A few days ago I had a craving for dinner pancakes, which shouldn't be confused with breakfast pancakes. Technically they are the same things, it's just that pancakes for dinner are so much more exciting because they are out of the ordinary.
Because his family is a true-to-the-bone pancake family, I really wanted him to share with me the secrets to making a good pancake, thin and delicate, perfectly browned on the outside, soft on the inside. He gave me a recipe, one that he has memorized. A set of very specific instructions, the right temp, the right amount of time for frying. I followed it to a tee, and sure enough, the pancakes came out the way I had always dreamed they would.