Some faithful readers may be thinking the same question that the Camp Glow girls wondered about me this summer. The girls asked, "What drugs does Counselor Joe do (marijuana, speed, cocaine, ecstasy, etc.)?"

When I forwarded this question to my family, my mother told me my brother laughed so hard he had an asthma attack. The obvious answer to this question, is that Counselor Joe is high on culinary arts, especially breakfast foods. As for drugs, I fancy homemade wine and rakia.

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. There is nothing better on a weekend morning than making an extraordinary breakfast. When I have guests, I try to make sure that they are lavishly fed and thoroughly happy.

Pancakes are a personal favourite for weekend mornings. There are Bulgarian palachinki, katmi, American style pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and fruit pancakes.

The pancake for you all depends on personal preference and who makes them. The truth is that I make the best pancakes, but sometimes the wild wombats in my stove ruin a few of my masterpieces. Wombats do not like pancakes, especially strawberry pancakes.

Toppings make pancakes complete. Top pancakes with honey, walnuts (orehi), many different types of jam, chocolate, cheese, whipped cream, and peanut butter.

Be careful when you make pancakes, though, they are sometimes hard to flip if you don't have a Teflon pan. Add a little butter or margarine to the frying pan before adding pancake batter, especially with Bulgarian pancakes, if you don't have such a pan.

Enjoy your weekend mornings with a heaping stack of the following recipes. Next week, I will share my secrets to making omelettes and potato pancakes.

Pancakes Bulgarian Style

3 glasses flour (about 450g)
2-3 glasses of water (about 300-450ml)
1 small spoonful salt
2 large spoonfuls sugar
Oil for pan

Directions: Mix ingredients, batter must be very thin. You may need to add a little more flour. Turn stove on to high heat. Use a ladle and fill a large frying pan with a thin coat of batter. The palachinka will have lots of bubbles when it is ready to flip, and make sure that the palachinka bottom does not stick to pan. Cook each side for about one minute, sometimes less time is needed, then place it onto a plate. Add toppings of your choice, roll up, and enjoy.

Pancakes

300g flour
2 spoonfuls of sugar
2 very small spoonfuls baking powder (bakpulver)
325ml milk, yogurt, or yogurt/water mixture
1 egg
2 spoonfuls honey
1 small spoonful cinnamon (kanela)
1 small spoonful nutmeg (indiisko orehche)

Directions: Mix dry ingredients, then add milk and egg. Mix well. You may need to add 25-50g more flour with this mixture. If you want thick pancakes, add more flour. Turn on oven top to medium-high heat. Pour one ladleful of pancake batter onto frying pan. When there are lots of bubbles on the pancake, this means it's time to flip. Flip pancake with spatula, and then cook other side until golden brown. Add toppings while pancake is still warm and eat. This recipe makes about six to eight big pancakes.

For Apple Pancakes: add two peeled and sliced apples to the batter.
For Chocolate Chip Pancakes: Add about 200g chocolate, broken into small pieces.
For Banana Pancakes: Add a few banana slices to the top of the pancake in pan before flipping.
For Strawberry Pancakes: Add about 100g strawberries (frozen, fresh, or conserved) to the batter.

Joseph Herr is a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer currently working in Balchik. His column appears weekly and he can be contacted at jdherr75@sabreshockey.com.