Breakfast #12: Swedish Pancakes

There was a great article in the Seattle Times this week about how Seattlites have taken the slow food movement to heart...demonstrated by the fact that people take the 1-hour trip by car (and car ferry) over to the other side of Puget Sound for a monthly posh breakfast at a "local" farm.  Not sure if the author meant it to be ironic or not, but I thought it was kinda funny, and it got me thinking about where to eat this month. Luckily, tucked into the same section of the paper was a photo of set of Swedish pancakes topped with lingenberries and whipped cream...advertising a monthly event much closer to home:The Swedish Cultural Center's monthly pancake breakfast.

I'm pretty sure that no one that stood in line with us traveled across the Sound, but the parking lot was packed, and street parkin was hard to come by.  Just before we walked in the door, a #28 bus stopped and a gaggle of pancake eaters emerged, and got a head of us in line. No problem as it was early; 8:35 a.m. and the house was hopping. Liora and Howard were waiting for us and we all waited in line together.  There were perhaps two dozen people ahead of us, and we could see that there were not too many seats out in the dining area. The process appeared to be that you pay, get in line, grab your plates, and then walk around looking for empty seats in the grand dining hall...not really the best system when you are carrying kids and kids jackets...and probably carrying a couple of plates of pancakes.

But the line moved fast, and soon I had three full plates of Swedish pancakes, topped off with berries and a genrous dolllp of whipped cream, plus a slice of ham for garnish. All this for $8, as kids 5 and under are free...plus bottomless cups of church coffee and orange juice.   We five quickly found seats at perhaps the best table in the house: right in front of the stage and dance floor, with a fine view of the 15 or so Swedish folk musicians who were belting out one of the greats from the old country. Kids and adults got up and danced, then went back to eating.  Pacifica was invited out onto the dancefloor by a girl her age, but decided to work on her whipped cream and berries instead. After she cleaned them off her 'cakes, she was out on the dance floor, prancing with the best of them.

 

Soon, it was just Howard and Issei and I enjoying our food. The cakes were cooked about as good as you can get them, and served up plenty hot. Perhaps the best pancake breakfast I'd been to, food wise, and with the music and dancing...well, that just took the cake.  Issei finished his plate and then started working on mine, and then we went back for seconds (two cakes instead of three), and we wound up having a nice chat with some Swedish folks at the table and a couple of other friends that happened to be at the breakfast as well.  We timed things well as the folk music ended, and while the stage was being readied for a pair of accordionistas, Pacifica came back and finished her meal.  When the music started up again she was back on the floor, and Issei and  I went out for a couple of spins, too.  We asked about seeing some folk dancers, and found out that they were already there and done by 8:30. Well, there is always next month, and we don't even have to take the ferry to get there.