One day this princess story just popped into my head and I had to write it down.  Later on I had been watching a whole slew of youtube videos of people making pancake art and this idea that I could illustrate the story using pancakes again just popped in my head. I tried to create super easy illustrations. Watch this video, then read the story. Finally, at the very bottom I wrote about how I made the pancake art. Spoiler Alert! It’s a messy adventure.

The Story of the Princess Illustrated in Pancakes

Once upon a time, not so long ago and not so far away, lived a beautiful princess. The princess lived in a strange country surrounded by mountains and filled with rivers and valleys.

Everybody lived a peaceful and happy life. There were no recent memories of crimes or deprivation in these lands. To the contrary, love and polite manners were the mark of the citizens of this country. This pancake story is off to a good start. But wait! things are about to get lumpy.

Then suddenly, one winter’s night, out of nowhere, a scary monster invaded the dreams of the fair princess. Every night he repulsed the princess with his haggard appearance. He sneered his teeth angrily stomped his feet loudly and growled in heinous sounds that made even the tiniest of pomegranate pits shake in fear. He stole whatever he desired, and killed whomever he wished with nobody to defy him. The monster had declared himself the definitive master of the land.

Days and weeks passed and the poor princess woke up every morning ravaged by her sleep. She hoped that someone would rescue her from a most disastrous affliction. But all the brave heroes were in the land of sands battling a purple dragon with green teeth. After three weeks and two nights the princess became mortified of sleep and decided to pursue a life with no rest, not even a wink. But, weariness took its toll on the princess and within a month of the dreadful event she became unable to work, move or think. Even when she sat still on a chair, she felt as if thousands of needles where poking her in every pore of her skin.

And so the princess languished in despair and sat in front of her laptop. She started to search on Google hoping that she might find answers to her unique affliction. The princess searched the four corners of the internet, but hour and hours of frantic searching yielded fifty five questions and not a single solution.

At the precise moment of her deepest despair was when her iPod began to play a random shuffle song from the distant land of the dunes. The Phrygian tune with its cycle of whole notes followed by semitones opened a flood of yearning that couldn’t be stopped.

That is when the princess realized that the lord almighty had no intention of sending a knight in shining armor, but would rather inspire that which was not planned.

The princess felt a sudden tremor in her body and stopped the random clicking on her keyboard and began to write a story.

The End

How To Do Pancake Art

This was a huge amount of work. The most difficult Eat Your Art challenge thus far. Only this one should be called Eat Your Story perhaps. The first edible story in human history. And when it comes to pancake art, who can resist a story about an insomniac princess.

The first batch of pancake art was a failure. The batter was either too lumpy or too runny. I either couldn’t squeeze it out of the bottles or it was spilling out without any control. I also tried to avoid using food coloring which didn’t work. All my attempts to use pureed spinach, cocoa powder and spices in place of food coloring didn’t work. I finally gave up and decided to use the darn food coloring. On my second attempt I used a hand mixer to blend the batter until it was totally smooth and then I let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes to get rid of all the bubbles. Finally I got batter that I could control using the squeezy bottles.

The second pancake art challenge I faced was my kids. Usually when I make pancakes they get eaten while I am making them. As I worked on this project, my kids kept walking into the kitchen to check out what I was doing. I kept shouting: “DON’T EAT THE PANCAKES UNTIL AFTER I PHOTOGRAPH THEM.” I was worried they would disappear before I had a chance to take the pictures that I wanted. Everything was eaten in the end with jam.

Conclusion

All this makes me think if this pancake art could be refined to make something more sophisticated. Not just cartoonish images, but something more refined. I wonder how far I can take this. Before I continue experimenting, I need to take a break from pancakes for at least a few weeks. I am bit fed-up with eating pancakes for now. I will go play with other food for a bit.

What about you? What story would you illustrate with pancake art?

This is one of many projects I created to inspire me while writing a novel with recipes.