A short stack on a winter morning

There's something about midwinter cold and snow that awakens in me a desire for pancakes. Maybe it's some primeval urge to pack on carbs and fat to survive the frigid months, or perhaps it's that I have more time to cook in general because I'm indoors more. Regardless, I rarely eat any breakfast -- I know, that's bad -- but I made pancakes yesterday and today, and they were quite enjoyable.

Of course, I made them from scratch. You won't find any box mix in my cupboard. As with most of my cooking, I don't measure anything. I use intuition (which sometimes can lead to problems, but more often than not works fine) and sometimes I use substitution as well. Because I don't drink milk, I avoid using any dairy when making pancakes. Instead, I use apple cider. Laugh if you wish, but the texture and the taste are quite enjoyable.

Finally, one must use maple syrup -- the genuine article -- to top the fluffy stack of flapjacks. In fact, one may go so far as to label pancakes as "a maple syrup delivery system." If I had a banana I would have sliced it up to pile on the plate, but as it was, the pancakes were perfect -- and my body has the necessary insulation to combat the winter's chill.