If you came to my house in February for “tea”, I probably wouldn’t have many baked goods to share. I tend to do the majority of my baking fails around Christmas time, like so many people. However, fear not! You will be fed! I will have plenty of comfort foods to share with you, along with a lovely cuppa.

You see, it’s been that kind of vibe around here lately. The days are kinda gloomy and damp…and we finally even got a significant dump of snow recently – a first for me in my new Island home.

February had started off great, with a lovely trip to the west coast of the island, and some hometown views like this:

And then last weekend, this happened:

Is it any wonder that I turned to comfort foods? First up, old-fashioned rice pudding made in my new-fashioned rice cooker. I won’t share the recipe because it came out of a fairly new cookbook (you know – copyright and all that), but there are plenty to be found online. I used arborio rice, and maple syrup instead of sugar.

Next up in the comfort food February hit parade, let me present a viral recipe my daughter was raving about: Baked Feta Pasta.

And last but not least, in honour of Fat Tuesday: my mother’s Dutch pancakes (she only made the sweet kind). And here’s her recipe as given to me many years ago:

Mix together flour and milk, throw in an egg (or two), a pinch of salt, some sugar, and some vanilla. Add more ingredients until the correct consistency is achieved. You’ll know you’re done when it smells right.

Smells right?! SMELLS RIGHT!?! How am I supposed to work with this??? WHERE. ARE. THE. MEASUREMENTS. WTF.

Gentle reader, after more than a few attempts I figured it out. Here’s how I make them.

Start out with 1 cup of milk and beat an egg into it. Add a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of sugar (optional for sweet pancakes…not critical or necessary). Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla (only for sweet pancakes), to start. Whisk in 1 cup of flour. I usually start adding more milk at this point because I like to be able to create thinner pancakes. On this particular day 1/4 cup more milk was needed to achieve the batter consistency I wanted.

Then I smell the batter.

Needs more vanilla, which I added. Thanks, Mom!

This recipe can be easily doubled, tripled…whatever your pancake lovin’ dreams call for. The pan temperature and preheating is critical. Find the setting that works and commit it to memory. I prefer making my pancakes in butter but have used oil in the past and it works too. Don’t rush your first pancake as the pan will probably not be hot enough. You want the temperature to be hot enough to create the golden lacy effect, which will never happen if the pan is too cold.

Unfortunately you have to figure this out as everyone’s cooktop is different.

Fortunately you can eat your mistake(s) as you wait for the pan to come to the correct temperature. I prefer to call it my…ahem…”trial” pancake, when it happens more often than not.

Leftovers (if any) can be stored covered, at room temperature for ease in grab n’ go snack-ability.

Pannekoeken (Dutch pancakes) can be made sweet (plain or with apples or raisins cooked right in) or savoury (with added bacon, ham, cheese etc.) They are not eaten for breakfast usually, but are a meal in themselves. Mom used to make them to stretch out a meal of leftovers. And she would make so many, there WERE pancake leftovers (unbelievable as it sounds) that disappeared the next day as breakfast or “snacks”: delicious rolled up and eaten out-of-hand, plain and at room temperature…yum!

Well, there you have it. Not exactly tea fare in the traditional sense. Unless perhaps you are using it in British sense: “tea” meaning the evening meal. Perhaps I should start my own monthly challenge…something like “What’s for Dinner?” or “What’s on Your Plate?”. Hmmmm. Would anyone be interested? (It’s quite possible that something like this already exists in the blogosphere, and I am not aware of it.) Gawd knows I need inspiration to cook myself a decent meal these days. Let me know in the Comments, below.

Thank you for reading this far (it was a looong one, sorry)…and for joining me in this month’s Virtual Tea Party – hosted by Del and Su. Click on their links to go see them and the lovely things they made!

Rock on,

The WB