Camper’s scrambled hotcake

OH, THERE you are! How have you been, my dear, Khokies? I hope all’s well that ends well?

I have been enjoying outdoor life, camping in the rain, snow, the mountain, by the river, all on YouTube! My Aunt Tita Blitte says it is called a vicarious experience. My young nephews and nieces call it reality life and ASMR. Whatever you call it, vloggers Matthew Posa, and AB Outdoors and Camping Tony have given me a taste of camping life through their channels.

These wilderness seekers do a lot of cooking on-camp that I think their adventures also double as cooking shows. Maybe in the future, God-willing, I will do Matt’s and Tony’s recipes for my column.

Cheers on that?

One episode though on AB gave me a huge dose of LOL. It reminded me of my scrambled bread escapade with my nephew Pannon. On AB, Tony was making breakfast hotcakes.

A salute to Tony for not blue-pencilling that hilarious (to me) fiasco. It was an endearing touch, noted Ellen, my niece, who follows Matt and Tony.

The chap poured all the batter on his tiny camper pan with little grease. To a self-proclaimed cooking expert like me (who can ruin French toast so easily because it’s too soggy), the maneuver spelled disaster.

STUCK. I thank Tony for his honesty and for not editing out that portion. He reassured me I’m not alone on sometimes being all-thumbs when it comes to cooking.

The hotcake stuck no matter how hard he tried to flip it or lift it. He ended up with what looked like scrambled eggs. So much like my scrambled bread or pretender French toast.

BASIC. To celebrate Tony’s humanity, Pannon and I made hotcakes, from sweet to savory. Our recipe: one cup flour, two tablespoons sugar (when making sweet hotcakes), 1/4 teaspoon salt and two eggs.

We do cheat. We open a box of hotcake mix and claim we did it from scratch! Yes, scratch our heads from thinking of novel ways to make hotcakes.

CAKE IT. Pile five box-mix hotcakes to form a tower. Fill each layer with buttercream icing (1/2 c. butter, 2 tbsp. milk, 2 c. confectioners’ sugar) and ripe mango slices. Frost the cake as best you can. Eat by the slice.

SAVORY. Make unsweetened hotcakes. Add minced green onions and ham. Cook hotcakes till golden.

ROLL. Make thin hotcakes. Fill with cheese and hotdog or stuffing of choice. Roll and secure with toothpicks.

SWEET. Just add choco chips or diced fruit to the batter!

VEGGIE CAKE. Mix 3/4 c. flour, 3/4 c. water and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add this to five stalks of minced green onions, 1/2 c. each sweet potato and carrot strips, and sliced canned mushrooms. Cook by the ladle or two till golden brown. Serve with any dip.