Page 102 of The Last Straw

“Yes, that,” she muttered. “I want pancakes. And I do not want to leave this property to go get them. I don’t even know if we have the stuff to make them, but if we do, I’m going to make pancakes.”

“I know how.”

She slammed the laptop shut and stood. “Then will you teach me? I only need to see it done to understand it.”

“Absolutely,” Charlie said. “Get a bowl and a whisk.”

“What’s a—”

He pulled the wire beater out of a container of spoons and spatulas and held it up.

“This is a whisk.”

“I’ll get the bowl,” she said.

“Get one bigger than the one you make salad in.”

“Yes,” she said and pulled out a clear glass bowl and set it on the counter.

“Okay, now we need eggs, milk, flour, baking powder and salt, sugar and vegetable oil.”

Wyrick looked at the counter and then toward the pantry, and then at Charlie.

“Do we have all that?”

“In labeled containers in the pantry. Come with me.”

He loaded her up with the baking powder, salt and vegetable oil, while he carried the canisters of flour and sugar to the counter. “Now get the milk and two eggs from the fridge, and we’re ready to mix.”

Wyrick was almost dancing as she flew to the fridge and came back carrying the gallon of milk and the eggs, then set them on the counter. She watched Charlie getting measuring cups from the cabinet, and a set of measuring spoons from a drawer and put them down beside the bowl. She was as focused on what he was doing as she would’ve been in a lab at UT, watching one of the scientists working on an experiment.

“Get the one-cup measure,” Charlie said. “The sizes are on the handle. I’ll talk, and you follow my instructions.”

She nodded.

“Take the lids off the flour and sugar so you don’t have to do that later. And when you’re making a batter, always start with all the liquids first. This glass cup is for liquid measures. These other cups are for measuring dry ingredients. So first, measure out two cups of milk and pour it in the big bowl.”

So she did, and the delight on her face when the first ingredient went into the bowl was pure joy.

“Okay, crack the eggs and add them into the milk,” Charlie said.

She cracked and dumped them with a degree of skill, learned from making herself scrambled eggs.

“Now we need about two tablespoons of oil in the liquid. I never measure, because I can pretty much guess, but for your first time, take that one-fourth-cup measure and fill it about half-full. I say half, because there are four tablespoons in one-fourth of a cup, so half of that would be two tablespoons.”

“Why can’t I use the measuring spoons?” she asked.

“You can, but then you’ll need two sets of measuring spoons if you’re going to measure wet and dry. If the spoons are already wet or oily from measuring a liquid, then when you try to measure out a dry ingredient, it won’t come off.”

“Oh! Smart thinking!” she said.

Charlie grinned, watching as she measured and added the oil.

“Okay, now take that whisk and gently whip the liquid stuff together until it’s all mixed up...making sure the eggs are well incorporated.”

“Whip?”

“Like this,” Charlie said and showed her once.

---