Pancakes, Flapjacks, Griddlecakes, Hotcakes, ?

Just now, I made and ate me some flapjacks. I was wearing a western shirt and Levi's, so I wanted to call them by their cowboy name. We mostly called them pancakes when I was growing up, but once in a while my dad would get in one of his yokel moods where he tried to speak with a country accent and use terms from the cattle range. The effect was slightly marred by his John Wayne impersonation.

Funny, my mom and her brothers and sisters actually raised cattle on their Minnesota farm growing up, and they say 'pancakes.' My dad's dad worked as a sound engineer in Hollywood, so I guess that explains the difference in their perceptions of how cowboys speak.

My parents had friends who called pancakes hotcakes, and I have also heard them called griddlecakes. Have you heard any other names for this bread that you fry from batter? Crepes are not quite the same thing. They were in vogue for awhile in the 1970s, so I have tried crepes. Pancakes are thicker than crepes, which are paper thin, at least the ones I had here in the States were.

Most people eat their pancakes, flapjacks, hotcakes, or griddlecakes with maple syrup. I can have syrup on waffles, but syrup on pancakes makes my throat close up. I don't know why. I have tried other flavors of syrup, and I like blueberry syrup, but I eat my pancakes, flapjacks, griddlecakes, or hotcakes with jam.

No, I don't eat empty flour-based calories often. I didn't eat flour at all when I was losing weight. Now that I have kept 90 pounds off for 9 months, I eat flour sometimes. I do think of flour as a treat, though, and not as a staple of my diet.

Chocolate is my favorite treat, but money is tight right now. We are eating from our pantry. We ran out of non-Halloween chocolate weeks ago, and we are not opening the Halloween candy we bought on clearance last year until the first trick-or-treater shows up Wednesday evening.

147.8 One Used from $998.96

Where do people get these prices? I mean, I know my book is good, but $998.96? If you want to pay that much, please pay it directly to me! I will autograph a copy for you! Does anyone have the slightest idea what makes used booksellers price books so outrageously? I could almost understand if this was a rare, out of print book. However, this is a newly released book that is very much still available new! I had to take this screen shot to commemorate this mind-bogglingly huge price.

I taught English these past three school days. I was in for one teacher both Friday and Monday, and then for a different English teacher yesterday. Friday and Monday I had sophomores and juniors, so it was pretty straightforward, but yesterday I had freshmen all day. They get younger every year! They were so funny with the little hand clapping games they play. We had ten minutes left at the end of class, so I had them play Pictionary, which was a big hit. It was so fun to hear them yelling out the names of all the Greek and Roman characters from mythology.  Hehe!

I am keeping the weight off! It is not as difficult as I anticipated. For one thing, my stomach has shrunk considerably. I get full on just one helping of whatever I am eating. Potluck lunches at church are when I notice this the most. I can get and eat one plate of food, and then I am done. I can't even eat dessert if I fill my plate with lunch. I really do have to save room in my stomach if I want to eat dessert.

I gained .4 pounds yesterday, and am still well within my goal weight of 145 to 149.9 pounds. For exercise, I taught, so I was on my feet most of the day, and then Scott and I walked the dogs half a mile in the park in the drizzling weather. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Wheat Chex and organic soy milk
Tuna salad sandwich (solid white tuna packed in spring water, Miracle Whip, Mrs Dash, red bell pepper) on wheat toast
El Monterey bean burrito with salsa
9 small homemade cinnamon sugar cookies (add a tablespoon of cinnamon to the flour mixture while making sugar cookies)

148.6 Now that I am strong again, a wire whisk is easier than getting the electric mixer out

Now that I am strong again, a wire whisk is easier than getting the electric mixer out. If you've never let yourself go and gotten fat and weak, then you likely have no idea what I mean. You are probably saying to yourself, "Of course the wire whisk is easier! It's a no-brainer!" You probably haven't ever used an electric mixer unless you were making whipped cream, mousse, or something else that needs to be whipped for longer than a few minutes. But heck, you probably never make those things anyway.

I was just making oatmeal cookies. Why am I making cookies when it's not Christmas? Well, we don't have the money to buy peanut M&Ms. Necessity is the mother of industriousness, don't you know?

Firstly, the oatmeal was stale. I had to spread it out on every cookie sheet we have and bake it for 20 minutes, to get the stale scent out of it.

Secondly, the recipe said to cream the butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Ours broke last Christmas, and we never did replace it. I saw the wire whisk in the drawer and thought, "Well, that will probably work. I arm will probably feel like it is going to fall off, though." Nope! Not only did the whisk work, it was a lot less of a hassle than getting the mixer out! The dogs were disappointed that there weren't two beaters to clean, but they'll live.
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I gained .2 pounds yesterday and now weigh 148.6, well within my goal weight of 145 pounds to 149.9 pounds. I walked my usual 1.3 mile route around the park, with the dogs. I ate Special K and organic soy milk, a tuna salad sandwich, raw baby carrot sticks, and burgundy beef soup over rice. I also had a few homemade Almond Roca cheesecake bars, a few cheese and sausage snacks, and some pumpkin spice brownies at Bible study last night. :)