November 22, 2022
My mom turns food into artwork. She is a painter by profession and it shows in everything she does. When my brother and I were growing up, she made birthday cakes for us in the shape of horses and Care Bears and G.I. Joe—anything we wanted.
Now when she visits us, she makes pancakes in the shape of anything my son wants.
And he keeps upping the ante with each breakfast.
“Could I have a bunny pancake?”
Presto. Beautiful bunny pancake.
“Could I have a monster truck pancake?”
Bingo.
“Could I have a bunny pancake but the bunny has Hot Wheel Monster Truck wheels?”
My mom can do it.
What could I, as her daughter, possibly have to complain about?
The fact that she sets the bar high. And then she leaves.
After her visit, my son is no longer impressed by the “Toast Hands” I can accomplish in four swift slices of the knife.
He says, “I want a bunny pancake with monster truck wheels just like Nana makes.”
But I’m not a visual artist. Every time I try to make a breakfast item into artwork, it starts out looking promising and ends up looking like something from Night of the Living Dead.
But one time after her last visit, I really I got it. I gave the bunny two ears, blueberries for the eyes and nose, recognizable wheels, blueberry hub caps and even a blueberry belly button. (Do bunnies even have belly buttons? They must.)
I presented this with a great deal of flair to my dear son.
“Oh,” he sighed with disappointment. “I really wanted a Monster Jam Megalodon with monster truck tires and the bunny inside it, driving.”
To which I replied:
Addendum, December 9th, 2022:
Parent Hack:
If your child, like mine, desires artistic breakfast items beyond your means, simply make the pancakes in any shape (i.e. blob) and then hand your child some cute cookie cutters.
Win-win.
