By Katelyn Kenney
“Everything on a Waffle” by Polly Horvath is a children’s novel about an 11-year-old girl named Primrose who lives in British Columbia. Her life takes a turn when her parents are presumed to have perished at sea during a storm. However, Primrose is steadfastly hopeful in believing that her parents are still alive, despite the evidence against her. Primrose is sent to live with her Uncle Jack in the town of Coal Harbour. She takes refuge at a restaurant called The Girl on the Red Swing where every dish is served on top of a waffle and where Primrose befriends the owner Kate Bowzer. There, Primrose finds in Miss Bowzer a guiding companion who teaches her life lessons and a few recipes.
- “I decided to use the pad to collect any recipes of my mother’s I remembered or any new ones I came across that she might like," Primrose, Everything on a Waffle
In Primrose’s possession is a small memo notebook her mother used for recipes, the first of which is a recipe for carrots in an apricot glaze (Primrose uses this recipe to describe her hair color). Each subsequent chapter is ended with a recipe borne of some experience Primrose has had. Most of these experiences revolve around Miss Bowzer teaching her how to cook, or others come from stories like the time a girl named Lena obsessively boiled potatoes to prove someone she could. These recipes are an indication that Primrose pays very close attention to food. They serve as a means to document the ups and downs of her life, but in a way, the recipe book is the one thing that keeps her connected to her mother and propels her hopefulness about their survival.
Waffles
Mix together 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl put 3 large and well-beaten eggs, 1/2 stick of butter, and 1 1/2 cups of milk. Make a hole in the middle of your dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients and stir it all up. Make sure your waffle iron is hot and greased if it is the type that is supposed to be greased and then pour in enough batter so that is spreads all over but not quite to the edge or it will end up leaking out the sides and making a big mess. If you have an electric waffle iron, it will tell you when the waffles are done, otherwise you must check them and turn the iron on the burner until the waffle is brown. Serve with butter and syrup. Or if you are at The Girl on the Red Swing, everything.
Mix together 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl put 3 large and well-beaten eggs, 1/2 stick of butter, and 1 1/2 cups of milk. Make a hole in the middle of your dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients and stir it all up. Make sure your waffle iron is hot and greased if it is the type that is supposed to be greased and then pour in enough batter so that is spreads all over but not quite to the edge or it will end up leaking out the sides and making a big mess. If you have an electric waffle iron, it will tell you when the waffles are done, otherwise you must check them and turn the iron on the burner until the waffle is brown. Serve with butter and syrup. Or if you are at The Girl on the Red Swing, everything.
Primrose faces a lot of challenges in her everyday life. In addition to the entire town trying to convince her that her parents are in fact dead, she has to put up with teasing peers and condescending adults. Primrose is smarter than she appears; she has an intuitive sense that her parents are alive to turns out to be true. Even as an 11-year-old, she is very aware of the pains of the real world, yet she remains optimistic thanks in part to her friendship with Miss Bowzer and her familial relationship with food. Through all the changes of her childhood (from getting her first puppy, whom she named Mallomar after a popular cookie, to losing a toe and nearly setting a guinea pig on fire to being shuffled off to new foster parents), the one constant that she can hold onto is the simply joy of knowing every obstacle will be accompanied by a delicious, homemade waffle.