Pumcakes and Records

I took a trip to Williamsburg this weekend. (More about that to come on my blog.) Mostly just for the hell of it, but I also wanted to go to a performance of Messiah at Bruton Parish. But that's here nor there. Because on the way down I stopped at Plan 9 Richmond. On the way in I stopped at Plan 9 Williamsburg. And on the way to go to sleep I stopped at IHOP. Glory. Predominantly P&R Friday.

Plan 9 Richmond was the greatest as always. I was actually mostly going there to see if I could find this CD that my brother has been bitching about never being able to find for well over a year now. I could've ordered it from Amazon a while ago, but I kind of wanted to put Plan 9 up to the challenge. And have an excuse to go there. Well, they delivered on that end, so that was awesome. Of course then it was downstairs. The dollar section has gotten even bigger, which is excellent. The three dollar section has gotten bigger. The regular "these are albums people look for and we price them accordingly" section was actually miniscule. Personally, I like that. I never buy anything from that section anyway unless it's an absolute must-have, shit's just too expensive. Mostly what I wanted was Yes. I've been listening to Yes a LOT lately, and yet all I have on record is Fragile from way way back. One of the first records I found in my basement. So I managed to find Close To The Edge, The Yes Album, and of course 90125. But no Yessongs, Relayer, Going For The One, or Tales From The Topographic Oceans unfortunately. I had kind of counted on Yessongs being there, but oh well, I can deal with what I got fer shur. Also picked up first albums from Booker T. & the MGs and The Mar-keys, which I was very excited about. Ultimately pretty successful, especially considering how much I put back. I rarely ever put anything back in the dollar bin. I convince myself, "It's just a dollar. How can I leave it?" But I was able to tell myself this time, "I came for Yes. I'm sticking with Yes this time. Settle down. Put it back."

This was the first time I'd been to Plan 9 Williamsburg since they moved to the Big Lots shopping center. I guess the space is about the same size? Maybe? I have a hard time remembering. But it seemed like they had a lot less stuff than they used to. The racks just seemed to have pitifully few albums in them, and that goes for CDs too. I was looking through the records and thought I had wandered into a bust. "Oh, S.O.S. Band, that's okay. Sade Stronger Than Pride, I can deal with that. Best of Minnie Riperton, I kind of want that." I get into a weird mood when I stumble into a place like that. Even though there may be stuff there I'm willing to spend a dollar or three on, I get into this mood where unless I feel like you're trying to give me some real reason to get excited, I refuse to go to the cash register with anything. So, almost a complete bust when I get to the 5 dollar section and find a pretty good copy of Sign 'O' The Times. Then I got excited. And of course, when I got excited, I went back and picked up the other three I was sort of interested in. I'll call it a success.

Then pancakes. This concert I was going to started at 8, and somewhere I got the idea in my head that it was going to be 2 and a half hours long. So pretty much from the time I decided to go, I had also decided that my stop afterward was going to be the old familiar IHOP right near the old townhouse. (More on my blog about the old neighborhood. Jesus christ!) And, by golly, the time had come, I was going to get some of those Holiday Pancakes! But how to choose?!? As has been noted, I was keen on all four choices. I had pretty much ruled out Egg Nog, just wasn't interested enough in those. When I got there and looked at the special menu, I immediately got a little stomachache just looking at the pecan pie pancakes. Those look a lot better in the commercials than they do on the menu. So it was between gingerbread and pumpkin. Gingerbread looked to have a lot more going on in terms of ingredients, and I kind of consider pumpkin the underdog of the bunch. It's the only one that gets no mention whatsoever in the commercials, and it's sort of no frills. They just look like regular pancakes. No confectioners sugar, no goop. There is some whipped cream but that's as far out as it gets. And being that pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors of anything, it was pretty much the favorite going in. Well, they didn't blow me away. When the plate came out, the smell was overwhelming. I mean it really smelled of pumpkin, cinnamon, and ginger. Biting into them, the taste was not quite as powerful. It tasted like something to me. Wasn't quite pumpkin pie. I realized later that it was this pumpkin cake I had made in my microwave using pumpkin, egg beaters, and powdered peanut butter. For real. Tried them with and without syrup. Without syrup, the pumpkin flavor was evident but not mind-blowing. With syrup, it was hard to tell this from a regular pancake. Ate 'em all up fast though. After all, they were pancakes. End of story.

Oh. Oh my.

OK...



OK.

When I think about getting pancakes, and as I've explained before I think about it a lot more than I actually do it, I tend to think of it in terms of finding a small local place I've never been to and giving them a chance to wow me with their cakes. Finding hidden treasure. But then IHOP comes out with these and I immediately want to plant myself in the big chain at least three times. Except for the Eggnog, I want all of those. Pumpkin Pancakes. Pecan Pie Pancakes. Gingerbread Pancakes. I could have let the picture speak for itself as to what the flavors were aside from Eggnog, but frankly I wanted to write the words to make them real. These might make the entire Thanksgiving/Christmas season for me.

Slowly, But Surely

So just as a preface, I wrote this draft like a month ago, so just put yerself in that mindset and deal... Here goes...

June 18th... that's when I pre-ordered the Touche Amore full length. Got it yesterday. The same day I learned they are playing somewhere in Fairfax on Nov. 5th. Crazy. I think Vinyl Collective has some sort of wire tap into my brain cause the last pre-order I received from them, As Tall As Lions, got to me on the exact day of their show at Jammin' Java. Talk about some supreme marketing!

...and that wa
s all I wrote... Pretty ground breaking...

So In between my last record purchase post, I went to NC, Seattle, had a wonderful DC record day, got shut out of photoing an As Tall As Lions show, missed the Touche Amore and got the preorder of the new Converge. Besides that, I really haven't been purchasing much online. Don't get me wrong though, I have loaded up plently of carts at Barsuk, Sub Pop, Amazon, and Vinyl Collective only to chicken out at the last second. Someone should create a massive shopping cart program that tallies up the sum of all the shopping carts that you never follow through with so you can then go back to it at a later date when you have the money and then you can just work through them at your leisure. That would be hawt. Here are the records:..

CD Alley: Chapel Hill

PEARL JAM: The Fixer 7" (white vinyl)
M83: Teen Angst 12"

Smash Records

OVER THE TOP: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
YANNI: Keys To Imagination

Red Onion
Records

HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
SOUL ASYLUM: Hang Time

Vinyl Collective

CROOKED FINGERS: Forfeit/Fortune (white vinyl)
MODERN LIFE IS WAR: S/T 7"
MODERN LIFE IS WAR: Stagger Lee 7" (clear/blue haze vinyl)
TOUCHE AMORE" ...To The Beat of a Dead Horse (brown vinyl)

Easy Street Records

THOM YORKE: All For The Best 7"
THE LA'S: S/T
KILLING JOKE: S/T
PET SHOP BOYS: Love Comes Quickly 12"

Deathwish (online store)

CONVERGE: Axe To Fall (blue/gold/black segmented)

At Shows

CROCODILES: Summer of Hate
THE RACE: Exiles

Tons of all time favorites in there... Some that I have wanted for a while, others that have grown on me exponentially over time. I am beyond excited to have the All For The Best 7", which is probably my favorite song of the year. Crushes every time.

Until A Short Stack Is Identified... (Human Harvesting Coming Soon)

Whoa there...

How do you stay impartial to a friend's homemade pancakes? How do you break it to them if they are crap? Where do you draw the line between critical integrity and maintaining friendship? Luckily I don't have to consider any of that, because Adam Kisscake makes incredible pancakes. I've found out that I'm a crazy indecisive person when I go out to eat. It takes me forever to decide what I want and where to go to get it. That's why I love grocery stores with bulk foods sections, places with sampler platters, places that put together small portions of several entrees to make one meal, and so on. These pancakes that Adam made were pretty much the best of all worlds, a one-stop shop for all the things that make pancakes great. Some people like crispy pancakes. My only problem with crispy pancakes is that they usually get their crispness from being too thin. These were not, that was the first thing I noticed about them when they came out of the oven. FAT cakes. Beautiful. Stuffed with berries, fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside. And the crisp combined with confectioners sugar made them reminiscent of funnel cake, more in terms of looks and fun than taste, if I remember what funnel cake tastes like, haven't had one in a while. Doesn't really matter. This is what it comes down to. I have a major sweet tooth. An insatiable sweet tooth. And these hit it in about half a million different directions. Sweetness from the berries inside, sweetness from the berries outside, sweetness from the confectioners sugar, sweetness from the maple syrup. All set in a puffy cocoon that gave me that comfortable feeling that could put me right to sleep, like good pancakes do. (Side note: if professional chefs don't top their pancakes with berries using a move that somehow all at once violently forces them onto the plate AND delicately coaxes them into place, they could take some lessons.) Summing up by comparing them to the only other pancakes I've had recently: way better than Perkins because the berries were not hiding insubtantial pancakes, there was heft to both the pancakes and the add-ons. Better than Dick and Jenny's because they were way more involved. Slam cakes with the Kisscakes.

A couple other notes: with the couple of posts Adam has made on the coffee blog, it's obvious to me I'm way underqualified to write reviews of coffee. The most I can usually tell is if a coffee is too bitter. That's basically because coffee will usually taste passable to me because I like it with sweetener. The coffee we had with the pancakes was the first cup in a long time that I've had with no stir-ins, and I did not miss it at all. Very tasty. AND the mango juice. Here's the weird thing about me and mango. LOVED that mango juice, I love dried mango, but for some reason I am just not a fan of fresh mango. But that's way off-topic. Pancakes + coffee + mango juice + bacon + sausage? Basically perfect breakfast.

Back In The Pancake Game

Adam's post got me psyched again to eat some pancakes. I have to admit, I have been out of the game ever since that Horrible Herndon Amphora Blueberry Disaster. Left such a bad taste in my mouth that I have stayed away from ordering them in restaurants in fear of being completely let down, breakfast ruined. Then I read about glories of fruit infused stacks and decided to pull out an extreme pancake dinner last Thursday night. I made three types, blueberry, raspberry, and blueberry/raspberry. You wouldn't think there was much distinction between the three, but you would be wrong. As much as I like a good blueberry pancake, the clear winner was the combo. And I actually had them with maple syrup (something I usually do not do). The time away from that has made it all the more sweet of a return. Cooked up the remaining batter this morning for breakfast. Nothing beats good pancakes on a Saturday w/ fake bacon, fresh ground french press coffee and some fancy juice (which was strawberry apple today). I am already psyched for the next excursion. Hey Adam, can I make you a pancake dinner and/or breakfast for your birthday next weekend? You better be free.

RECORD TALK!!!

I finally got in one of my pre-orders from Vinyl Collective and coincidental enough, the As Tall As Lions record got here on the exact day of their show at Jammin' Java. Kahwayzee. Only took 3 months! Still waiting on my Touche Amore pre-order, which there have been zero updates on... Two other label orders came in, Ghostly and Half Machine. Totally in love with Banjo and Freakout and the Real Estate 7" just makes me more pumped to see them again. Super impressed with the Ghostly package. Got stickers, a couple of posters and even a free 12" from Lusine (which is insanely good and sounds pristine). I really hope Deastro tours around here soon... and finally, my annual Labor Day trip to Last Vestige (second only to my annual Christmas week trip). Slick finds this time including the Manowar, Soul Asylum, and Mr. Mister. The multitude of Janet 12 inchers is just icing. Totally jealous of one of the workers there though who snagged the Black Cat 12" just before me. It will be mine! The rest is just collection rounding out. Pleased to have the Adams big time. Great record and it feels right that it is now in my collection after having to pass on it last time I was there, in December. I had planned to go to the Albany location too, but I just ran out of time. Come Christmas there is some Bolton, A-Ha and Prefab Sprout that has my name on it... in the meantime, I am doing my best to resist dropping a FAT sub pop order on the internet. Barsuk as well... good grief...

VINYL COLLECTIVE
As Tall As Lions - You Can't Take It With You
Killing The Dream - Fractures

HALF MACHINE RECORDS
Banjo or Freakout - Upside Down
Real Estate - Fake Blues/Green River 7"

GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL
Lusine - Push EP 12"
Deastro - Moondagger
Deastro - Vermillion Plaza 7"
School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms

LAST VESTIGE (saratoga location)
Bryan Adams - Waking Up The Neighbours
The Knack - ...But The Little Girls Understand
The Knack - Round Trip
The Boomtown Rats - In The Long Grass
Bangles - Different Light
Janet Jackson - Escapade 12"
Janet Jackson - Miss You Much 12"
Janet Jackson - Love Will Never Do Without You 12"
Manowar - Sign of the Hammer
INXS - Listen Like Thieves 12"
INXS - Suicide Blonde 12"
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Down By Law - punkrockacademyfightsong
Mr. Mister - Go On...
Soul Asylum - Let Your Dim Light Shine
U2 - Boy

About time

I finally, FINALLY, have some pancake reviews. What can I say? I love pancakes but the opportunity just doesn’t often present itself for me to get pancakes. Pancakes aren’t as conducive to take-out as so many other kinds of food, and I usually just don’t feel like going to a pancake house by myself. I’m a cereal person anyway, so I don’t go out for breakfast too often. So while I was traveling with my mom up to the Niagara Falls area last month, we did stop for breakfast a couple times, and jumped at the chance to eat me some. I think it’s a pretty good sample too, because one is from a wide-spread chain, and one is from a really small local place.

My first pancakes came from a Perkins in Williamsport, PA. Here I chose the strawberry pancakes. Five pancakes with a strawberry topping and whipped cream. Most overwhelming thing about these was as an exhibit of the power of strawberry topping. I am not a real big fan of dry pancakes. I love syrups and toppings and stuff. Strawberry topping is one of my favorites. This was a decent one, like a combination of a syrup and preserves. I liked it, and combined with whipped cream, it’s a winner. But it ran out before the pancakes did, and after that, these were some disappointing pancakes. One measure for me of a pancake is what it does under maple syrup. When you put syrup on these, it absorbed in a way that made the pancake stiff. Not great. It reminded me of what McDonald’s cheap-o pancakes used to do as soon as syrup touched them. It also reminded me of what would happen if I put syrup in my hair and played with it. It took it in like a sponge in such a way that it was now just a cake with some maple flavoring. I don’t like that, I like to be able to recognize the syrup as a liquid still, or at least a goop, like you would expect if you put ketchup on fries. Plus they were pretty thin. Thick and fluffy, that’s what I like.

Second pancakes came from Dick & Jenny’s Bake & Brew on Grand Island, NY, a small place on a small island between Niagara Falls and Buffalo. It was basically a coffee shop/bakery, mostly coffee and muffins, but they also have a rotating menu available for breakfast. This time I got the blueberry pancakes. No topping on this one, blueberries were baked in. No blueberry flecks here, they were big and juicy. And the pancakes had to contain them, so they were a decent thickness. These did what they were supposed to with the syrup too. Dipped it in, absorbed it a little, but still stayed drippy.

Perkins couldn’t have been that bad though. I got the strawberry pancakes again on the way back. I could eat truckloads of strawberry topping.

I don’t think I’ve bought a record in a few months. I’ve put myself on a minor CD buying regiment, trying to get myself to listen to music and get familiar with albums I’m buying, and pursuing jazz more than anything else.