A non-scientific experiment: Pancake wrapping

[jwg]

On Sunday when we have either pancakes or waffles we cook one extra set and save them to have a couple of days later with ice cream for an evening dessert snack. They get wrapped in waxed paper and since rsc's wrapping skills don't quite meet my exacting standards, this is my job.

I tried to cure this once with a lesson in pancake wrapping that I used as my performance in the LCFD Dance Camp variety show (we explicitly don't call it a talent show). It wasn't effective; I still do the wrapping.

Recently to demonstrate how easy it is, I've tried doing it different ways. Blindfolded worked pretty well - the result looked as good as normal. It was a bit difficult finding the box of waxed paper though since it is stored among other similar boxes of other wrappings. I tried it with one hand; there was a bit of difficulty keeping the folds down while reaching for the end of the waxed paper. I've yet to try it with my left hand. Yesterday I tried it with two hands behind my back. It didn't work too well; the paper got kind of crumpled up and there is a small gap in the wrapping where you can see a waffle and at one point one of the waffles seemed to get slightly folded up. It was hampered a bit by a slightly crowded counter. I'll have to try this again - it was easier with pancakes than waffles because they are a bit smaller so I will wait until they are up. If this is successful I guess one hand behind my back might be next.

Comments

[jwg.livejournal.com]

Oh great. Recently in Heart of the City, Heart wanted to get well known in show business and because of the writers strike she thought a youtube posting would get her some notoriety. She wrote a script and her friend Dean put it on YouTube but it only got 3 hits. Then Dean did a thing where she freaked out when seeing a spider and against her permission uploaded it. It got 300,000 hits on the first day.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

I wish you hadn't used the word "anal" in a thread about wrapping waffles.

Re: anal...

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

my.... head..... hurts......

Re: anal...

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Do. Not. Give. Him. Any. Ideas.

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

So why don't you have a how-to video on YouTube? (reference to the über-coolie "japanese t-shirt folding technique" I use everytime I need to pack ).

Oh great. Now I have mental pictures of jwg folding pancakes. Food origami.

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

it's the visual equivalent of an earworm

pancake origami as such, especially with yummy filling, would in fact be (as martha would say) A Good Thing.

[pipyn.livejournal.com]

You are wrapping your pancakes with military corners, aren't you? Aren't you??

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

[pancakes/waffles] get wrapped in waxed paper and since rsc's wrapping skills don't quite meet my exacting standards, this is my job. I tried to cure this once with a lesson in pancake wrapping [...] It wasn't effective; I still do the wrapping.

There's a reason for that, dear heart.

rsc has learned the valuable lesson that (metaphorically speaking) if you break enough plates, they don't ask you to do the dishes any more. By displaying skills that don't reach your anal-retentive exacting standards, he's ensured that YOU do the job.

and yes, I realise he's stuck with the actual dishes until about 2019.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

rsc has learned the valuable lesson...

Was it really necessary to call attention to this?

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

oh don't worry about it. People who are that anal-retentive concerned about folding things properly are never (once you've -er- demonstrated incompetence) going to believe you'd ever be able to meet their standards. Just smile blandly and compliment him on his wax-paper origami.

it struck me that you could prolly get (maybe already have, so it's just a question of pressing into service) a plastic tub, tupperware(tm)-equivalent to keep cookit pancakes in; maybe use a few wax-paper discs to separate them. But this would surely cut down the amount of wax paper needed (it's reusable), and be kinder to the environment, recycle, and all that. I know I store crumpets in a similar tub, once I've opened the store wrappings but don't eat the entire package.

though as I type that I realise this suggestion would cut back on Origami Opportunities.

as to actual dishwashing, have you considered literally breaking a few plates to get out of this duty?

-- seditiously yrs in trawna

[jwg.livejournal.com]

The thing about the waxed paper disks is they'd have to be washed after use. And who would do that?

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

why would you need to wash wax paper - do your pancakes shed?

even if you discarded the paper each time, you'd still only need a square slightly larger than a pancake, ie less than half the amount you're using now.

and (reverse sedition here) anyone can interleave pancakes and wax paper and put the pile into a plastic tub and seal the lid. No origami skills needed.

[jwg.livejournal.com]

Pancakes don't shed dramatically, but certainly there would be some deposits left on the waxed paper. We alternate between pancakes and waffles. One wouldn't want to have pancake molecules mix with waffle molecules. I suppose that you will suggest that there be two different sets of waxed paper sheets and containers but it would be difficult to keep track of which is which.

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

no, I'd not do that: I'm sure a container could be found that would hold either waffles OR pancakes (whichever you'd made the sunday previously), and if you use fresh-new wax paper each week, it's still only half the amount or less than the origami solution.

I'm more concerned by your quaint apparent belief that there are such things as "pancake molecules" and/or "waffle molecules", and the undesirable-to-the-point-of-ickiness repercussions from them mixing.

maybe it's a different-cultures thing, which leaves me shaking my head. similar to you bostonians making tea with salt water.

I'm sure your origami is spiffing, and wouldn't want to imply otherwise.

[jwg.livejournal.com]

Here is evidence that pancake molecules exist.

It isn't a matter of ickiness but just making sure that we don't have mutations that produce such substances as panffles or waffcakes.

The reason why some bostonians make tea with salt water is that they don't like ice tea and such a technique is good protection against freezing.