Pancake Memories

Growing up, our house always had the best pancakes. Period. Sleepovers were always awesome because the pancake breakfast which would be provided to our friends was always one of excitement and gratitude for serving such delicious pancakes. All of our friends agreed unanimously that they had never had pancakes as tasty as ours, and we knew it because yeah, they were just that good. Whenever I would go over to a friend’s house for a sleepover and pancakes were served for breakfast, I’d lie and say I wasn't hungry because I knew that they would be from a box and I could not ruin my taste buds with that filth.

Yes, we the Kotyks are a bit snobbish when it comes to pancakes. The recipe came down from my grandma, my dad’s mom, and when we were all young kids, every Sunday my dad would make a big bowl of pancake batter and fry up some flap-jacks for his hungry family. As we got older he passed the pancake baton onto us and we became the Sunday breakfast chefs, the family recipe stored forever in our memories.

I was out walking a few days ago and met up with a neighbour who is the father of a woman that my sister grew up with.  Megan shared many pancake breakfasts with us and he was telling me that as a Christmas gift this year, she received a package containing the ingredients (some of them anyway) and the recipe for Kotyk’s Pancakes from another girlfriend that my sister and his daughter grew up with who also loved our pancakes. I guess the two of them had been talking about memories of those magical breakfasts so the one sent the recipe over (which she must have stolen somehow;) as a gift.

When I heard this story I found it amazing. Even though my sister and these two women haven’t really spoken in years and years, their memories of Saturday night sleepovers and Sunday morning pancakes is still a topic for discussion and now our family recipe will be shared through at least two different families who will make pancakes for their kids, friends and family and be able to tell stories of where this recipe came from. If I hadn’t spoken with my neighbour that day I would not have known this story and I am glad that I do. We never know whose lives have been touched and whose fond memories are about your family. There are so many people that I have lost touch with but every now and then will smile thinking about due to a shared experience, and I wonder if they smile thinking about it too. 

Want a copy of my family's famous pancake recipe? Please send a money order of $10,000 to my email address and I will see what I can do.