So a couple of days ago, I was making oatmeal banana pancakes. I\u2019ve made these pancakes before, a few years ago, in an attempt at eating healthier. I can\u2019t remember where I first saw them, either Instagram, YouTube or TV, but I\u2019ve seen them made on all three, and every time they make it look so easy. Let me tell you it is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To be fair to the process, I\u2019m not really good at making regular pancakes either, which I haven\u2019t done much as well, but it\u2019s like that batter was meant to be fried, while it seems like this heartier oatmeal-banana batter has no desire to come in contact with a hot pan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Knowing that I was going to give these pancakes another go, the night before I watched several YouTube vidoes on how to prepare them. Of course in those videos everything went swell (why in the hell am I saying swell\u2026anyway).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I get up the next morning and attempt the pancakes. I make the batter without incident. I get my organic extra virgin coconut oil to grease the pan and turn the fire on medium low. That was a tip I got from YouTube, and a problem I encounter when I made the pancakes years before. I think I had the fire too high, and the coconut oil just burns out quickly. So anyway, I did all that then I poured the batter in. I waited for the bubbles in the batter and the edges to look cooked, just like you do for regular pancakes, before I attempted the flip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flip is the scariest part because the flip is the part that has always given me trouble. Practically every time I\u2019ve tried to flip, the pancake didn\u2019t want to go. This time was no exception. I thought I was doing everything right, so why was I getting wrong results?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ended up scraping the pancake up from the pan and turned it over, only to have the other side stick to, which also required scraping up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pancake that got to the plate was so ugly and deformed that I wanted to stop, but I had a bowl full of batter so I kept going. I scraped off those stuck-on bits as much as I could. This time I added more coconut oil, thinking maybe that was the problem, and poured the second pancake in a clearer area of the pan, but nothing doing. I got the same result, and for the third one as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was highly frustrating, but I still had some batter left, so I kept on going. While I was making these pancakes I noticed something. I was pouring the batter into the pan from a bowl that wasn\u2019t meant to have stuff poured out of it, so as a result, there were droplets of batter around the main pancake I was trying to make. And I noticed that those droplets weren\u2019t sticking to the pan like the bigger pancakes were. I also know, just from using this pan in general, that heat isn\u2019t evenly distributed throughout the pan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I added more oil, moved the pan so the cleaner area of it can be directly over the fire and poured a smaller pancake, and voila! What do you know, I flipped the fourth pancake with almost no problem!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before I could get too excited, I needed to do it again. Afterall, I\u2019d made a perfect oatmeal-banana pancake before, but had no idea how I did that or how to repeat it. I added my fifth one in and it was even better than the fourth! My sixth one went off without a hitch! Finally, with my seventh and last one I thought I\u2019d try it without adding more coconut oil, and it was the best one yet!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I learned about making oatmeal-banana pancakes is that you need the pan to be pretty hot to make them, and it takes a while for the pan to get to the right temperature when you have to keep the fire at medium-low heat. Also, because of the consistency of the batter, they can\u2019t be too big. Oh, I forgot about that, I also started making them smaller. I\u2019d say they have to be a bit smaller than a McDonald\u2019s pancake for the heat to be evenly distributed. That\u2019s why the droplets were coming up with no problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next time, I think I shouldn\u2019t have any problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what does this all have to do with life you might be asking. Well before I tell you that, let me tell you a quick little story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right now, I\u2019m reading this book called \u201cMaking Movies,\u201d ( at least I think that\u2019s where I saw what I\u2019m about to say in, anyway) and in the cinematography section the author, who was also a famed and critically-acclaimed director, talked about a photography professor who gave his students two options for passing his class. They could be graded by how many photos they took, no matter how good or bad the photos were, or they could be graded by how well they did with just one photo. Interestingly enough, the professor said the best photos came from the group that took a lot of photos rather than the group that tried to perfect one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That story reminded me of the time I saw this mini-doc on Tupac where he was saying it\u2019s better to be prolific than perfect, and that\u2019s the life lesson I relearned while making the pancakes. That lesson is especially applicable to me being a writer. It\u2019s one of the reasons it\u2019s so hard for me to finish what I start, so hard to consistently post to this blog. If I can\u2019t get it to be what I deem to be perfect, I\u2019d rather not do it at all. Though strangely enough most things I write, whether I complete them or not, whether I post them or not, do not measure up to what I have in my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the thing about messing up is that if you allow yourself to do it, and you keep going, you can learn as you go. Even though those first three pancakes that I made were tre discouraging, I kept going, and I learned along the way. And that\u2019s what I have to tell myself with this blog, and with everything new that interests me. It\u2019s okay if I don\u2019t get it right on the first try, or the second or the third, if I keep going, and learn during the process, eventually it will be pretty close to perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the way those first three pancakes tasted just as good as the last four. Perhaps there\u2019s a lesson there as well\u2026 but for another day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So a couple of days ago, I was making oatmeal banana pancakes. I\u2019ve made these pancakes before, a few years ago, in an attempt at eating healthier. I can\u2019t remember where I first saw them, either Instagram, YouTube or TV,…<\/p>\n