By Last full week at the pool. I will be back in DeKalb next week for the start of the semester and then in October for student teaching. The other guards threw a small end-of-summer thing on Thursday evening — someone brought chips and a supermarket sheet cake, someone brought a cooler. We sat on the pool deck after closing, chairs pulled into a rough circle, talking about what we were doing next. College, jobs, moves. I said I was going to be a special education teacher. Three people said "That must be hard." One person said "The kids are lucky." That person was seventeen and worked here all summer for the first time. She already knows the right thing to say.
Went to Babcia Rose's for Sunday dinner. She made gołąbki — the stuffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce that take half a day and taste like something no one else has ever made and no one ever will again. She had been cooking since morning. The kitchen was hot. She moved more slowly than usual. I watched her hands while she worked — wrapping each roll the same way, the cabbage folded tight and tucked under. Eighty-seven years of muscle memory.
I asked if she was tired. She said "The gołąbki don't care if I'm tired." I wrote that down when I got home. I have been doing this all summer — writing down the things she says, the measurements she doesn't give, the gestures. Someday I am going to compile it into a real document. Someday when she can still tell me what I got wrong.
Made banana bread this week with two bananas that were very far gone — black-spotted, soft, sweet. Flour, eggs, those bananas, butter, brown sugar, baking soda, a pinch of salt, vanilla. Mixed it by hand. Baked it in the loaf pan at 350 for about an hour. The whole house smelled like it. Patty cut it while it was still warm and we ate slices at the counter without plates. This is the best way to eat banana bread. It is the only way, actually.
The banana bread that week wasn’t really about the recipe — it was about using what was there, making something warm, and eating it the right way: standing at the counter, still hot, no plates needed. Apple pancakes carry that same instinct. Ripe fruit, pantry staples, a pan on the stove. This is the version I come back to when I need the kitchen to feel settled before everything shifts again.
Apple Pancakes
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4 (about 10 pancakes)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large apple (Honeycrisp or Fuji), peeled and grated or very finely diced
- Butter or neutral oil for the pan
Instructions
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and brown sugar until evenly combined.
- Whisk the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter, and vanilla.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined — a few lumps are fine. Do not overmix or the pancakes will tighten up.
- Fold in the apple. Gently stir the grated or diced apple into the batter until distributed.
- Rest the batter. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes while you heat the pan. This gives the baking powder time to activate and makes the pancakes fluffier.
- Cook the pancakes. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat. Add a small pat of butter or a thin coat of oil. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Cook until bubbles form on the surface and the edges look set, about 2 to 3 minutes, then flip and cook 1 to 2 minutes more until golden.
- Serve warm. These are best straight from the pan. A little maple syrup or just a dusting of powdered sugar — or nothing at all.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 290 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 43g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 310mg