Slow Down and Smell the Pancakes

What’s your favourite topping for pancakes?

Pancakes are on my mind because yesterday was National Pancake Day and there are few things I love more than a good flapjack topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. I’m also a fan of real maple syrup and bananas on top of my stack. 

My father prefers his pancakes on the thin side, heading in the direction of crepes. He then squeezes liberal amounts of fresh lemon juice on his pancake, adds sugar (preferably a fine, white sugar) to offset the tanginess of the lemon, and carefully rolls the pancake around the topping before slicing off pieces of perfectly balanced sweet and sour. 

My father never rushes through his pancakes. He enjoys the process of squeezing, sprinkling, rolling and then eating. 

In our family home, we were more likely to have pancakes for dinner than earlier in the day. We prepared the pancakes one by one in the small, copper-bottomed frying pan we dubbed ‘the pancake pan.’ We all sat at the table and took turns waiting for our next pancake. We weren’t allowed to leave the dining table until we had all had our fill. This meant the meal could sometimes stretch out for a while, but the wait was worth it. The pancakes were delicious and we had a chance to sit, chat, and catch up on whatever was going on in our lives as we waited for each pancake to cook.

You Can’t Rush a Pancake

Remembering this slow, thoughtful act of preparation (you can’t rush a pancake) and consumption led me to think about how we often rush through our meals, grabbing something on the go, not always taking the time to sit down and share a meal. While our lives are chaotic, it seems to me that’s exactly why we need to make sure to make time to sit down and eat together with others. 

It may not be practical to carve out several hours to prepare a big, complicated meal every night or to expect every member of our hockey-playing, French-horn studying, overtime shift-working family to be there for every meal, but a decision to commit to even one meal a week together should be within our reach. 

If the meal preparation part feels overwhelming, then choosing a restaurant that offers thoughtfully prepared meals can be a fabulous option. My mother, who ran a business and did not particularly enjoy cooking, delegated the cooking task to the rest of us. My dad and the four kids took turns making meals, and when it was my mom’s night to cook, we ate out. 

Here in the Bow Valley, we’re fortunate to have so many restaurants to choose from (have a browse through our online menus to see what’s available). We’re always eager to hear about your dining experiences - leave a comment and let us know where you love to go out and eat and why? What makes a really great meal? How do you make sure you find the time to share meals with those whose company you enjoy? 

Join Our Dinner Clubs

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you join our local dinner clubs - we have one in Banff and one in Canmore. Watch for updates here in this blog as well as in our Facebook groups. You never know where we may be dining next, but one thing you can count on - we won’t be rushing through our meals!   

Slow Down and Fully Embrace the Dining Experience

Frog legs contain a surprisingly large number of bones… Proceed with caution!

There are some meals that are impossible to eat fast. Frog legs comes to mind when I think of a meal I had no choice but to consume slowly. The fact we were sitting in a sidewalk café in the Latin Quarter in Paris when my platter of frog legs á là Parisienne arrived at the table no doubt contributed to my willingness to sit still and savour my meal. The passersby - mostly tourists, provided an endless stream of entertainment as they stopped in the middle of the street, took photos, consulted maps, and perused the menus on display.

We had spent the morning poking around in the Latin Quarter and chatted happily about what we’d seen and where we might head after our late lunch. We looked at the photos we’d taken on our phones and flipped through a small guidebook I’d found that featured all the covered passages in Paris. It was easy to sit, relax, and enjoy the meal even though our day was full.

FOODIE FACT: Frog legs prepared in Paris-style are first boiled in water with lemon juice, salt and pepper. After they’ve been cooked and drained, they’re dipped in eggs, rolled in bread crumbs, and then fried. 

Impossible to Gobble a Frog Leg

The taste and texture of frog legs are vaguely chicken-esque, but what really slows a person down (beyond that fabulous Parisian ambiance) is the sheer number of small bones one encounters. There is no way to eat your way through a pile of frog legs except by using your fingers and proceeding slowly. 

I’m not sure I’ll have another plateful because I’ve since learned that the world’s appetite for frog legs has taken a serious toll on the world’s frog populations. What I will try to do, however, is not rush through my meals. Instead, these days I savour every mouthful in the way I savoured each delicate nibble I extricated from those tiny bones during that lovely afternoon in Paris. Too often, we rush through our meals, grabbing something on the go, not always taking the time to sit down and really enjoy each mouthful of our meal. 

One of my goals for 2020 is to slow down and take more time for food - whether that means putting on some music and preparing a meal in the kitchen at home or figuring out when and how to carve out time for a meal in a restaurant with someone (or several someones) whose company I enjoy. 

Here in the Bow Valley, we’re fortunate to have so many restaurants to choose from (have a browse through our online menus to see what’s available). If there’s something we enjoy as much as eating, it’s chatting about good food. We’re always eager to hear about your dining experiences - leave a comment and let us know where you love to go out and eat and why? What makes a really great meal? How do you make sure you find the time to share meals with those whose company you enjoy? 

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you join our local dinner clubs - we have one in Banff and one in Canmore. Watch for updates here in this blog as well as in our Facebook groups. You never know where we may be dining next, but one thing you can count on - we won’t be rushing through our meals!