Breakfast for dinner: blackberry-oatmeal pancake recipe

You know the kind of tired where you are thinking you might have enough energy for, like, a reality TV show, maybe. Nothing too intellectual like American Idol or, heavens forbid, Top Chef. No we are talking about the level of tired that calls for something like America's Next Top Model, or maybe a show about girls who want to be dirty dancers, but only if it is a rerun.

Yeah, that was how I pulled up to 5 pm. Running on fumes and thinking about dramatic voiceovers and jump cuts to people sitting on couches explaining their lives.

But the only reality show in my house at 5 pm is the one called, "Mommy makes dinner," and nobody gets to sit on a couch. Most nights I like being the star. (I'm secretly hoping to qualify for one of those has-been shows one day. Hey, remember me the woman with messy hair who fumbled around the kitchen mumbling things about vinegar and sausage while trying not to step on the 4-year-olds playing worm on the kitchen floor. See me now as I learn to dance the tango with a gorgeous guy named Julio.)

But tonight there were no visions of vegetables, or colors, or possibilities. No anticipation of fruity olive oil wafting up from the pan. No mumbling of any kind. Just dead silence and fumes.

So I called my husband and warned him, and he in all his yummy post-Valentine husband glory said in his matter of fact way, "Why don't we have breakfast for dinner?" I knew there was a reason I married this guy.

We even had some bacon in the fridge.

Here's his recipe for berry oatmeal pancakes. We usually use raspberries, but tonight we used blackberries. Now I'm going to go upstairs and see if there is anything really bad on TV.