You may remember the Sally's (may they rest in peace) from a post last week. Well, we now have Harry's, but they are not live beings. They are pancakes. Well, the hair of pancakes, to be exact. I should explain. (Drink) Recently, my mom was on breakfast duty with the kids. Unsupervised. She got creative with pancakes, as only grandparents can do. James's parents allow pancakes topped with ice cream for breakfast. My mom makes pancake people.
So when Eleanor told me she wanted "only the hair" for pancakes a few days later, I was stumped. After a very long winded-explanation, I started to grasp the concept. I was to make a squiggly pancake (aka hair) but no body or head on which to furnish it. Thanks mom. With Eleanor scrutinizing my every move, I faced the griddle, about to pour the batter, when she stopped me abruptly. "You have to use a spoon like Nana!" she (drink) instructed. So this is an exercise much like splatter paint? I did as instructed and tried my best to flick the batter into a shape resembling spaghetti hair, but it was a tad too thick and the coif in the pan was rather lopsided. It did not meet Eleanor's approval. Cynthia gladly ate the reject. I tried and failed again at which point I got the instigator on the phone. Lucky for me, she had taken a picture of her masterpiece (drink) and I was able to replicate the human pancake's "do". Once again, I was given the thumbs down.
At this point, I was completely exasperated. I had wasted enough time trying to make bloody pancake hair, and my patience was waning. And then I remembered the plates. We have these ridiculous plates with a bald head, encouraging (drink) the kids to creatively arrange their food to represent hair, bow ties, earrings, cigarettes...anything to accessorize Baldy. I had tucked them away on a high shelf, finding the food positioning irritating. Plus, Baldy was creeping me out. But out he came again and I have to say, the pancake hair was quite becoming. I jazzed him up with bacon sideburns, blueberry earrings and a whipped cream bow tie and presented it to the critic for review.
It passed with flying colors! At first I was relieved. Mission accomplished. But the next morning I regretted my efforts. Baldy (now Harry) was such a hit, I have recreated him every morning for a week, now. Let (drink) me tell you, it's a bitch to flip pancake hair but the learning curve is on the upswing and I'm pretty close to perfecting my art.
These are the repercussions of grandparents taking the reigns every now and then. It's well worth the effort, though, to have an occasional breather. I will say, though, that I'm very thankful the Harry trend wasn't contagious. I (drink) can deal with multiple Sally's, but creating five of these bad boys each morning would have put me right over the edge.