Last year, I bought a waffle iron. In college, the dining halls had Belgian waffle makers you could use to make waffles for yourself, and I would wake up weekend mornings dying for waffles slathered in whipped cream. (Just whipped cream- no syrup, no butter, no fruit.) I still order waffles a lot when I go out for brunch, so I figured I should probably get something so I could make them myself when the craving struck me.

Just one problem. I couldn’t get it to work.

A waffle iron should not be that hard to use. You pour the batter in, close it, rotate it, and wait for the light to come on. I did it all the time in college. It was simple.

Except this time it wasn’t. On three separate occasions, I followed the instructions exactly and still ended up with either burnt batter that smelled awful or gooey, undercooked strips of something in an indefinable shape. And all three occasions involved multiple rounds of failed attempts at waffles followed by a lot of scrubbing. It was quite tragic. To steal a line from my sister, a fellow fan of BC waffles, “There is nothing worse than really wanting waffles and not getting them.”

This morning, I tried it again. Rounds 1 and 2 produced a substance that was edible but not in any way shaped like a waffle. But Round 3?

Or something like that. It was the result of getting it set to the right temperature, NOT waiting for the “ready” light to come on, and immediately unplugging the iron as soon as the waffles were done. They were still slightly burned and certainly weren’t the best waffles I’d ever tasted, but they were definitely edible and made for a great breakfast.

I think this is a good omen for the new year, don’t you?