The grocery store was a madhouse this morning. Not unexpected, I suppose, considering it is the week of Thanksgiving here in the U.S. But still… I guess I hoped that it wouldn’t be too wild at 8:00 am. Oh well. I emerged unscathed (except for my checking account; hot turkey leg food is EXPENSIVE).
Iceberg lettuce, I am sure you will be relieved to hear, was on sale for $2.50 a head. (Sarcasm font.) Pancakes, of any size, are still completely absent from the frozen section – I need to see an in-depth investigative report on WHY frozen pancakes are a) so much hotter a commodity these days than in The Time Before, and b) so difficult to replenish/keep on the shelves. I read somewhere – oh yes; I googled what in the sizzling griddle is going on with pancakes, and found a tweet by some other miffed mother wanting some pancake clarity. The Eggo twitter account responded, which is kind of cool… but their response was both vague and unsatisfying:
Seriously. WHAT IS GOING ON WITH FROZEN PANCAKES. My grocery store doesn’t even have space for pancakes anymore. It’s not like there is a big gaping pancake hole indicating where the few boxes of pancakes had been before they were snatched immediately off the shelves by lucky pancake hunters… Instead, the waffle selection has swollen to disproportionate sizes, making it seem as though there were never any pancakes at all. When things like lunchables and pasta and flour were hard to come by, there was still space for them on the shelves. So I feel like there just are no pancakes. (I suppose my grocery store could just have gotten really adept at filling shelf gaps, to create the illusion of well-stocked shelves… but there was NO MAPLE SYRUP today, and where they should have been on the shelf was just a gaping nothingness, so…) I am assuming, based on absolutely no data at all, that pancake machinery is being used to support some other in-demand food stuff… but I can’t for the life of me think what it is. Or maybe Big Waffle is trying to eradicate pancakes from the planet. Whatever is going on, the pancake supply chain seems to have completely collapsed, at least in my area.
You may have surmised, based on the frenetic tone of the above, that I am still in the midst of my coffee experiment. Even though I am a regular drinker of both black tea and caffeinated soda, and even though I never notice an appreciable difference in personal caffeination (although if I skip my tea, I do get a headache, so obviously the caffeine is doing something), I feel like coffee is different. It’s like an injection of liquid energy, except not the kind of energy I can direct toward productive things like exercise or work; it’s more like squirrel energy, where my movements become rapid and jerky and I get easily distracted by acorns.
My husband, a legit coffee connoisseur, made me some of his good coffee this morning. He did so yesterday as well. (Saturday, and there is no reason for me to tell you this, but, squirrel, he slept in because he was coming off 12 straight days of work plus he was recovering from his Covid booster, so I drank my regular tea.) He grinds his own beans and has some sort of special drip coffee maker and I am supposed to believe that these things make the coffee much smoother. It is certainly much less bitter/nauseating than the pre-ground pumpkin coffee I drank last week when I began this experiment, but I am still suspicious. Coffee is coffee, right? I do find that I absolutely need to eat something before/during the coffee drinking, otherwise I feel very queasy indeed. This morning, I had a slice of apple cider donut blondie that my husband and daughter made yesterday. It is very tasty, but I have to warn you: it tastes NOTHING of apple cider. Which is deeply disappointing, because my husband had to reduce the apple cider by half and it took close to an hour to do so. Apple cider appearance or no, these blondies are soft and crumbly on the inside and crunchy around the edges and go very nicely with coffee. However, this may prove to be too much sugar for my stomach to handle in tandem with the squirrel surge of caffeine.
Hey! This week is Thanksgiving, at least at my house, and I am looking forward to a very low-key day with just the three of us. I am making a turkey breast (America’s Test Kitchen recipe) (although I bought a couple of wing pieces to help enhance the drippings for the gravy), and my mother’s goat-cheese-garlic-mashed potatoes, and mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows for my daughter, and cranberry sauce, and apple crisp. It still sounds like a lot of food and cooking, but I don’t have to make dressing (my husband agreed to let me buy it, pre-made, from Whole Foods, where we are getting our turkey breast), and we can sit around in our pajamas all day if we want and I feel like this is going to be a nice break before the crush of the Christmas holiday.
(By the way, in searching for my Thanksgiving recipes, I came across last year’s post about Thanksgiving. And I have ZERO RECOLLECTION OF ANY OF IT. Apparently we didn’t do cranberry sauce or dressing last year, either? Apparently we did a family Zoom? Apparently we made something called an apple sharlotka? NO MEMORY OF ANY OF IT.)
Hanukkah begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I am dithering over whether to make sufganiyot again. I really liked them, and it was fun to share them with our neighbor. But they really are best when fresh out of the fryer, so I don’t know if it’s worth doing again. Carla expressed interest in making some cookies, so maybe I will look into that. And maybe we will save a Hanukkah baking project for the end of Hanukkah instead of the beginning.
Dinners for the Week of November 22-November 28
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Asian Chicken Salad (which I didn’t make last week)
- Oven Baked Pork Chops with a Side Salad
- Turkey Day Food!
- Leftovers
- Takeout (something opposite to the bland, carb-heavy Thanksgiving fare, like Indian or Thai or Cuban food)
- Salmon and Leek One Pot Wonder with Trader Joe’s Latkes
What are you most looking forward to eating this week? If you celebrate Thanksgiving, what will your celebration look like this year? And do YOU remember last year’s Thanksgiving? Why has it been erased so thoroughly from my brain? Is there some sort of insidious black hole that is devouring pancakes and memories?
life of a doctor's wife 
My husband surprised me and put in an order for 4 meal boxes which were just delivered a few minutes ago! We’ve only done this once before (when I only had to pay the shipping, over a year ago), but I guess he got some deal through a work survey. So I don’t have to meal plan this week and we get to try lots of cool new flavours. I’m excited.
To be honest, since I cook from scratch 90% of the time, these meal kits don’t really pull me in usually because there is still quite a bit of prep work (but no shopping!); I don’t think I’d purchase them at full price because there is quite a bit of packaging + still have to spend time ordering the meals + I do still have to prepare the meal + they cost lot more per serving than what I can make at home.
But…every once in a while, it’s a really nice treat.
That is a nice treat!
I wonder if the pancake deal could be at all related to school lunches? In California at least they’ve made all school food free to all students this year and I believe little packs of pancakes are a common offering. Even if that’s not the cause perhaps you can talk yourself into believing it so it’s slightly less irritating? I have the same issue with the only yakisoba noodles my whole family will eat, but I don’t think those are popular on the school lunch menus 😉
Happy Thanksgiving, I’m grateful your posts still show up in my lonely, lonely feed reader.
Oooh that is a good pancake coping thought! I kind of love the idea of kids getting packages of pancakes each day!
My mother and I decided not to do the whole big turkey dinner for the two of us, since we’ll be doing it in a month when my brother is here for Christmas. So I’m mostly looking forward to four days off work!
Last year we got a prepared meal from the grocery store, but it was tons too much food, plus of course not done exactly the way we want things. So I’m glad we agreed not to do that again!
Yay for four days off!
Last year my husband and I had a completely regular weekday dinner for Thanksgiving and it made me incredibly sad. I think we’re going to do the same thing year and I’ll be incredibly sad again. It doesn’t make sense to make a whole big meal for one person since my husband does not care about or like food at all. I might just eat our enchiladas like it doesn’t bother me, but make a pie or something. I don’t know exactly what to do, but I guess it doesn’t have to be quite as gloomy as it was last year.
Oh that is hard! Making a pie sounds like a good concession. But if you are so inclined, there HAS to be a way to make at least one of your favorites just for you! Mash a potato or a yam! Buy a small turkey cutlet! I don’t know how to do dressing for one, but I have no doubt it could be done!
Stuffin’ muffins! New idea for me, but I made some this year and while the recipe still needs tweaking, the concept is delightful! I baked them and then tossed them into the freezer.
Our Thanksgiving is going to look completely different this year. Man-Child is headed up North with his girlfriend to celebrate with her family. The friends two doors down that we usually do Thanksgiving with are both working. So it will be just the two of us; looking at each other and wondering what we should do. I think, The Husband will make something special but it won’t be the usual Thanksgiving fare, I don’t think.
That is a big difference, Gigi! I hope it is relaxing and a nice time for you and your husband to establish some new traditions.
I didn’t know frozen store pancakes existed, I make a batch using Krustez mix and freeze the leftovers. do the same with waffles
I remember last year’s (Canadian, so in October) Thanksgiving only because it was the first one that I had a working kitchen and was able to contribute to the meal my MIL makes, which never had anything I can eat at it! It was nice to not be starving after the meal.
The pancake thing is so weird. What a bizarre shortage!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
I am most looking forward to eating the chocolate-crusted pumpkin cheesecake I make every Thanksgiving. I just realized I haven’t bought the Oreos for that. Pardon me while I go put those on the Last-Minute List. IMAGINE IF I HAD FORGOTTEN THEM. WHAT A CRISIS WE HAVE JUST AVERTED WITH THIS LITTLE CHAT!!!
I AM SO GLAD!
Sorry about the great pancake debacle. I do remember Thanksgiving last year. But I have no memories of my 50th birthday on December 30th. I am cooking this year but just for us. I am most looking forward to eating Rocky Road Fudge Bars. I made them already. Gluten free. Time consuming recipe, so a rare treat. Enjoy your cozy day.
We don’t see extended family on Thanksgiving and for the past several years we’ve rented a house at the beach and that’s what we did last year. We took our bubble to the beach and the only difference was the day-after-Thanksgiving tree lighting/caroling event was cancelled. Oh, and we didn’t do much Christmas shopping because we wanted to stay out of the stores and we got a lot of takeout instead of eating out. So I guess there were some differences. But the meal itself was the same. This year will be my first Thanksgiving with diabetes, so that will be interesting.
I have a tendency to be, um, high strung when it comes to preparing a meal like Thanksgiving and trying to get everything to the table while it’s still hot, and make sure everybody likes everything – spreadsheets are involved! And usually the meal is fairly chaotic (in the past, my daughter was always fighting with her boyfriend) and kind of a letdown.
Last year’s Covid Thanksgiving was so nice, just me and Dave, cooking the food the way we wanted and totally appreciating everything. It was lovely and a great memory.
This year I’m determined to be MUCH more laid back. Now we have 22-month-old twins in the family as well as my grandson who turns 6 next week. It’s hard to be fussy about cooking when you are also running after little ones (and oh, the twins make me run). So I’m looking forward to a day of chaos with my [vaccinated] daughter, son-in-law (who never fights with her, yay!) and three grandchildren. I will not care if the food is cold! I will appreciate every minute. But I do believe spreadsheets will still be involved. 😉 Happy Thanksgiving!
I can totally relate to the squirrel type of energy. Thank you for putting a name to it.
Pancake shortage? What is the world coming to?
I do remember last Thanksgiving and it was lovely as we were all together. This year some of my people have to work, so it will be smaller, but still, I’m thankful.
I see you are making pork chops. We had them last night and I roasted bosc pears with them. It was a recipe I saw in Better Homes and Gardens. I’d never roasted pears before. It was really easy and so.darn.delicious!
If you’re interested, I can find the recipe for you and share it.
I rarely go down the frozen food aisle in the grocery so I was unaware of the frozen pancake crisis. I find it odd but I’m on team waffle, always. But I empathize with the pancake lovers out there and this problem.
Making Hanukkah cookies at the end sounds brilliant to me. Something to look forward to, plus why rush? Happy Turkey Day!
I looove Thanksgiving. My birthday always falls on Thanksgiving or near it, so it feels extra-special to me. After a few years of my mom hosting a small Thanksgiving with just our immediate family, my cousin offered to start hosting Thanksgiving with our whole family like we did before my grandparents died. It’s been special to get together with everyone again – and even better to only have to worry about supplying a side dish and dessert!
Happy Thanksgiving AND Happy Hannukah to you and yours!
You definitely need more cream in that coffee.
Yesterday I had a conversation in the frozen aisle with another mother who was lamenting the pancake shortage. We agreed that surely the batter is mostly the same as for the waffles?? It was nice to have a moment of camaraderie over it. What the heck, Eggo?!