Review - Original Pancake House

Sunday morning has always been a time for the family meal for yours truly. In fact, a memory came to mind this morning of my mother taking my sister and I to a 'Chinese' Buffet after church when we were young. Granted, it was more American than Chinese food, but the memories and the company were the real stars of the show... that, and this crispy dough thing with sugar on it. Funnel Cake anyone?

So, yesterday when my Pop-Cake reminded me that I would be the man of the house as he traveled to Orlando on business I had a couple flashes of sadness. Im not a daddy's-boy by any means... im a mama's boy through and through... but we DO have a weekend ritual of going to the movies and sneaking in our own food. *sigh* its the simple things.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, since we were going to miss out cinematic adventure I suggested the Sunday Brunch/Breakfast. Imagine my surprise when they not only agreed... but had the greatest suggestion of all time!

ORIGINAL PANCAKE HOUSEDad = Happy/awesome. Mom = Not as high as she appears (theres a lag on the camera)

Now, as with any breakfast place in America, the line at th door almost scared us back to the car. It was out the door and then some, but we were pleasantly surprised when the hostess sat us in 15 minutes! The waiter carried the torch with speedy service and a smile that would not quit. I also only saw the bottom of my coffee mug twice and those of you that know my coffee addiction know how amazing that is.

As per the menu, its pretty standard breakfast fare. Eggs, toast, REAL jelly, fresh home fries, sausage and PANCAKES. There were a lot of varieties too: buttermilk, wheat germ, buckwheat, sourdough, pumpkin and granola to name a few. There were also some more exotic dishes like breakfast burritos, waffles, blintzes and crepes filled with who-knows-what. Our table ended up with a full array of all the usual suspects.

Also, those of you familiar with Bob Evans will know what i mean when i say: "Thick, peppery bacon." Well; Thick-peppery-bacon was defintley one of the front runners this morning. Mom-cake ordered it and panclayke may have taken a piece (or five).

However, as good as the food/service/company were the TRUE reason people go to the Original Pancake House is the 'Pancakes from Around the World". They have brealfast fare hardly seen anywhere outside of Germany and Finland where these wonderous dishes were first served and consumed. Yours truly could not live with himself unless he hopped a plane to the Netherlands and had a little Apple Baby!

Have I mentioned im moving to the Netherlands and converting to Cannibalism? Honestly, all apple babies better start sleeping with one eye open!

So there are obviously a slew of reasons to get out to your Original Pancake House but are there any reasons why you should opt to stay home? Other than the ringing of the door as the new people came in (we were sitting RIGHT next to the entrance = irk!) and the crowding that rivaled a chinese orphanage there weren't really any to write home about. The food was fresh and the feeling of the restaurant just promoted a aura of happy... is there anything pancakes can't do.

Original Pancake House: 5/5 cakes

*note= the special pancakes and the omelettes ARE cooked to order! This makes the diner happy since they are actually cooking as opposed to re-hydrating their food. However, order a peice of toast or two for the wait to avoid the 'hanger pangs'

Till next time, this is Panclayke, reminding you that eggs are babies too... let the baby-slaughter begin!

Good evening all, i hope your Thanksgiving was as awesome and as full of food as mine was! Im not gonna lie, there was definnitely some extreme fullness happening. I guess im just one of those people that graze on a bit of everything... unfortunately, there was a lot of dishes that were brought. So, after a 2 day nap, there was only one thing to do and that was to update all the wonderful people out in the land of Blog.

So, i know your all on pins and needles about my last post making the declaration to enjoy the festivites to their fullest. I know what your thinking... "You need to remind yourself to enjoy a holiday? (weeeirdoooooo...)" You would be right about that one, i am a weirdo but one that is set on changing. That being said i think its time to throw the honestly party of the year and confess that i DO have issues with food. Those of you that have been here for a while have probably already caught on to this but i do not think i have ever come right out and said it. In a nutshell, i was an overweight kid and always considered my weight the reason I didnt have a lot of friends growing up. Looking back, i know that the reasons were anything but weight related... but try telling a chubby kid that. So... leave that a few years to marinate and one develops food/weight issues which led yours truly to a point that he would rather not go too far into. Lets jest say it got to a point where i had to take a 'mandatory sabbatical' from my job at Starbucks, there was a therapist involved and even...... the shun of Pancakes!

I know, i know... the tissues are behind you. Go ahead and grab a few... now blow. Good.

But, as Rafiki once said: It doesnt matter... its in the past. Oh man, the 'Lion King' is friggin awesome, is it not? Life lessons AND good animation. This actually became somewhat of a mantra as i walked into Thankgiving. Working to keep the ticks at bay and to take what i wanted, not what was 'good' or 'bad'. The result... a day full of fried turkey, broccoli casserole, grandmas yams (want to run a TRAIN on these) and even some Pumpkin Pie and some of the best Flan i have ever tasted... plus many, many, more. I was full, but i was happy and i walked away thankful to God for the gifts we had received and the wonderful family He blessed me with. All in all, it was an awesome Thanksgiving and I would not wish it any other way.

Not only that... but there were LEFTOVERS <----- best part! However, there was not enough turkey for the families liking so we hit up the farmers market and got a breast for roasting. A turkey sandwich may make an appearance later in the week coupled with the 'splaining of how to make the perrrrrrfect leftover sangwich (years of study cant be wrong). There was also some more cranberry sauce made and......... A PIE!

OR, a cheesecake. Whatever, either way its awesome, healthy and half gone. I may or may not be running a train on this dessert. But... if you have to have a guilty plesure the Enlightend Pumpkin Cheezcake isn't a bad way to go. I subbed silken tofu for one of the bricks of cream cheese for some added protein and i used pre-made crust because my mother did not know what kind we needed... next time i make this i want to use Nilla Wafers cause im from the south and we put them on everything. I will be adding more more brown sugar next time... but, other than that, this is a wonderful little dessert thats nice when your craving something Pumpkin-y.

As if baking is not awesome enough there was some SWAGGGG accumulated over the break that i will go into later (im sure i have bored you enough already). Until then i will leave you with a little warning I saw at the beach after i had breakfast the other day that made me laugh... since i had chosen to NOT have oatmeal that morning.
How do you like that one Mitri?

Also, still on a high from the Terminator Success! I am now taking down another food challenge that has daunted South Florida for far too long. Will update more later on so be ready.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. Tune in next time for an update on the SWAG and the 'Challenge' not to mention a restaurant review or two. Until then, this is PanClayke, reminding you that when you fry a turkey on high heat it creates a sear that keeps the bird from getting greasy but keeping it moist. haha, i said moist.

Post from the berry

I'm doing this one from the blackberry, apologies for the shortness.

I just wanted to wish all a Happy Thanksgiving, i will do the obligitory 'thankful' post later on... but i wanted to get out at least one sentiment before I chow on some bird.

Speaking of, the second thing is a wish to ENJOY AND BE THANKFUL! I'll go into this more later as well. For now, i plan on thanking God for my extended family in the land of blog and diving into a massive spread. Im a little anxious but im going to enjoy EVERYTHING! From the sugar-y yams, fatty- creamy cheesecakes and fried turkey. I'm actually shifty thinking about it but know its going to be a good, no... a GREAT day.

What am I saying? Tune in next time to see why.

Until next time this is PanClayke, reminding you that if you buy one Blackberry you get another of equal or lesser value for free. Thank YOU Verizon!

No Turkey for Panclayke!

My apologies friends. I meant to regale you with my 'Turkey Donation Stories' but things dont turn out like we plan all the time, as im sure we all know. You see, the open mic night had the prize of a Turkey which i was going to donate to the Daily Bread Food Bank, but the judges of the Open Mic did not see fit to award me the turkey. I guess that was due to the turkey being a prize given to the 'least favorite performer of the night'. Instead, they saw fit to award me with the GRAND FRIGGIN PRIZE of opening for a future comedian at the Improv!!!! Im happier than a mecrophiliac in a mortuary right now, if im not being too subtle.


So theres the good news, The bad news, however, is that i do not have a new 'rideo' to post for all you wonderments as of yet. This has been a busy movie week (4!), speaking of which i have to head out and cheer on for Team Edward! However, since i have been gone awhile and sm still looking to raise money through the Clicking Canpaign , im going to leave you with the video of my Open Mic Stand up! Forgive the shaking... but the laughter created somewhat of an earthquake effect.




Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. Tune in next week for the next eating challenge and more pancakery! Until then, this is PanClayke, reminding you that, when it comes to pancakes, it is impossible to not have a 'Culinary Boner'.

Jonesing for a Cookie

So, the other day i was thinking about some treatage. I have always been a fan of muffins and i think my momma makes some of the best nanner bread in the world. So, after some deliberation and a trip to whole foods i was on the hint for some sweeties but nothing was tickling the facny... until i saw the cookie section. This was strange because i NEVER jones for a cookie, unbeknownst to myself as to why. Either way i took a chance and bought an oatmeal carob raisin cookie. OMG, how have i never been jumping all over these my entire life?!?! This one was warm too which was even bettah!!!!! Im not gonna lie, i may have not been able to hold off for the entire two miles back to my house. There was a red light and screw you for juding me.

It was then i knew why i never really crave a cookie. I believe that sweets and treats are no longer something special. There was once a time when the family getting in the car and going out to ice cream was a total special thing. This made the ice cream something special as it didnt happen all the time, coincidently the company was pretty much awesome.

Now, when you walk through the grocery store you see mountains of cookies and gallon ice cream by the gallon (its late and my gift of gab is fading a bit). The reason i never really crave sweets, i believe, is that i grew up on them. They are almost the norm, but rest assured that after you realize how special a cookie is from whole foods.... you totally will crave one every now and again!

Yes, this was immature and a little ramble-sive... but I wanted to let you guys know what was going on in the life of Panclayke for a couple days while he is gone. See, im gonna stretch my funny bones and perform at an open mic night at the Ft. Lauderdale improv on tuesday. Needless to say this is a big deal and there will not be a lot of time where i will not have my nose buried in my notebook pondering over what flavor soup is the funniest. Not only that, but there is a prize of a chicken dinner! which i plan to donate to a needy family via the Daily Bread Food Bank . Nervous, oh yeah. Hopefully my humor can transer to those NOT in the blog-world. I will let you all know how it goes and will give you a full report the milli-sec im back to reality (whoops, there goes gravity)

Well, ladies and gentleman there you have it. Tune in next time for an update of the Turkey... and the prize for the open mic night (im the turkey, get it?). Until then, this is PanClayke reminding you that a cookie is just a pancake to a midget.

Party, Pauly, Pancakes!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA YYYYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU GGGGGUUUUUYYYYYSSSSS! The Goonies friggin rock, no questions asked. However, this movie was not gracing my sights this weekend as I am making plans to hold a little marathon for myself. So far the Set-List contatins: House (season 5), Up!, Flight of the Conchords (Season 2), The Hurt Locker and The Taking of Pelham 123. Man... thank goodness i've already been to the gym this weekend.

LOOK-IT! The last time i had Egg-Nog was in Freshman Year of high school when a friend invited me to their annual Holiday get together and i had never tried it before. Have to say... i liked it. How much? Well, lets just say there was a quart of it that i choose to carry about the house like it was a mug of Grog and i was dining in the Halls of King Arthur! Sword and the Stone friggin Rocks, no questions asked. Anyhoo, even though IHOP already got to them before i had a time to make a batch... there was only one thing to do with the wonder of Silk Nog

IHOP can suck it!!!!

Just so you know, the little one with the bites taken out of it? Yeah, i like to see one of you get through making a batch of Nog-Cakes without nibbling on somehing. Plus you have to test the griddle so - "This just in... the pigeon brothers have been killed. Authorities have found the weapon to be a single stone."

How were they? Well, lets just say that if the Terminator tasted like these... it would have been a LOT easlier to eat.

So, yesterday was friday the 13th, it was also my mom's birthday. I would like to take a moment of silence to appreciate this coincidence.

So, to celebrate, the family drove down to Coral Gables and had the most delicious dining experience in the friggin universe! Hole in the wall restaurant with a grandma cooking in the back room? Negative. We went...
Yes, its a chain and you can find like three in every mall in America. But you know what... they know how to make some cheesecake! Possibly of the Banana-Nut variety and garnished with banana slices and real whipped cream which was eventually licked off the index finger of yours truly. More about this in a sec, first i must hum a song in the tune of 'joy'.

After dinner the fun continued and we saw
the one
the only

WEASEL!
We laughed, we cried, then we laughed some more! All in all it was one of the better birthdays i can remember celebrating with my mother. The worst? Definitely when I lost my glasses and we had to go to the mall and buy a new pair. Not to mention the mall was a ghost town since it was after daycare and the stores were closing. Happy Birthday Mommy!

Okay, so earlier in the post and the other day i made a couple additions to my diet that weren't vegan. Why put yourself through this/How could you do that!, you ask? Well, long-time readers have seen my need for balance and I feel that when i went vegan cold turkey it was in a place that was, for lack of a better word, not. Therefore, in light of Truth Week i decided to do some reflecting and decided that i did not switch to veganism for the right reasons. I chose to do it so i could set boundaries for myself, limit what i could and couldn't have. Take a certain amount of control over my life by what i do/do not eat. Sounds crazy, but this is the mindset of the dieter and it is where my mind has been for awhile now; which, ironically enough, is the farthest thing from healthy I know of. Therefore... i have decided to take a page out of Sarah and Holly's books and make peace with food. Choose NOT to define myself by whats on my plate but rather what is on/in my heart. My drive to help others and to simply live. Granted, I love eating natural and whole foods and will continue to do so because I truly do want to. But i will no longer set boundaries because they dont work. As of now people at work have been calling me the 'part time vegan' or the 'artist formerly known as vegan'... I would rather be referred to as Clay (panClayke for long).

Lastly, as just mentioned, I have a drive to help other and am working to help the Daily Bread Food Bank , and have discovered an awesome opportunity to raise money for them. Not only is there a donation button at the tippy-top-o-da-blog, but i am have recently become a featured publisher on Foodbuzz (you can see the badge above the donation button) and, in turn, get a little money from foodbuz for every click on the pages of my site. Basically, its the same thing that my Chocolate Covered Princess
, which i thought was a pretty good idea. What does this mean for you? Well, it means more: Rideos, pan-creations and general musings altogether. All in all, there is going to be more for you all and, in turn, more for those in need. So... Click Away true friends, click and smile.

Well ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. Tune in next week for more Pan-creations, and a Promised Rideo (I already know what the subject is). Until next time, this is PanClayke, reminding you that IHOP can suck it... Bud-dy.

Your Terminated F#@*ER!

First things first, i must apologize for my absence. Things have been busy, and this time... that is totes a good thing. the radio-time, the movies iv'e seen and the new people ive met have just gotten better and better. I definitley feel like the luckiest little girl at the ball (metaphorically speaking... i am very much a boy at the ball.) Sadly, though, there has been so much awesomeness happening recently that it cannot all fit in one post so im gonna put some highlights up for the moment and hit then make like Pat Benetar and hit you with my best shot.

First off, remember the Terminator?

FRIGGIN OWNED!!!

Yes, i am now the first person EVER to take down th biggest pancake breakfast in S. Florida. Granted, im pretty sure the agony of my tumbly was revenge enough for the Terminator, but such is the price of glory. Now granted, this is TOTES not vegan, in fact i think its the exact opposite... but that topic is going to delve into a whole other realm of things so i think im going to save that for the next post. Just, be forewarned, it will most likely be long-winded and highly introspective..... read at your own risk.

Also, another first on Panclayke... VIDEO REVIEWS. You see, there are a whole bunch of culinary wonders about S. Florida which i have yet to discover and feel deprived as a result. I mean, im talking places that even Guy Fieri forgot to visit when he was down here. Now THAT is messed up. Plus, i feel a bit boxed in cooking for myself all the time (especially since i can REALLY only make pancakes). Ergo, I decided to do my own little culinary findings and bring them to the masses. Let me know what you think and enjoy the first.... 'Rideo'!





Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, there you have it. Tune in next time for yet another pan-creation and perhaps another Rideo. I cant give too much away but i think there may be something about egg nog and a fun thing to do with oats. Until then, this is PanClayke reminding you that no dogs were harmed in the making of this 'Rideo'.

I want a Mexican.... 'Rideo"! (FAIL!)

First of all, please let me apologize for the lack of color on the plate here. I know you eat with your eyes first and right now it seems as though i served you a plate of burnt frnech fries. Ill explain at the end the reason for the lack of color... but for now, here is what has been going on in the brief stint iv'e been gone.

I told you it was coming... well, let it be known that PanClayke is nothing if not a man of his word. First off, the question on everones lips... The Final Hour was tiring beyond all reason and more taxing than, well.... taxes. Friday night alone we were all there from 6-2 in the morning and did the scene over 100 times for groups of 25 people at a time. Needless to say... by the time two o'clock rolled around yours truly was ready to go to sleeeeeeeeep (and renounce his faith for Taoism, but thats besides the point). However, with one more night there was nothing to it but to do it, and we even ended up getting out early, getting a lot of complements on what we had accomplished and let a lot of people to Christ who would not have normally attended a church service. Also, i let the people who were providing food for the event what the term 'vegan' means... i was actually offered a chik-fil-a sangwich and told to eat the bread and throw the meat. MMMMMMM, bread. I almost feel like im taking advantage of you all! Luckily, Subway was across the street ready to dish out the veggie D-lights, and a hand of bananas isnt too expensive. That... and Rockstar energy drinks were four for five at Publix this week (WINNER!). All in all, if i had the choice, would i do it the same way again? Mayyyyybe not the entire run of the event, but i would definitley help out.

Next up, there has been a HOOOOGE movement on the 'career-front'. Many of you loyal followers have noticed the movie reviews that litter the blog, well... i am happy to say that these are going to start being more mainsream. Yes, i am now reviewing movies on a local radio station... LIVE! (and the crowd goes wild). Will this mean that some movie-love will not end up on here? In some way, yes... but - plan on new DVD reviews along with some CD's!(Starting with Michael Buble:Crazy Love, and 'Food Inc.').

Last, but not least, The Terminator is so getting taken down this Sunday. The team is assembling nicely (Grandma is staying home) and we are confident as only 20 yr old guys can be. I may even just wear my Superman Cape... Im not sure. That being said... make sure to stop by the Daily Bread Food Bank and se what you can do to help. Recently there was a meeting with Pizza Rustica (a miami-based pizza chain) about making a donation in response to me creating a scene by eating a big pizza. Gee, let me think... I raise money by eating some awesome pizza. Im sorry, I think I just felt the lift side of my body go numb. Very Excited about raising the money and thinking i should get Pepto to endorse me until then. Speaking of giving during the holidays, my girl Katie is raising money for 'Africards' and 'Project Pillows' and helping to raise money could not be easier. All you have to do it go look at her page, THATS IT! She is an awesome writer and has a buttload of awesome/healthy recipes (may or may not involve chocolate) that im sure you will love and make in the future. Enjoy her site and thank you for all the help.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. I apologize, as i meant for this post to contain my first video review of my Sout Florida Restaurant Tour... but the uploading is not being my friend at the moment. Tune in next timefor more creations tomfoolery (not to mention, immaturity) and hopefully... a video review.Until next time, this is PanClayke reminding you that punctuationandspaceingoutwordsisoverrated.