“Make a meal that doesn’t look like what it actually is and serve it to friends.”

Some days, I do this for the children—just because. One year for April Fools Day, I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes look like chocolate cupcakes with whipped frosting. Psych!

Today’s schedule didn’t allow time for such an elaborate response to the make something prompt. To further complicate things, the shelves of my fridge and cupboards are frightfully bare.

Determined to follow through on my daily commitment, I rounded up a few items and made a single sushi roll. For the center, I sliced open and flattened a Twizzler. I surrounded that with a mess of cream cheese, then rolled it in a thin slice of apple peel. It looked so lonely, I poured a bit of cola into a small ramekin to simulate light soy sauce.

This little morsel might not taste too bad, actually. I could have served it to one of the children. But I would have felt kind of guilty … considering that I swiped the soda from a to-go cup someone left on the counter and dug the apple from the middle of the garbage can.

Does that mean this meal is just faux show?