ain't jemima

What you are witnessing is the forlorn spectacle of 75 frozen pancakes and 28 zip-lok bags.

It all began innocently enough ...

Did you know that frozen pancakes are a quick, convenient and tasty weekday breakfast for choosy young children? No--not while they're still frozen, you quarterwit. Just microwave for 1 minute on a pretty flower-shaped brightly colored plastic plate from IKEA and bam! Fancy breakfast is served, with a drizzle of pure maple syrup. Hey--wait--don't let syrup get in your hair! rrrrrrghhhhh.

No, thank you, bam! notwithstanding, I do not care, at this moment, to kick it up a notch.

Well, my husband (I am tiring of referring to him as SuperHusbandMan, despite a recent vote of confidence--somehow it sounds as though it's meant at his expense, though the awe my dear man inspires is utterly sincere) makes pancakes almost every Sunday, so--clever buggers that we are--we were in the habit of popping the leftovers into a zip-lok bag for just such a potential purpose.

Indefinitely, it appears.

It also appears that we haven't mastered the fundamentals of arithmetic, nor observed that even at her most pancake-voracious, the jellybean opted for pancakes, at most, twice a week. Generally she favors these.

So there you have it: that's the quantity of pancakes that an inefficient pair of adults can accummulate between June 2002 and March 2004. Now that I have so much room in my freezer, I can rush out and buy half a dozen frozen pheasants just in case friends drop by unexpectedly.

Breaking news: I have just been nominated the Polly's Pancake Parlor of crawling life by Larvae Monthly Digest, on behalf of our grateful backyard compost heap.

Thank you ... thank you ... thank you all.

Comments

[Julia S]

Bravo! Bravissima!

Won't SOMEBODY think of the insects?

Potato peelings? Great. Egg shells, coffee grinds and unidentifiable mashed bits of child-masticated whatsit? Delightful. But shouldn't a compost-dweller get a treat every once in a while? Something in a breakfast morsel perhaps? I salute you.

MY freezer, since you were asking, is chock-ful of ziploc bags brimming with tablespoon-sized portions of tomato paste. A recipe calls for an nth of tomato paste, right, so I open up a can and then cleverly freeze the remainder in convenient glops... over and over and over again.

PS I lo-oo-v-e Penzey's. I am in that little spice shop all the time. It smells good and they understand me there.

[Busy Mom]

omg, we have the same thing in the freezer for the exact same reason. I just haven't been brave enough to dive in.

[Tam]

questions:
(1) do you add a dollop of maple syrup to the compost pile as well?

(2) um, does this mean when I come visit you there will be a strong push to have pancakes for breakfast? and lunch?? ;-)

(3) why do I have a 5-lb. bag of shrimp dumplings from the korean store that has been in the freezer since last July? Does anyone in my house ever eat frozen shrimp dumplings?? I don't have tomato paste in the freezer, but I have multiple portions of leftover spaghetti sauce in the fridge, in varying states of decomposition

[jilbur]

Oh, we've gone through several incarnations of The Tomato Paste Freezer Solution, all with similar result: gobs of semi-dehydrated bright red stuff resembling a fascinating hybrid of carseat vinyl and savory tomato jerky. I just can't wrap my mind around the metal tube kind, because even though that's just what you need, the tube is soooo small and sooooo expensive, and the ShopRite Can-Can sale has the small cans for about 24 for $1 ...
Tam, no worries: the pancakes are on offer only for compost-dwelling creatures. As for your dumplings--that is an issue to be settled between you and your Asian grocer. I'm still working out my own shumai settlement, thank you ...

[Sciencechick]

The title and pics say it all! Very, very funny!

I have solved the tomato paste problem by purchasing (from TJs) paste in a tube. Keeps great and is not expensive from TJs. Even if more expensive then the can, it saves me from the prior refrigerator horror shows of blossoming cans of mold! Keep the biology in the lab, I say!