Cool article on Wayne Koniuk a prosthetic limb specialist here in SF. He was the guy who fitted my ex-GF with her new leg, so I heard lots of stories about him. His specialty puts him at this curious intersection of medicine, therapy and sculpture.

Hey, if any SFistas are interested in the film noir festival at the Castro on any night from Tuesday to Thursday, let me know (via email since I'm limiting Internet time these days and skipping much of Natter).

Baking question: Bob, a novice cook, was making pancakes this morning from a CI recipe. Assuming he followed all the steps of the recipe correctly, any hypotheses on why the batter would remain incredibly watery, instead of thick and batter-y? Could it be bad baking powder?

I lived on Bush Steet in what we then referred to as the "Nobloin" area.

Could the atmosphere be really humid meaning that less liquid was needed? Can he add flour to make it thicker?

Assuming he followed all the steps of the recipe correctly, any hypotheses on why the batter would remain incredibly watery, instead of thick and batter-y? Could it be bad baking powder?

Huh. I wouldn't attribute that to baking powder.

My first assumption would just be that he used too much liquid.

However, you have to be careful not to overstir pancake batter. That's why they're always yammering on about leaving it with a pebbley texture, or "mix with a few quick strokes."

Also the batter will sit up and be thicker if you leave it alone for a while before you cook. So leaving it for half an hour will change the texture of the pancakes, usually making them fluffier.

Not humid; I assume he measured the ingredients correctly because he is usually overly cautious about ingredient measurements. Even letting it sit with cornstarch didn't help. In the end I added a cup more of flour. Also, being a CI recipe, they emphasized the stirring rule, which he repeated to me.

If the pancakes are thin, but bubbly, the batter was too thin, but the baking powder was good. If they are just flat, old baking powder. I don't think pancake batter needs to be overly thick to make good pancakes.

also depends on what kind of "pancakes" the recipe was for. british pancakes are more like crepes (very thin batter the consistency of skim milk) while american pancakes tend to be very thick and fluffy (thick batter more the consistency of yogurt)

The CI pancake recipe makes very thin pancakes. I prefer Joy of Cooking's sour milk pancakes (buttermilk to us moderns) for nice thick fluffy ones.