Laboring on Labor Day

Labor Day is supposed to be a day that Americans take to time to relax. That was precisely what I set out to do when I was roused from my slumber by a grinning three year old asking me if it was time to get up. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the day did not start out the way I had planned. I had every intention of feeding the girls cold cereal and juice for breakfast. Molly, my six year old, had other plans.

She asked for pancakes to which the three year old, Jillian, wanted to add chocolate chips. To be honest, I did not have the energy to make pancakes. I was tired and just wanted to drink my coffee; but, how could I say no to Molly on her last day of summer vacation. This was one of her last meals before her nine month sentence, also known as school, began. So, the three of us headed into the kitchen and donned our aprons. (Molly informed me yesterday that you do not look very “chefy” without an apron.) I mean really, how hard was it to throw some pancake mix into a bowl with milk, eggs, and oil. The girls would do all of the mixing, and I could drink all of the coffee I wanted while cooking the pancakes. You probably already guessed that this is not how happened.

I opened the pancake mix box only to find that there was less than the required two cups of pancake mix left in the box. No problem. My wife always keeps an extra box of pancake mix lying around. She is good like that. I ran down to the basement pantry to grab this breakfast-saving box of mix; but, it was nowhere to be found. Curse you understocked pantry! How could my wife have failed me so?

On my way back to the kitchen to break the news to the girls, a solution presented itself. There, sitting on the bookshelf, was this thing called a Cook Book. You may have heard of this marvel of publishing. In between hard covers, are sheets of papers with recipes that tell you how to take individual ingredients, mix them together, and create tasty vittles. I could not believe my luck. It was as if God and Betty Crocker had intervened to spare me from breaking my children's hearts. I quickly grabbed the “Betty Crocker 75^th Anniversary Cook Book” and flipped to the index. My hands were shaking. Please, please let there be a recipe for pancakes. There on page 128 was the answer to my prays. I scanned the recipe making a mental checklist to confirm that we had the ingredients on-hand. Flour (check), sugar (check), egg (check), milk (check), baking power (check), salt (check), and cooking oil (CHECK!). OH what luck! Breakfast was saved!

Now, making pancakes from scratch is not the world's most difficult task. It does not involve that many more ingredients that the box mix does. I think it is the idea of gathering together all of the ingredients and the measuring vessels that makes is seem so impossible. What? I am being overly dramatic? They are just pancakes you say?

This is bigger than pancakes. Pancakes from scratch flies in the face of modern convenience. Why, it is an assault on what our “Have it Now” society has become. I had to use measuring cups and measuring spoons. You know what though? We have not had pancakes that good in a long time. Maybe it was the fact that we had to take the extra time to make the pancakes. Or maybe it was the fact that I made breakfast with my girls. I do not know. All that I know is that they were yummy! (Even the burnt bacon was tasty.)

In the end, I am glad that there wasn't enough mix. Making something from scratch, even if it is something simple like pancakes, makes life a little more rewarding. Especially on Labor Day.

Author's confession: Later in the morning, I was informed by my wife that she did just by a new box pancake mix. It was sitting in the shopping bag on the floor of the basement where I left it. It was my turn to put the dry goods away. (Whoops!)