Pancake

Alice Teel from Perry Hall is looking for a recipe for a puff pancake that she had lost. She remembered that a cast-iron skillet was put in the oven with butter to melt and then the batter was poured into the hot skillet and baked. When it was done, the large pancake was puffed around the edges and somewhat sunken in the middle, perfect for filling with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Dianne Ross from Baltimore sent in a recipe for an oven pancake that sounds very similar to the one Teel requested.

IHOP National Pancake Day is Feb. 5. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., guests receive one complimentary short stack (dine-in only, etc.) In return for the free flapjacks, guests are asked to donate something to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or other designated local charities. IHOP began its National Pancake Day in 2006, and since then, the company says, it has raised $10 million for charities and given away more than 14 million buttermilk pancakes. Follow Baltimore Diner on Twitter @gorelickingood

Start training. The annual pancake eating contest at Pete's Grille is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 16 at 7 a.m. The amateur only contest,, in which contestants eat as many pancakes as they can in one hour, will include both a women's and men's division. Last year's men's winner ate 12 pancakes, and the women's winner ate 8. The all-time male and female record holders ate 20 and 12 pancakes, respectively, and, as all-time record holders, eat for free at Pete's until someone breaks their record.

Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Day) isn't until Feb. 12, but IHOP National Pancake Da y is tomorrow, Feb. 5. During National Pancake Day, more than 1,500 IHOP restaurants across the country will invite guests to enjoy a complimentary stack of IHOP's signature delicious buttermilk pancakes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Guests will be encouraged to make a voluntary contribution to the local Children's Miracle Network Hospital or other local charities....

Monday is not a pancake day. I knew this, yet recently I defied the odds and common sense, and made pancakes on the first day of the workweek.The results were predictable. The pancakes themselves were fine. They were fat, fluffy and full of buttermilk. But that warm feeling of munificence that normally washes over a pancake eater as he sets down his knife and fork just wasn't there. Instead I felt uptight, the exact opposite feeling that a man who had polished off a plate of pancakes would expect to experience.

Roll and dump. Dink and dump. With both sides lacking experienced setters, eighth-ranked Glen Burnie and 11th-ranked Perry Hall played finesse volleyball yesterday, with the host Gophers winning, 15-6, 5-15, 15-10, 15-5, in grind-it-out fashion.Serving and some well-placed rolls and dumps by Amy Hutson were the highlights for Glen Burnie (4-1) while Perry Hall (2-4) made a lot of unforced errors.Perry Hall's Beth Pancake, however, ran her perfect serve streak to 58 out of 58, with 12 in a row yesterday.

A FEW weeks ago, signs started appearing in town promoting a pancake breakfast to help the Andrew Morris family.Morris was battling brain cancer and had enrolled in an experimental drug therapy program.The drugs were free, but his hospitalization was not. And the bills were running up to $7,500 a month.So a local group of volunteers organized the breakfast to help the family cover these fees.Morris did not survive, but the pancake breakfast will be held from 7: 30 to 11: 30 a.m. tomorrow at the Savage Volunteer Fire Company Hall to help his family defray the costs of the long illness.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the day when Christians are reminded to "Remember man that thou are dust and unto dust thou shall return."The beginning of the season of Lent's 40 days is traditionally a day of penance and introspection. But yesterday, some Baltimoreans, as in other parts of the world, had a last gustatory fling before the long, late winter days when believers are TC supposed to deny themselves pleasures of the table.Consider the happy pancake eat ers who turned up for the Shrove Tuesday feast at St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1900 St. Paul St.Shrove Tuesday takes its name from the archaic verb, shrive, "to hear the confession of, then after absolution, do penance."

In an effort to get the creative juices and the maple syrup flowing, I made a new kind of pancake for the family's Sunday morning breakfast. I baked the pancake in the oven.It turned out to be a flavorful, oversize pancake, more like a crepe than a flapjack.But there were howls of protest over its appearance at the breakfast table. The dominant pancake consumers of the clan, the 12-year-old and 8-year-old, did not welcome the newcomer. They wanted the "old pancakes, the ones Dad used to make."

As American as the flag, as rural as a tractor-pull and as traditional as Thanksgiving dinner, the Lisbon Volunteer Fire Department's monthly pancake breakfast could be a Norman Rockwell painting that has come to life.Young families and retired couples sit elbow to elbow at plastic-covered oblong tables that crowd the hall. Tom "Jimmy Dean" Johnson and his father, Charlie, cook sausage on charcoal grills outside as laughter spills from the kitchen. Middle-aged women in their Sunday best chatter happily as they make their way down the buffet piled with bacon, eggs, cooked apples, gravy and pancakes.

What's better than IHOP pancakes? Free IHOP pancakes. The restaurant chain's National Pancake Day will be back Feb. 5, when diners will be served complimentary buttermilk pancakes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Customers also will be encouraged to make a contribution to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or other local charities. The company hopes to raise $3 million during its largest philanthropic event of the year. IHOP has raised more than $10 million for local charities in the eight years it has run the event.

When it's not quite 9 a.m. on a Sunday and there's a crowd gathering on the sidewalk, there's a good chance something special is happening. When that crowd is gathering outside the funky facade of Blue Moon Cafe in Fells Point, breakfast is that something special. Here's how breakfast at Blue Moon works: Upon arrival, head inside to track down a waiter and add your name to the ever-growing list. During our visit, at a quarter to 9, the wait was 30 minutes; an hour later when we left, it had swelled to a full hour and a half.

Start training. The annual pancake eating contest at Pete's Grille is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 16 at 7 a.m. The amateur only contest,, in which contestants eat as many pancakes as they can in one hour, will include both a women's and men's division. Last year's men's winner ate 12 pancakes, and the women's winner ate 8. The all-time male and female record holders ate 20 and 12 pancakes, respectively, and, as all-time record holders, eat for free at Pete's until someone breaks their record.

Alice Teel from Perry Hall is looking for a recipe for a puff pancake that she had lost. She remembered that a cast-iron skillet was put in the oven with butter to melt and then the batter was poured into the hot skillet and baked. When it was done, the large pancake was puffed around the edges and somewhat sunken in the middle, perfect for filling with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Dianne Ross from Baltimore sent in a recipe for an oven pancake that sounds very similar to the one Teel requested.

The United Methodist Church of Savage is hosting Breakfast with the Easter Bunny Saturday, March 24 from 8 to 11 a.m. at 9050 Baltimore St., in Savage. Cost is $3 for one pancake, scoop of eggs and sausage; $6 for two pancakes, two scoops of eggs and two sausages. Beverages included. Bring your camera for pictures with the Easter Bunny. Call the office, 301-725-7630, with questions.

On behalf of the Bel Air Lions Club and the volunteers who supported our effort, it was our pleasure to serve you breakfast. This year we served more than 2,100 customers, who ate regular or blueberry pancakes along with sausage and beverage of your choice. It took 29 Lions and nine spouses along with 41 Scout volunteers to accomplish this feat. Planning for this event started in late August and continued until the breakfast. Later this month we will start planning for next year again.

Four hours before last night's county championship match, Perry Hall's Beth Pancake sat in an emergency room getting four stitches in her right hand."I was so worried I wouldn't be able to play," said the right-handed Pancake, who gashed her knuckles on her car's overhead light as she tossed her backpack into the back seat. "My parents told me they didn't want me playing, but I said I want to win a county championship, I want to be part of this. I was determined."The pain didn't stop Pancake, who had seven kills, second only to teammate Erica King's nine, as the No. 4 Gators beat host Chesapeake, 15-7, 15-3, 15-7, for their first Baltimore County volleyball championship.

Some people will go to great lengths for a pancake breakfast, even if it means getting up early and sitting on a tiny, hard, triangular seat to pedal 30 to 40 miles over rolling and sometimes steep hills.The lure is the Carroll County countryside -- and enticing breakfasts of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, home fries, biscuits, hominy and pudding offered at small-town fire halls.An autumn staple in such places as Union Bridge and New Windsor, this bike-and-eat combination makes Carroll a popular destination for weekend bicyclists.

Scents of savory sausage, freshly cooked pancakes and hot coffee emanated from the church hall at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Rosedale for the annual Shrove Tuesday dinner. Many of the guests donned colorful beads and masks. Like diners at Christian congregations throughout the area, the crowd of about 200 at Prince of Peace dug into steamy stacks, smothered in maple syrup and melting butter — the typical Fat Tuesday meal and the last festive dinner before Lent begins.

At first, the clear liquid doesn't quite resemble the thick, gooey brown substance dribbled across pancakes and French toast, but naturalists assured the crowds gathered Saturday at Oregon Ridge Park that the sap tapped from maple trees, with a little elbow grease, would make maple syrup. Several hundred came for tours led by the Baltimore County park employees over the weekend for the annual Maple Sugar Weekend held each February, when weather conditions help the flow of sap with cold nights and warmer days.