Buckwheat pancakes

My mother was always an adventurer in the kitchen.  When my friends were eating simple pancakes for breakfast, we had buckwheat pancakes.  Certainly richer in fiber, a little more "earthy" tasting and to me, very delicious.  I, personally, have never liked maple syrup.  If you can imagine, I preferred Karo white syrup on my pancakes.

We lived for 20 years in northern Wisconsin when our children were growing up.  A lot of Scandinavian influence in that area.  In fact, lingonberries could be found fresh in the produce section around Christmastime.  That is when I first fell in love with them.  Since then, whenever I am in a store with unusual foods, I search for lingonberries.  This jar says they are from Sweden.  If you have never tasted them, I would say that they are very tiny and remind me of cranberries.

So this morning, we had buckwheat pancakes with sour cream and a topping of lingonberries.  Absolutely delicious.  The Trout added some maple syrup to his, but I liked them 'just the way they are.'

It was probably 20 years ago when Martha Stewart was raving about her buckwheat hull pillows.  So, yes, I ordered a massive amount of buckwheat hulls and made pillows.  They were comfortable to lay on...comfortable to the head and neck, but I could not get used to the sound.  Kind of  like a crunch with each turn.  Hmm...wonder what happened to all those pillows.

In the end, I still prefer my buckwheat in a pancake with these delightful lingonberries.  But....I do remember visiting friends in Soltau, Germany, in the northern part of the country.  Actually it was in the "Heide," the heather country.  After spending an afternoon walking through the heather, we stopped at a delightful little restaurant.  It must have been about 4 p.m., because that is when Germans have their afternoon coffee and sweets.  I ordered a slice of buckwheat torte spread with layers of lingonberries.  It was so good, I remember the taste and that was over 30 years ago.  I hope one of my German friends reading this will tell me how to make this torte.  That would be a real tasty surprise!!