Warm Up with Hotcakes: Pancake Breakfasts to Try

The bone-chilling weather may have you yearning to stay inside under the covers, but you won't regret leaving your home a little early in the morning to enjoy a plate of pancakes with friends, family and neighbors. Check out our list of flapjack fun below.

Photo courtesy of Burton-Middlefield Rotary 

Bissel Maple Farm
Chow down on a free pancake breakfast during the Maple Madness Tour. Known for their sweet maple syrup and dedicated staff, your taste buds are bound to be happy. Shuttle services of horse-drawn wagons also add to the scene of this maple farm. Free, March 7, 14, & 21, 10a.m.-5p.m., 3741 Higley Road, Rock Creek, 440-563-3263

Westwood Ruritan Club and Wooster Township Fire and Rescue
These two are teaming up to celebrate their 30th Annual Pancake Day. Dress comfortably because you get all the pancakes you can eat here. Each meal comes with sausage, apple sauce and a drink. If you want your pancakes to go, carryout is available. All proceeds go to the Wooster Township Fire Department. $5 advance, $6 at the door, March 7, 7 a.m.-7 p.m., 3205 Shreve Road, Wooster, 330-264-9786

Rotary Club of Burton-Middlefield
Feast on the pancake breakfast served with maple syrup and butter each Sunday in March. It's a must try since it was voted No. 1 pancake breakfast by the Sun News. Meal includes sausage patties, and your choice of orange juice, coffee or tea. Not enough food? Omelets are also an option.  Children under 3 free, Children 4-10 $5, Adults $8, pancakes breakfast with omelet $11, March 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29, 8 a.m-1:30 p.m., 14510 Main St., Burton, 440-476-8486

Maple Sugar Festival at Hale Farm Village
Pancakes? Check. Learning activities? Check. Arts and crafts? Check. The Maple Sugar Festival makes sure you leave with your stomach and mind full. Pancakes by Bob Evans will be served with opportunities to learn about where that sweet satisfactory syrup comes from. Tree tapping and maple sugar process will be demonstrated. Other mind-stimulating tasks including glassblowing, pottery and more activities will take place. Members $5, children 3-12 $10, adults $15, March 14, 15, 21, & 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 2686 Oak Hill Road, Bath, 330-666-3711

Maple Sugaring Weekends at Farm Park
Learn how to make maple syrup in your own backyard at Lake Metro Parks Farm Park. After you watch how sap is collected, boiled and turned into syrup, don't forget to stop by J & J Cafe to partake in a pancake breakfast. Other events include hand-milking cows, making ice cream and getting up close and personal with horses, sheep, pigs and chickens. Admission $6, Children under 2 free, pancake breakfast, $7, Children under 11 $4, Feb. 28-March 22, 9 a.m.-5 p.m, 8800 Euclid-Chardon Road, Kirtland, 440-256-2122

Reintroduction to Community Affairs

So you're counting down the days until Captain America: The Winter Soldier premieres nationwide April 4. You've read our April feature story and know the trailers by heart (we're a little partial to the Super Bowl version), hunting for glimpses of the West Shoreway, Theater and Warehouse districts.

But if you need even more insight into what Cleveland natives Anthony and Joe Russo have done with their piece of Marvel's universe, it's time to sign up for Hulu Plus and binge on Community.

That's because, while the duo was in postproduction for the first blockbuster of 2014, Joe directed two episodes of the show they got off the ground.

And you don't need Superman's X-ray vision to see the big screen's influence on the quirky NBC cult-comedy.



“His directors’ eye is even keener,” says Yvette Nicole Brown, the Cleveland native who plays Shirley Bennett. In “Geothermal Escapism,” the Community students play a schoolwide game of hot lava (you remember that kids game, right? You must walk on chairs, tables or whatever to avoid the floor, which is deadly) to win Abed’s (Danny Pudi) prized $50,000 comic.

“We don’t have a huge budget on Community, but Joe made that episode look like a movie,” she says.

The action-packed episode was loaded with special effects, stunts, laughs and even LeVar Burton. It echoed the premise of the paintball saga the brothers directed to conclude season two, which put them on Marvel’s radar and got them their career-changing gig.

“He’s learned how to make it even bigger with even less,” Brown says.

“Geothermal” also marked the final episode for Donald Glover, who plays Troy Barnes. “Most of us were blubbering messes,” recalls Brown. But Joe kept the set light and loose, which allowed the actors to stay composed long enough to pull off the scene’s “heartstring moments.”

And for a look at how proudly geeky the brothers really are, queue up “Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.” Anthony read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy three times each by the end of high school and Joe collected comics for 20 years.

"I was a big fan of Marvel growing up, a big fan of X-Men, Wolverine and Spider-Man," Joe says. That should make it a fun summer of movies for the Russos. Besides their own Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sony's Amazing Spider-Man 2 debuts May 2 and Fox's X-Men: Days of Future Past opens May 23.