Thursday, September 25, 2008

Breakfast on the Katy

Breakfast on the Katy was pancakes, and they were pretty iffy.

I really had never made pancakes before. I used a box of "just add water" pancake mix. And just added water. So far, things were going swimmingly.

I poured a pancake into my $7 steel "nonstick" fry pan from Wal-Mart. A short time later, I tried to flip it. BURNT and STUCK in the middle, still pale around the edge.

I did the same with the next pancake.

Finally, I worked out a system. I would take the pan off of the fire, slip a little peice of butter into the pan, and mash it around with a paper towel. Then, I'd pour in a tiny little (2-3") pancake and cook that.

Our nifty little tiny propane stove also puts out a tiny little circle of heat. So it's really easy to scorch a pancake while the outside is still practically raw.

I brought two cups of mix, and we eventually ate almost all of it, except for what was used in the pancakes below.

One thing that worked like a champ was the little lexan French Press; you can see it full of coffee in the picture. I made a pot on Friday night, but I didn't want to drink it all because I didn't want to be up all night. It was good and strong. The coffee on Saturday morning was mighty fine as well, and I think I drank it all.

After brekkie it was time for cleanup (again), and we dropped by the playground. This was one of those new-style playgrounds with all the rope equipment, and the little climbing wall. Jacob was a little too small for it.

After some time at the playground, I grabbed my camera and we decided to check out some of the paved trails in the park...

2 comments:

Edi said...

Well even when we've used a Coleman stove I haven't had the best success with pancakes while camping. It's a great idea and fun to have them on a cool morning - but they are a hassle.

Brian said...

I remember camping with Jaret and having pancakes. He had a three-burner Coleman stove and a nonstick griddle that covered the entire top of the stove.

His pancakes turned out great!

I think the problem with my setup was: the burner on the little titanium backpacker stove is about 1" in diameter. And the pan that I used wasn't particularly thick, so it didn't spread the heat well. So I ended up with a small hot spot in the middle of a cold pan.