I heard the rumor about it.
I didn’t really believe it at first.
Then, I remember my “growing-up-in-Minnesota” days when we went to the Minnesota State Fair and were treated to freshly-made mini-donuts that came off a conveyer belt piping hot.
This was the same way that these alleged pancakes from a machine were made.
I still didn’t believe it. I had no photographic proof. It was just a few tweets from people traveling from PDX who happened to be enjoying some time in the Alaska Airlines Board Room.
One day, I read, “pancakes at the @AlaskaAir Board Room at PDX.”
All I could think about was someone over a griddle, pouring batter and flipping flapjacks on to plates. Kind of like an omelette station but with pancakes.
On our trip to New Jersey, we arrived early and visited the Board Room.
And there it was.
The pancake machine.
There is nothing overwhelmingly impressive about it. It’s a machine. You press a button and two dollar-sized pancakes come out after about 45 seconds to a minute.
But, people can’t take their eyes off of it. Even if people don’t want pancakes, they go right ahead and push the button and get pancakes. There is no second thought. There is no debate. You see this machine, you want pancakes.
This latest trip, the pancake machine welcomed us again.
Being a bit of an “expert” on the pancake machine, a mom and daughter walked up as I was watching my pancakes drop to my plate. They stared for a minute. The pancake machine does look like some kind of odd machinery — and people sometimes can’t figure out what it is.
I jumped in and answered the question before the mother asked.
“It’s a pancake machine,” I said proudly.
“Really?” she asked.
“Indeed it is,” I crooned. “And it is a delight.”
The mom replied with, “wow. Neat.”
My last words were probably most profound, though.
“The only thing better than this would be a bacon machine.”
That got a nod and an “amen.”
{ 3 comments }
Image rotation fail.
Fixed. My mistake. Derrrrr.
That’s friggin awesome! I want one.
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