Waffle Like You Mean It

Waffle

(1) a grilled pancake-like item, preferably eaten at breakfast. Comes complete with convenient grid of square holes to enable the application of sufficient maple syrup (in penguin terms, this equates to filling your waffle to the brim, like an ice-cube tray).
(2) to go at length and in a rambling fashion, filling large amounts of space and time with too many words about something that probably isn’t terribly important in the overall scheme of the universe (but that tends to be unutterably important – not for want of lots of utterances – to the waffler).

This little bird has definitely got the right idea... he's one of Kate Wilson's lovely illustrations, which you can see more of (or buy) here. Discovered via Lobster & Swan

These might provide you with some inspiration to get waffling, too, because there are just so many ways to waffle...

You can waffle with chocolate...

Orange cinnamon Belgian waffles with dark chocolate hot fudge from Desserts for Breakfast (and that really is a wonderful way to have dessert at breakfast)

You can waffle with bacon (that's right - these sweet, not-so-innocent waffles have chopped bacon in the waffle batter... oooh!)

World peace bacon waffles from My Bakingdom

Or you can waffle with gingerbread (oh, squee!). And brandied cherries...

Gingerbread waffles from Tea & Cookies at The Kitchn

Or disguise your cookies as waffles (or is that disguising your waffles as cookies? I'm suddenly confused. And hungry)...

Chocolate waffle cookies from Every Last Cookie

Or apply it to other things. Although macaroni cheese waffles was something I'd never previously considered...

Waffled macaroni and cheese from The Waffleizer (where else?)

Or just make the waffles look a bit more interesting...

Typewriter waffle iron via 1 Design Per Day (and there's a penguin waffle iron as well!)

Once you get started, you could just keep waffling right on...

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Building A Better Penguin With Snaffles

{Penguins and Parentheses} has had a few changes over the past couple of days... it's part new year refresh, part learning experience, the start of something that might (or might not) turn into something bigger, and definitely a work in progress. Even though half the world seems to read blogs through rss and not see the site itself, when you start getting sick of the look of it and all fidgetty, it's a sign that a change needs to start brewing in a freshly warmed pot. Dormouse optional. Creative types with gorgeous photos and technical sorts who know their html from their css have been greatly envied in the wee small hours, and there has been a certain amount of gnashing of teeth.

An optional dormouse - tea cosy knitting pattern from Periwinkle Park on Etsy

There'll still be just as much gobbling and prattling as ever. Hopefully, even more of the edibles will be tasty, and at least some of the going-on-about-bit-and-pieces will make sense (and not send you to sleep). To help with the latter*, here's part one of a new section on Understanding Your Penguin - a look (and a bit of a poke) at some of the slightly more idiosycratic terms that pop up around here. Or the perfectly normal ones that get used in not quite their proper way...

Snaffle

According to the Oxford English Dictionary:
(1) (on a bridle) A simple bit , typically a jointed one , used with a single set of reins.
(2) Take (something) for oneself, typically quickly or without permission.
According to a penguin:
(3) Consume a small morsel of something tasty, often from the edges of a baked item, directly from a saucepan, jar or fridge, while preparing or assembling a dish, proffered (or snuck) from a dining companion’s plate, or otherwise eaten in passing. They have to be little (you can’t snaffle an entire hamburger or a bowl of trifle), slightly indulgent (you can’t snaffle a salad, although nibbles of fruit would just about qualify) and with a level of spontaneity (you really can’t snaffle breakfast, although several snaffles can, when needs must, substitute for a “proper meal”). The best meals (second breakfast, afternoon tea, supper, or almost anything eaten at the trifle-eating cat’s house) have an air of snaffling about them, combined with a size and legitimacy that makes them somewhat more official. Perhaps it’s just snaffling in company that does the trick!
(4) The name for something with the potential to be, about to be, or that has just been, snaffled.

A snaffle:

Dulce de leche from The Family Kitchen** via Tastespotting

A bit too big for a snaffle (but still delicious):

Dulce de leche cheesecake from Sweet Life

* The making sense part - the falling asleep part might be a bit too big a goal to begin with!
** Which, for some reason, makes me think about the Swiss Family Robinson. Which, entirely logicaly, ends up with thoughts of cheese. Doesn't everything?

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