I love a good bran muffin. They don't have to contain fruit or nuts, but they have to be made with a combination of wheat and oat bran, taste a little sweet with a slight hint of molasses, tender and moist.
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.