Wayzata in 1955

I have been scanning our 35mm slides. They bring back a lot of memories.

At the end of summer in 1955, I took a trip to Scarsdale, New York to attend Blake Wallace's wedding. The itinerary was complicated, but in part of the trip I traveled by train to Minneapolis to meet my friend John Howell. We rendezvoused at the home of Kathy Barrows in Wayzata. Then John took me to his parents' home in Rochester, Minnesota.

Kathy was just an acquaitance then. Two years later we were married.

John Howell took this picture, using my camera. Kathy is on the left. Her sister Margie is on the right. I always looked a little young for my age and this picture sure shows that. I was nineteen but looked more like twelve. Katherine thinks that our grandson Alexander looks older than I do in this picture.

Susan Rocky's Cornmeal Pancakes

1 cup corn meal

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

mix together and beat in:

1 egg

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 T oil (peanut, olive, or whatever)

Serves 4

This simple recipe is a time tested standard in our family.  We have had it on camping trips with buttermilk improvised from milk and lemon juice.  We have had it at home.   In fact, we had it again this morning.

It is originally a Samuel Chamberlain recipe of fifty or so years ago from either one of his books or Gourmet Magazine.  Katherine added the idea of adding a dash of oil to prevent sticking on the grill.  If you have a well seasoned cast iron griddle, I'm not sure that it is necessary.

As always, ingredients are particularly important.  Get the best, freshest, corn meal that you can.  The best we ever used was stone ground from a mill on Cape Cod.  This morning we used Arrowhead Mills cornmeal from our local grocery.  That was pretty good.   The buttermilk can make a big difference.  We are using Berkeley Farms buttermilk which is thick and rich.  That results in a thick but light pancake.

Depending on the amount of liquid you use, this recipe can produce thin, lacy, pancakes or thick, rich, pancakes.  We like both styles.

Since there is no gluten,  these pancakes can easily fall apart when you turn them over on the griddle.  I suggest making them about 3 inches in diameter so that you can get your whole spatula under them.