Irish pancakes

When you're a Swede living in a town full of Finns, it's easy to be caught off guard when your child asks, "Why don't we ever celebrate St. Patrick's Day?"

"Because we're not Irish," was my quick response.

"But Dad said one of his grandmas was Irish," AJ insisted.

Jeff wasn't home to verify, but AJ isn't the type to make up something like that, so I went with it. "Then I guess you're a little bit Irish. How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?"

"Maybe go to a movie, or to Adventure Zone," AJ suggested. I think he recognized that I wasn't jumping on board for any of his ideas, and so he added, "Mrs. Harms made green pancakes for us at school."

Never mind that we'd already had breakfast before church, and that it was close to lunchtime. This was an idea I could do!

"I can make green pancakes," I said. "It'll be like lunch brunch." (That's what they call it at school when the lunch menu is pancakes and hashbrowns. It's AJ's favorite.)

I whipped up a batch of pancake batter, then added some green food coloring. AJ first wanted a really big pancake, which I made for him, but then I had a better idea. Something even better for St. Patrick's Day!

Sydney got the first one.

That's right. Three small pancakes, layered to look like a shamrock. Never mind that one ended up rather oval-shaped. I trimmed off the oblong part and used it as a stem. (The banana slices were supposed to be shaped like a shamrock, too, but didn't work as well.)

When AJ saw what his sister got, he wanted some, too. And so I made him a shamrock of his own. Which he ate. And then he wanted another. And he ate that, too.

 It's a good thing Jeff wasn't home, or we'd have run out of pancake batter. I suspect someone's having a growth spurt. At least it gives me a reason to tell AJ he can't pull pranks like a leprechaun. He's already too tall to be one.