Hippo CX 2016

Disclaimer: My success at this race is attributed to the vanilla milkshake (with extra whipped cream) that I had at Shake Shack on Friday afternoon.

The first thing I thought of when I realized my race was so late in the day was “Cool, I can do two workouts today.”  My plan was to get a run in early, then head to Lambertville. Racing twice has never been an option, but this year NJ added a Master Women 40+ Category which meant that I could race at 12:30pm and then again at 2:30pm. I decided to ditch the run and race twice.

I arrived in time to get a lap in before my first race. The course was short and fun. There were sections where you could really drill it with power as well as some punchy climbs on the back end. After winning the Masters Race, I quickly had Robin pin my number for the Women A Race before I changed my mind.

There was a little over an hour between races. I did my best to stay loose, knowing that the field would be competitive and I had never attempted a double. One thing I will say is that the first race was a good opportunity to experiment with different lines and gearing, which helped immensely because I get by on fitness not technique. After a brief battle for third place I pulled away and stayed there. It was nice to share the podium with so many talented ladies.

On the way home I stopped at It's Nutts only to discover that they did not serve breakfast all day. As a result, I continued south to a local diner for an order of chocolate chip pancakes to go. Unfortunately, they were just average, but I will say that the last one made for quite a delicious snack at 2AM.

January 30: pacha

Januray 27: pocket pancake

breakfast combinations

Today's question was submitted by Anne. Yesterday morning, we were having Batter Blaster pancakes for breakfast.

As she poured the syrup on her pancakes, she said "I wonder who thought of taking the stuff that comes out of trees and putting it on your food." And thus, the question was born.


Question: Who came up with the idea of putting maple syrup on pancakes?

Answer: This one was a challenge for Google. Sometimes, it's all about the way in which you phrase the question, but nothing seemed to produce an answer. I did, however, learn a lot about the histories of both pancakes and maple syrup.

Pancakes

The modern pancake has roots dating to ancient times. Foods similar to pancakes can be dated back to the ancient Romans. The Romans enjoyed a simple flatbread consisting of flour, milk, eggs and spices which was called called "Alita Dolcia" (Latin for "another sweet"). Some Alita Dolcia were sweetened with honey or fruits hile others were savory breads filled with meats and cheeses. Although Alita Dolcia may have resembled pancakes, the pancakes we know today originated in Medieval Europe.

From it's inception, America has relied on the pancake as an important source of nourishment.

Pancakes have long been a staple of the American breakfast table, and their history is as old as that of the Native Americans who shaped a soft batter in their hands and called it, in the Narragansett, nokehick (it is soft), transmuted by early white settlers into "no cake."

Maple Syrup

It is not known for sure who first discovered the technique of collecting sap and cooking it into maple syrup, but when the first Europeans arrived in North America and had contact with the Native American tribes of the eastern woodlands, they report stories about the consumption of maple sap in Indian lore. Here is a quote from a British Royal Society paper written in 1685: "The Savages of Canada, in the time that the sap rises, in the Maple, make an incision in the Tree, by which it runs out; and after they have evaporated eight pounds of the liquor, there remains one pound as sweet ...." A publication in 1912 by the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association credits both Native Americans and French Canadians with "passing on the secrets of sugarmaking." Maple syrup and maple sugar became the household sweetener in the Canadian and American colonies throughout the nineteenth century, instead of refined white cane sugar, raw sugar, or molasses. Maple trees were readily available and a supply of syrup and sugar cakes could be made for the year ahead.