Playing with food
My wife has been a playful artistic type all her life. Her mother still has some of her childhood artwork, and even before it began showing signs of real talent it displayed an exuberant creativity.
Back in high school, when she reached an age at which she went to restaurants with friends and found herself responsible for leaving a gratuity, she decided to liven the tip up a bit. She would arrange coins, uniquely folded bills, and leftover bits of food into some semblance of a face and leave it for the waiter. Her hope was to brighten someone's day a little bit. She has continued doing that over the years, though now she just uses the leftover food bits since I buy her meals with a credit card.
I've seen all sorts of reactions from waiters and busboys. Most don't even notice the adorable food face and just dump everything into a tub. Some do notice and don't know how to react, so they ignore it and pretend that nothing is upsetting the delicate balance of their waiterly routine. One recently saw the food face, giggled with delight, then covered her mouth with both hands and walked away quickly. It's always interesting to see how people react, but the greatest reward is when it obviously makes someone happy, as when one waitress was so enchanted that she called several others over to the table to see (we witnessed this through the window after we had walked out of the restaurant).
I recently decided to begin documenting the faces she makes. Whenever we go out to eat, we take along the digital camera and record her creations for posterity. So far we only have two, but maybe some day we'll have enough to compile into book form. Click on the images below to see full-size pictures.
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I've mentioned this before and I'll probably mention it again, but my wife is so cool.
