Waffles. Just, waffles.

So, waffles.
Waffles are why I have a grudge against George Foreman. You know, of those Foreman grills that allegedly remove a lot of the fat from your meat and also make a decent sandwich? Yeah. Those things are everywhere. Half the appliances in thrift stores are Foreman grills.
Here's a link to a google image search of "foreman grill".
Those damn things look just like waffle makers. You see one in the cupboard of your new house, and you get all excited, and make grand plans for waffles every day because you would live on waffles if you could, and then your heart and dreams are crushed because it's a FREAKING FOREMAN GRILL. And there are five of them in your house and no waffle makers at all.
If I wasn't so busy making waffles and blogging and job hunting and self pitying, I would be consumed with a deep and abiding grudge against George Foreman and a desire to destroy his life. 
As it stands, it's a good thing we ended up getting a waffle maker. That guy could probably crush me.
To give you the lowdown on the situation: I would have eaten waffles exclusively for breakfast all last year had I had a meal plan that allowed me to eat cafeteria food every morning as well as dinner with friends on the same day. I like the light, crispy, eggy, just-salty-enough ones. If they have crispies from overflow, so much the better.
Allie Brosh of Hyperbole and a half sums up how I feels about waffles perfectly:

Picture by Allie Brosh

Sadly, the only waffle maker available to me for free over the past few years has a bad cord that smokes when it's plugged in. I think my parents should throw it away. However, S, A, and I decided that we could split the cost of a waffle maker, since the high-end ones that one finds in grocery stores like walmart and target don't go much over $30. $10 each isn't bad for something that we really, really want.
So, I present to you the as-yet-unnamed waffle maker that we got at walmart because the one at target was sold out:

Unnamed Waffle Maker!

It's so much bigger than those round ones...

 The stainless steel stuff on the top isn't the only thing that gives the waffle maker heft. Man, we need a name if I'm going to keep posting about it. Anyway, it has nice solid metal plates that apparently have nonstick, since we're not supposed to put oil on them. I had some sticking this morning, but it might have been the result of impatience.

Pancake mix, olive oil (although I assume any oil would do), and pumpkin puree.

Since a different box of pancake mix that isn't mine gave the same proportions for waffles as for pancakes, plus oil, I figured I could add in some pumpkin.

The mixing went well. Left some lumps in so that it wouldn't be all tough.

It's like the promise of waffle. The anticipation is awesome.

My housemate's fake butter (too cheap to use my own fake butter. This is the stuff that I made the lazy cinnamon rolls with.) and fake maple syrup. Thanks, Asia!

Waffles!

I was going to show you a picture of them all buttered and syruped, but then my camera died (see the beginning of this post for details and a dramatic reenactment of what went down).
After the fact, I'm not too sure that the addition of pumpkin added anything. Perhaps if I had made them from scratch, it would have been better. It mostly made the waffle take forever to cook. The inside was also a little gooey, which may have been impatience.
All in all, it was a breakfast success. We have some blueberry mix; maybe I'll have that this weekend.
My next breakfast post, however, will be on mushrooms on toast. Inspired by Emily, backed up by The Vegetarian Student Cookbook, which is a british publication that uses some hilarious british slang in a painfully obvious (and failed) effort to be "hip". Never in my four and a half months with british students did I hear anyone say "moreish".