Hoecakes

I know what you're thinking - hoecakes sound like food and Liz doesn't cook, this should be a good blog. Well, hope I don't disappoint, here we go:

Last week Micaela came home and told me that she volunteered us to make Hoecakes for an old-fashioned breakfast they were having in her class. She knew I had to take care of Jon, but at the time Kurt was home so she though he could make them with her. I knew Kurt was going to be leaving , but I still told her that we could make them (secretly hoping Kurt could make them before he left and we could save them for a few days). Well, when Kurt left I felt exhausted and overwhelmed by all there was to do (there really wasn't much, but I was tired so it seemed like a lot). I was stressed out by these hoecakes (when was I going to make them? what if they got screwed up? etc), and then the day before they were due Micaela told me that she volunteered me to make twice as many as originally planned... great. Thankfully my mom and Shellie brought me back from my craziness and explained that pancakes are easy and even making 40 won't take long and that the purpose of this is to have fun, not to make a great meal. So I set my alarm for 6am knowing that I would probably be up at 5:30 with Jon anyways. I was shocked when it was my alarm and not Jon that woke me up (he actually slept until I woke him at 7:30!). So I got out all the stuff for the hoecakes and then got Micaela. First I read the recipe that was given to me (I learned from the cookie ordeal) and I caught a mistake - in the ingredients section it calls for salt, but in the write-up it says sugar-- which was right? I headed to the internet to find out, but each recipe was different so I decided to stick with the salt. So we mixed everything together and Micaela got to crack all the eggs. What we got was a yellow chunky soupy mixture that looked nothing like pancake batter. But they weren't supposed to be pancakes, they were hoecakes, so I went with it. I made one just to see what would happen. It was real thin and tasted awful. I mean it was like eating chicken food or what I imagine chicken food tastes like. You were supposed to mix it with as few strokes as possible, but that meant that there were chunks of cornmeal that really didn't taste good. I didn't know what to do, so I called mom who had a few suggestions - add bisquick, or flour and some sugar won't hurt. So I did, each time I made a new batch I added something from the above list. I was nervous about straying from the recipe so I only added a little at a time, so the change was gradual. The result was that the hoecakes on the bottom of the serving tray are probably most authentic, but taste like wallpaper. By the time I got to the very last batch I had finally added enough sugar to make it edible to an 8 year old. Whatever kids are first in line will be happy, but I feel sorry for those who get the hoecakes on the bottom. Oh well. At least it looks good right?