You never know what kind of pancakes you’re going to get in this household. It all depends on the mood of the pancake maker. Some days, we get beautiful fluffy specimens, and other days… Well; let’s not talk about those too much.

Today’s reward for getting out of my snuggle-buggle duvet-land was pretty good. When quizzed on what the chef had done differently, this was the reply:

An egg and some baking soda.

Yeah, that’s as precise as he ever gets. I sometimes wonder about his bench work.

French Toast

An attempt to recreate the French Toast that my Grandma used to make for us when we were little kiddies. I’m pretty sure she didn’t use milk (almost everyone else in my family is lactose-intolerant), and it never took her very long to make. But I can’t remember how she made it at all, except that she used eggs and sugar, and fried it in a pan. And the bread was always white plastic¹ bread. OK, so it probably can’t be called “French” toast, but it’s a close approximation. The spices were added to fit our current tastebuds. I’m pretty sure Grandma didn’t even touch cinnamon in her lifetime. Nutmeg, on the other hand, was well-loved in our family, but eaten as preserved shredded fruit (buah pala²) and never used as a spice (although I’m sure my mother had a jar of nutmeg powder for her annual Christmas fruitcake).

Grandma’s “French” Toast, Test Recipe 1 (to feed 2 hungry peeps):

• 3 eggs
• 2 heaped teaspoons icing sugar (powdered sugar in America)
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of cinnamon powder
• Butter (whatever it takes to line those arteries)

1. Crack 3 eggs into a large dish. (I used an 8″ square casserole dish.)
2. Lightly beat eggs with icing sugar and spices. (Note to self: next time, try separating eg, and beat sugar with egg whites first, followed by yolks so it’s not overbeaten.)
3. Prepare frying pan with a smear of butter (sliver equivalent to less than 1 tsp).
4. Dip both sides of bread in egg, allowing it to sit for about 30 sec on each side.
5. Fry eggy bread over a medium heat; about 30-60 seconds per side. Flip when side starts to brown.
6. Keep fried bread warm in a 350°F (180°C) oven.
7. Serve with honey or maple syrup or just plain old jam.
8. Take photo after realising it’d make a half-decent food post, even if it’s just an aide memoir.
9. Polish the rest off before the man or the dog steal any.

² Our favourite thing on arrival in Penang would be to acquire the local speciality: nutmeg aka buah pala. My preference was for the sweet shredded pickled nutmeg. This could kick off an entire post reminiscing about the “unusual” and “exotic” food items of my childhood, but let’s leave that for another day.

It is a fried breakfast lover’s dream come true: a perfectly fried omelette, rolled up with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and streaky bacon in an easy-to-hold wheat tortilla origami creation. Breakfast-to-go. Or, in our case, linger after our bi-monthly haircut¹.

Ketchy’s II²
Sawtelle³
11270 La Grange Ave (just behind the shabu shabu restau Mizu)
Los Angeles CA 90025
+1 310 481 0799

² There’s a bit of history behind the Ketchy name. I think it used to be a taco stand, which was unfortunately smashed by a truck. At any rate, it’s now a hole-in-the-wall, and the fry-cook (ala Spongebob) is a super omelette fryer. I live for my haircuts now…

³ Not only do we not leave the Westside much, we don’t even venture much further east than just west of the 405. Sad.