it is great to have such good memories and also to be preparred.
do you use any cornmeal in those cakes?
[ramble zone ahead
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i have no such cakes in my past from Grandma on Dad's side but she was a tremendously good cook and she taught Mom how to cook along with all of her favorite dishes that she made for her large family. if you went to visit her as long as you sat at the kitchen table she'd feed you, even if you were not hungry, she'd bring you bits of this or that, or a slice of pie, or some meatballs and sauce on fresh buttered bread or ... it really was an endless feast and she pretty much did it on auto-pilot with ten hungry children and a husband and all their friends and such. by the time i came along it was a fairly empty house too much of the time. we drove a few hours to visit her and to keep her company. she had a very long life, but her final years were rather sad and hearbreaking. i try to remember her during the better times instead and hope that if there is a heaven she's doing what she'd like, probably feeding them all up there too.
now if you got up from the table and went and tried to hide in the small den where the tv was at she might still bring you some things there too, just not quite as messy things, so that was a good strategy if you wanted her to break out the chocolates or some very good cookies. however, i did not think of this until years too later.
as she got older and we didn't visit so often we'd still get there once in a while and it was then that we found out about her stash of cookies and goodies she kept under her bed in her room. she had a harder time opening things and so she was not getting very good meals and all that, but she could still get into her stash of goodies.
i probably get my sweet-tooth genes from her... they're well worn genes by now.
and that cast iron pan. i'd love one more for making breakfast here once in a while. i've been looking for one on discount or at the budget racks or second hand places. i've even watched plenty of vids on how to season and restore them and perhaps how to pick out a good one. mainly avoiding warps and cracks. i'm not too concerned about how smooth it might be. by the time it gets a good season on it perhaps it won't matter as much, but i will sure keep that in mind if it ever does become an issue. the best thing i learned about seasoning was to simply wipe it down with oil and then use it, don't bother with all the rest of the BS, prep, repetition or whatever, just use it. my current only iron pan is about 5yrs old now and looking good to me, not perfect, but it does get used. in theory the seasoning is carbon and grease so i'd wondered about just burning a bit of sugar in the oiled pan to start, or making sure to cook some good bbq type things with enough sugar in them. anyways, i do love a good iron pan and am looking out for the 2nd one so i can stop cooking meat in something else or having to clean up the pan after cooking the meat, i'd rather like to have one pan for frying the sausage and then have to the other pan for cooking the pancakes. cleaning up a meat pan to where i can accept using it for pancakes is not the best thing, if i can use a 2nd pan then i don't have to scrub it so much or so many times.
my own making of pancakes and flapjacks took on a new life when i moved down south for a few years and was getting tons of exercise so i could eat as much as i wanted. flapjacks, pancakes, etc. were on the menu frequently and i'd make these one about an inch and a half thick in a 9 inch non-stick pan. i'd mix some corn meal, flour and buckwheat for them, each batch could taste different from the last and i'd also use other flours or ingredients as i could think of it. rarely did i put anything on them other than butter. they were moist enough and good enough, even with my sweet tooth i'd rarely go for syrups. if i wanted more protein or variety i liked peanut butter and apple sauce on them too, or apple butter. i was in a mostly vegetarian stage of being then so i didn't have too much going on for needing another pan or cooking like i do now. also rarely going to the same extreme on the flours or additions to pancakes because Mom won't put up with such things, she's more the purist, wheat flour is where she is at, a bit of corn meal is ok, but i can't go too far with that. haha... funny.
for a skillet!
