Birthday Meals

This is such a belated post that I'm not sure I can do justice to the two reviews I was going to conduct, namely of Rick n' Ann's and of Venus. So I'll just say this. I went to R & A twice in two weeks and now have no need to ever go again. Nothing wrong, but I'm done for the time being.

Next: Venus. Well, we keep going back (for dinner - they used to just serve brunch) and I've never been disappointed. P started with corn pancakes, which were really delicious: fresh, with whole and ground corn, and a pleasant soft but crispy texture. P's ribs were good too, and I'm not a ribs fan. But my steak was really terrific, as was the beautiful heirloom tomato soup I had to begin. We'll just have to go back so that I have more to say. . .

But the part of my birthday meals I really need to post is this recipe for banana chocolate pancakes, with which we started our day. We used some old bananas and added a half cup or so of lovely bittersweet Callebaut, chopped nice and fine. I would highly recommend these pancakes (from AllRecipes) on birthdays and on unbirthdays.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.
2. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

YUMMM!