and acupuncture as some of her services.
No no – I am not forgetting the pancakes!
At my Afternoon Pancakes #1 Katrine was the one who ate the most – and with the biggest smile!
When she came home that night, her boyfriend was a little jealous of all the pancakes she had had, so what did she do? Well, she baked the family pancakes of course!
Just the other day she posted this picture on my Facebook page. Do you see the heart?
I am grateful to know Katrine. I don´t see her as much as I would like, but whenever I think of her it brings a smile to my face.
You can learn more about Katrine HERE
Join me this Sunday for Afternoon Pancakes, by using this fantastic recipe for Traditional Danish Pancakes;
Ingredients
Directions
In Denmark we usually ad sugar and/or jam to the Pancake. We then roll it, and eat it with our fingers. Well, at least, that is how we did it, when I was a child. This Sunday for Afternoon Pancakes, I will let my guests choose, weather they will use a knife and fork, or eat with the childish joy of just using their fingers.
Enjoy!
Last year I decided to give myself the gift of attending the TED Global 2014 in Rio.
For a very long time, I have found inspiration in the many TED talks, and the chance to go to Rio for this event seemed like a dream come true. And it was! I promise to write more about the experience in a future post.
Before the conference, I had to fill out information for my attendees badge, including 3 things listed as; Talk to me about:
The first two was easy; Awareness, because I find, that Awareness is the key, – the key to getting the best out of life, and the key to love. And Compassion, because self-compassion and compassion in general, is essential for all of us in evolving as humans.
The third subject was a bit harder to figure out. I kept saying Awareness Compassion and … And for some strange reason, my mind kept coming up with Pancakes!
Pancakes? I could not write that I thought. But the idea kept coming back, and somehow it made sense. I love pancakes! Everybody loves pancakes. We all have our favorit type of pancakes. Eating pancakes is almost always something we do in the company of others – it is social-food. When we cook pancakes we do so with love, and with the desire to please the people around us. And most important, we all have nice pancake-memories to share.
So there. Awareness Compassion Pancakes!
After including the 3 subjects in my badge information, I felt the inspiration to talk more about those specifically – and slowly the idea of a blog, and a book project came to life.
I would love to, and plan to, share my views and thoughts on Awareness Compassion and Pancakes with you, and I hope, that you will feel inspired to share as well.
Awareness Compassion Pancakes 