I had the occasion to travel on the Red Line into Boston the other day. While clutching a railing for support in the swaying cart, I zoned out and let my mind wander as I people-watched because, let's be honest, the Red Line may not be pleasant but it is fascinating! Occasionally when I have these moments I think 'if I was an alien who was beamed down for the first time into this exact moment - what would I think?' And then I glance around like I am seeing the scene for the first time. I would assume subways are where people sleep, read, sit, look unhappy, eat, stand . . . wait, did I just say eat? Eeew.
Then my wandering brain really kicked into gear, thinking about our relationship with food and how low down on the list of day to day priorities it is that we have started to 'squeeze it in'. You see people eating in cars all the time too. Instant oats, breakfast bars and shakes, grab-and-go snacks and lunches, hot pockets, pop tarts, sandwich wraps, take-it-with-you-soup-cup and we haven't even gotten to drive-thrus yet. Which begs to be asked: Are we too busy to eat? Is the car, subway, bus and train the new dining room table?
Why do we do this to ourselves? At what point did we say 'strawberry pancakes in the form of a pop tart on the subway - what a great idea! It will save me at least 15 minutes over a bowl of granola and yogurt!'
Seriously!? Is eating an unsatisfying meal while hurtling through the bowels of Boston the best we can do? Then it made me think back to a show I caught on TV where a woman was packing dinner into Tupperware so her three children could eat in the car on the way to their piano lesson, baseball practice and dance recital respectively. Does anybody else out there think we are losing the plot?
I think we owe it to ourselves to treat ourselves better, to take a moment and think of what we are giving up in exchange for those precious minutes: good healthy food, some face-to-face conversation, or some 'me' time, a few minutes to reflect on what our day will bring or did bring. Do we really accomplish anything in those sacraficial minutes anyway? To quote an age old and over-used verse:
To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose,
A time to be born, and a time to die,
A time to plant, and a time to harvest,
A time to weep, a time to laugh . . . .
Well, surely there is a time in between all that to eat too?
So this morning we decided a pajama breakfast party with pancakes was in order - its been a tough week! I don't know how many people can even make pancakes without pancake mix anymore, but I turned to my trusty cookbook (thanks Granny) for this recipe:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sifted flour (I like King Arthur's organic)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar (cane only if you please)
2 eggs (thank you White Gate Gardens)
1 cup sour milk (I didn't have any, so I used un-soured milk and added a tsp of lemon juice)
1 tbsp melted butter
Method:
Sift dry ingredients together
Beat eggs, add sour milk and butter together
Add milk mixture to dry ingredients gradually, beating until smooth
Drop from spoon into heated greased pan, brown both sides
For the top, I cut some strawberries in half and then crushed them in a bowl using a heavy plastic cup. We spooned the strawberries onto our pancakes and laced them with maple syrup.
We are still licking our fingers, bad manners I know, and I guess its time to get dressed but it has been the perfect start to this day and my to-do list can wait just a little while longer - it's not going anywhere and you know what? Neither am I . . .
