Gluten-Free Gingerbread Buckwheat Pancakes

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You guys, I am so grumpy today. Can I vent if I promise you really awesome gluten-free buckwheat pancakes as a thank you for listening? Truly, these are my new favorite breakfast, based on my original favorite vegan pancake recipe and adapted to be gluten-free and reminiscent of cozy, comforting gingerbread.

Okay, here’s my rant…

I love Boston, but I don’t love Boston winters (does anyone?). Year after year, I step outside December through February and I’m somehow surprised at how terribly cold it is outside. I have regular WTF moments where I want to scream, “Seriously?!” (at no one, while walking by myself outside) but given my move to CA and back again, I apparently decided Boston is worth the three (or more) months of winter hell, and so I add more layers, bribe myself with hot tea, and ultimately tell myself to suck it up. The cold is energizing! Winter makes you appreciate summer! And…no.

This weekend, what began as a few inches of light and fluffy snow turned to freezing rain, and thus thick sheets of treacherous ice everywhere. I. hate. this. Not only because navigating the often-un-shoveled sidewalks is a death trap once the snow gets compacted, but also because it means:

• I can’t fall asleep at night because my college neighbors decide 12am is the perfect time to attempt to chip away at the five inches of ice surrounding and coating their cars in the parking lot next to our apartment. I had to listen to a twenty minute conversation late last night about how “This shouldn’t be happening, we have snow tires! It just doesn’t make sense…” all while they repeatedly spun their wheels (literally and figuratively) and I prayed that they would not suddenly get free of their ice cube car and come crashing through the brick wall and into my bedroom.

• When I do finally get to sleep, I can’t stay asleep because the snow plow hired to clean up said parking lot shows up at 4am to attempt to plow ice. Loud, and crunchy, and ultimately a useless endeavor, but one I’m sure he gets paid for nonetheless.

• Honey refuses to go to the bathroom. This dog…I love her to pieces, but man, few things drive me more nuts than spending what probably adds up to hours every day in “feels like 4°”, hobbling along black ice and trying to get her to even put her boot-covered paws in the snow to just freaking pee! You might think “Oh, she’ll just go when she can’t hold it anymore,” but no. Honey has beyond crazy bladder control combined with sleep incontinence that 99% of the time results in me steam cleaning the couch when she refuses to go like a normal dog. She’s also crazy sensitive, so if you for one second let on that you’re annoyed with her, forget it. She will hold a grudge and her pee for days. She’s actually still holding a grudge against Aaron from over the summer and will not under any circumstances go to the bathroom when he takes her out. Thus, I get the privilege.

• Top that all off with my latest old, charming apartment building “quirk”: not enough hot water to take a shower in the morning. This actually happens every year, and just like winter in Boston, I somehow push it out of my mind when the weather warms up and am surprised (and outraged) every December. More people living in the building, longer, hotter showers, a wonky hot water heater…I don’t know. The only thing I know is that so begins the morning rush to shower, where every tenant in the building progressively gets up half an hour earlier and the cycle continues until we’re either showering at 5am or saying screw it, showers are overrated. I’d say it’s time to buy a place. A modern water heater and central air (that we control) tops my must-have list at the moment. Oh, and non-college-age neighbors because it’s official: I’m old and cranky.

Well, I feel a lot better. How about those gingerbread buckwheat pancakes?

I love how these turned out, and the photos too. They are wintery and pretty, which is more than I can say for Boston right now.

Your turn: got something you want to vent about? I’m listening.

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