Kindra has a large collection of sprinkles.
And by ‘large,’ I mean there are somewhere between three dozen and 400 bottles of the colorful little sugared pellets arranged on the kitchen counter and bar.
They bring Kindra great joy, and she uses them on cupcakes and cookies, occasionally as an ice cream topping and as a visual mood brightener.
There are the typical red, white and blue and there are black ones and musical notes. And there is one small bottle of gray sprinkles that look like BBs and make my teeth hurt when I see them.
If you are looking for a specific sprinkle, there is a good chance that it lives on our kitchen bar.
Six-year-old grandson Bennett spent Saturday at our house and was feeling a mite peckish around 10 a.m, so we inventoried the pantry and he decided he would like a bowl of oatmeal.
I modified my usual recipe (heat the water in the microwave and pour it over the oatmeal in a bowl, then let it soak a couple of minutes) to include some cinnamon and sugar.
While Bennett was letting it cool, he eyed the end of the bar and said: “Wow, you sure have a lot of sprinkles.”
“Yes, we do.” “And a lot of different colors.” It was then that I sensed the general drift of the conversation, so I asked: “Do you think sprinkles would be good on oatmeal?”
He raised his eyebrows in thought for three seconds.
“Maybe we should find out,” he said. Kindra was back in the kitchen by then, so she helped Bennett make his selection from the sprinkles menu and scattered a generous serving on top of his oatmeal.
It was cooled enough to eat by then, so Bennett gobbled it as a chicken would a cricket and proclaimed it a culinary success.
This was a remarkable event because Bennett has the least adventurous appetite this side of the Canadian River.
He likes waffles, cheese sandwiches on white bread, hot dogs and Vienna sausages. And that is pretty much his diet.
He does not recognize vegetables as edibles and became upset the time Kindra made his sandwich with a piece of lettuce. He thought she was trying to trick him into eating a houseplant.
Getting him to eat and enjoy oatmeal was a big deal, but the sprinkles made it so big of a deal that we’ll ask in future years: “Hey, Bennett, do you remember the time you tried sprinkles on your oatmeal?”
So, good on Kindra and her sprinkles. I’ll admit, there have been times I thought she might be on the verge of excess with the sprinkles, but I have to give her some props for making oatmeal such a hit.
But I’m still kind of bothered by the ones that look like BBs.