But he cut pancakes out of the menu

The Pioneer Press ran a story about a county sheriff in Ohio trying to cut costs by making his inmates grow their own food. The inmates were actually happy about this, because the previous cuts had caused their food to be less than tasty. What was more alarming to me about the whole thing was that one of the previous cuts the county sheriff had made was to cut pancakes out of the menu. Pancakes? Does he not have a heart?

I don't know about you, but pancakes and me go way back. My mom was not a mom who had time to wake up every morning and make us a five course breakfast, so pancakes were a treat to us. Normally this treat surfaced in the form of dinner. My mom would have an appointment(she did and still does family counseling in our house) and she always made dinner and we always sat down as a family to eat. This was not the Stauffer's commercials of sitting down with the family to eat; every meal was homemade. But sometimes mom did not have the time to make a big meal, so we'd have pancakes and bacon. You might as well have told us that we were going to have candy for dinner, because no one complained when mom was making pancakes for dinner.

I don't know who invented pancakes, but it was truly a brilliant idea. Whether you like them thin and flat or thick and cake, whether you like them with peanut butter, jelly, or syrup, whether you eat them with bacon or just eat them as you're running out of the house, pancakes are a great meal.

When I lived in Oregon, two of my roommates wanted to go out on our day off and we ended up at this diner in Bend, Oregon. I had heard all about these pancakes and had even witnessed half of one in our refrigerator one day. These pancakes that they served at this diner were the size of a large plate. If you finished a whole one it was an accomplishment. My roommate ordered two and took one home, so that the rest of the household could stare in awe and taste a bite of a giant tasty pancake.

There is something about pancakes that reminds me of childhood. Even when I think about those pancakes in Oregon and their size it just brings out the kid in me. When my roommate ordered them and they were brought out all of our eyes were as big as saucers and we just wanted to look at the ginormous pancakes in front of us. I think to me eating pancakes still feels like I'm cheating the system. Somehow I am getting away with eating dessert for a meal and no one ever says anything about it. I'm like the kid who stuck the hand in the cookie jar, ate a whole cookie, and everyone just watched and smiled.

I don't know how much of an expense the county sheriff in Ohio cut by cutting out pancakes, but I really would like to ask him, "do you have a heart?"

In honor of those poor pancakeless inmates I pronounce today to be officially a pancake day. Whether you use Bisquick, Aunt Jemima, or make your pancakes homemade, make some pancakes. Mix in some blueberries, strawberries, chocolate chips, bananas, nuts, or whatever you can think up. Don't forget the butter and syrup and eat plenty of pancakes, because I bet if those inmates in Ohio had the chance they would be eating plenty of pancakes too today.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily