Kayaks, Cooking, and Pancakes...Oh My!

“It is better to travel alone than with a bad companion" ~ African Proverb Most of my writings are about cooking, recipes, and their stories.  This post is not any different but only a different way of thinking today.  My mind has been so very full lately.  Worries about finances, taking care of my bed fast, elderly mom with Alzheimer's disease, going through a divorce currently, and wondering/worrying about my future and if i will or can ever be happy.  These thoughts come and go but are always with me.... and sometimes i feel like the person with all of these problems is not really me but someone else.  Denial at it's finest, i suppose. Well, this morning, my 16 year old daughter asked me to make a dish i had completely forgotten about and had not made forever:  Gluten free German apple pancake, a delicious dish that melts in your mouth.  I dug out the recipe from a drawer and began to combine ingredients, alone in the kitchen with only the Pandora Internet music on.  I thought about how simple this recipe is...really only a few ingredients and yet so delicious.  Why had i not thought to make this more...and when was the last time i had cooked this for my daughter??  I thought about how much pleasure this dish gave  me by preparing it...and even more for my daughter who has Celiac Disease.  It's something really good that she enjoys eating and CAN eat.  Later on in the day i was talking to a good friend on the phone.  He, a couple of weeks ago, bought a kayak for himself. I have to admit that i could not understand what the attraction was with a kayak!  The expense, the added expense of having to buy a rack to transport,.... and to go by yourself???    But then he said that when he is on the water, ...all else fades away.  His busy corporate world, people constantly needing him, never ending things he must do to please family and business contacts as well.  It is when he is the happiest.  Not just the lake or the kayak...but the peace and solitude it gives him. It is the time he needs to get his head back on in order to make it through another week.    And then, it occurred to me that my healing solitude is the cooking.  When i cook, everything goes away...if only for a meal.  I please myself and others...and have time to let things go away for a while so i can recharge.  Just like i didn't understand the kayak, some people don't understand my expensive kitchen cookware, tools, and even the many collections (even seasonal) of  dishes i own.  But it makes ME happy and helps me to make dining here a real experience.  If only for me.  'ME' is the important word here  The African proverb hits the truth in all of us.  We each need something to make ourselves happy...to do for ourselves... for our sanity and mentality.  We all have 'bad travel companions' in our daily lives that act as vampires of our souls.  Being alone sometimes enables us to look at everything in a different way...to soak in the environment.  The sights, the smells, the sounds, and the simplicity of things that we would often be too busy to notice if we are in the company of others.  Enough said. Here's the Gluten free German apple pancake picture and recipe.  Easy, enjoyable to make and eat.  And good for the mind as well! Ingreds: 3-4 peeled and roughly chopped Granny Smith green apples 3-4 TBSP butter 4 eggs 3/4 C. milk 3/4 C. GF flour mix* 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 tsp vanilla Cinnamon sugar (about 1/4 C. sugar and 1/2 tsp cin.) Preheat oven to 400. In a glass 9X13 pan, melt butter in oven. Remove from oven and make sure butter coats bottom of pan. Spead chopped Apples over bottom of dish. Mix other ingreds (except for cinnamon sugar) and pour over apples. Sprinkle cin. sugar over top. Bake in oven for 20 mins. until puffed up and lightly browned. Serve with syrup, crisp bacon or sausages.  YUM! *If gluten free is not required, regular flour can be used.