Edgar

One of those pancakes that you turn over and immediately know, 'This is one of my best'. I can tell when I'm having a 'good batter day' and this was one of those days. I am constantly agonizing about the consistency of my batter and there seem to be tiny fluctuations in its fluidity even though I measure all my materials by weight. I strive to make every day a good batter day, but the closer I get, the more sensitive I get to quality differences. Maybe I'll never get there. At any rate, what I see in this pancake is firm, confident, clear lines with smooth edges. The batter is thick enough to have a solid body, like india ink or something, but still smooth enough to flow freely and at-will. I think lately I've been over-thinning my batter, and reviewing a piece like this inspires me to revisit that. There's also a discipline in the subtlety of the color mixing (particularly with the gray, which I often feel I make too dark) and even an intentionality in the background splatter. It's just really well-composed. The lighting is also amazing, but that's more to do with the fact that my usual upload phone was dead and we snapped this photo with Wella's phone camera. Clearly, it's better, so we might switch the photos soon. And of course, those eyes. There's a pleasing roundness to the details that makes it feel right, like gemstones. I believe Edgar was something like a full-time employee at Friendship Village, the retirement community we served this at. A beautiful dog, and a prime pancake model.