One of my earliest memories is when I was about five or six. I was sick and doctors used to come to the house. (NO, I DID NOT live in a little house on the prairie next door to the Ingalls, you stop that!) That is the one and only time we had a doctor to the house, but I do remember it vividly!Well, I'd had dinner (in my life, I think I've been too sick to eat maybe once) and felt very poorly and was put to bed. By 7:30 that evening, in walked Dr. Reagan, our pediatrician, black bag in his large cold hand
s. I lay there waiting for him to make me feel better and smooth the worried look off Mom's and Dad's faces. He lowered the blankets and started poking around my tummy, pushing down and rubbing around ......."Hmmmm.....MEAT LOAF....." he said. My eyebrows had to have shot up. How'd he KNOW that? "...and mashed potatoes....and peas!" He described the whole dinner from feeling my stomac
h and that was one amazed six year old laying in that bed let me tell you. Magic, I thought! Dr. Reagan can tell THAT from doing THAT? He's brilliant! Boy, does he KNOW HIS FOOD! (or should I say MINE?!)Later, Mom told me that he passed the kitchen and asked what we'd had for dinner. Smart doctor, huh? And I've never forgotten that.
Do you have a childhood food story you'd like to share?
*half the title of this post is brazenly stolen from a Bill Cosby album...:-)
z
20 comments:
I can remember some stalemates dealing with liver. Putting the liver between slices of bread and covering it with every other food item on the table--the infamous liver sandwich--didn't help much either. Some hour/hour-and-a-half later, I still wasn't budging.
tio
And your folks, like mine, would make you sit there and eat it, right? Oh, tio...I remember liver. One of my sisters liked it and so did my folks....we STILL tease her with "She LIKES LIVER" as if to say "She's Mom and Dad's pet"...family joke.
Mom served sauteed onions and french fries with it and catsup...the mound of stuff on top, smothered in catsup STILL wouldn't take away that flavor or texture... I still don't like liver but can eat some pates. I used to threaten Mr Z if he teased that he was ordering liver at a restaurant with "I'll go sit at the next table!" :-)
You just reminded me of yet another food story that has to do with the show-down of mother v child and eating something....thanks!
tio refers to "stalemates"..ROTFLMAO!!!
I remember those growing up. :-) On occassion someone got there hindquarters "tuned up" pretty well! My mom was a housewife and a pretty good cook who grew up on a Wisconsin farm. Because of this she KNEW how to prepare all of the veggies and served them all.
Beets, rutabaggas, carrots, brussels sprouts, onions, and worst of all LIMA BEANS and okra! I HATED these with a purple passion. We had a blind dog (Tortilla) who was run over by my grandpa's tractor, and she was a 4-legged garbage disposal. As long as I salted those veggies she's eat what I could sneak to her under the table. I once made the mistake of giving Tortilla my peaches--and found that she was allergic. The poor old mutt "released" the peaches and all of the cooked broccolli too!
The gig was up!~ I was SO busted. I used to move the furniture on that old dog just to see how long it took her to learn the path through the house. She ate my plastic soldiers to keep me from throwing them at her and they'd end up out in the snow, only to be found in the spring. The machine gunner caused all sorts of howling!
Uggh. I'm going to have to answer for my treatment of that mean old dog. I'll try to get my story straight before I talk to the Big Guy.
Jingo..great story! I knew I liked your dad, now I now I like your mom, the good vegetable cook! I couldn't stand lima beans for years, I think they have the same gritty dry texture of liver, but I can eat them now....if I have to. And if they're with mixed vegetables!
I'll have to give you an okra recipe even you'll like! And, it isn't a FRIED okra recipe!
Z, I'd LOVE a tasty okra recipe. I've acquired an "understanding" with okra, lima beans, and brocolli. Although I can't eat broccolli while the dogs are in sight. :-)
Meat was always a "strange" item in our house too when we lived in Minneapolis. My mom's folks always slaughtered/butchered their own animals. Some of the calves and pigs were actually treated as pets, so when we had pork chops or steak WE NEVER ASKED if it came from grandpa's farm or one of my uncles.
Jingo...you mean like "one of my uncles' thighs?" Heh heh!!
The okra I LOVE is still slimey but so delicious you get to like it...and, you don't let them fall apart into sliminess...you steep it in tomato sauce, lemon juice and chunks of lamb shank........oh, MAN, that is SO GOOD!!
I'll have to get the exact recipe from Mom. I'll email her now for it! xxx
Danka! It sounds tasty.
Z - That's a nice story. I just remember that my mother would make such good meals for Sunday noon: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, or English roast. I tried doing that for my family but they didn't seem to appreciate it so I dropped the idea.
oopps I forgot to sign out as Z...I was doing some work on her blog
My grandmother had a way of making the whole house smell like whatever she was cooking. Stuffed cabbage, homemade strawberry pie with strawberries from my grandfather's garden...
today my mother made stuffed cabbage and the whole house smelled like my grandmother
(I know how that sounds, but I'm sure you understand)
Elbro, it sounds just wonderful... I love stuffed cabbage! I think it's interesting that nearly every culture has some form of that. I hope to write on that subject, too...
Sue....Mr. Z's Aunt had Sunday lunch every single week at her house and it was pork roast, potatoes and peas every single week! I'm a creature of habit but not everyone is!
although I must say cabbage isn't exactly what I'd like to be remembered by as far as smells are concerned :-)
I guess I'd like to be remembered with the smell of roasting prime rib or my mother's rice pilaf or sauteeing onions? I like that idea.......what smell would you like to be remembered as!!! NOT BROCCOLI and NOT the smell of fried fish the morning after you've had it for dinner.
perhaps I should've said that the smell reminded me of eating at my grandmothers
You might have, Elbro, but I love the original way you put it. I'm not kidding...I think it's very sweet and loving to remember people by the delicious smells they created, don't you?
yes...she made so many wonderful dishes too...fried pork chops and mashed potatos, homemade navy bean and vegetable soup...all so wonderful and delicious
my paternal grandmother made the best potato and macaroni salsd...I know it was the dressing...she always put just the right amount of vinegar..Oh how I loved it
A little German in that grandma who makes potato salad with just the right amount of vinegar? That's a very German ingredient..NO MAYO in theirs..or very little, anyway. meaning no eggs, of course, except hard boiled. Can you get that dressing recipe from someone?
fried pork chops....mmm I'm not sure I've ever had them, isn't that nuts? Do they use a little batter on them first?
I have to tell you I've been known to order an entree because it came with mashed potatoes!!
Oh, man, I love talking about food!
she would flour the pork chop and put them in a skillet
my aunt might have that salad dressing recipe
I think if you cut my brother he would bleed mashed potatos...we would go out to a buffet occasionally and he would fill his plate with nothing but mashed potatos
my maternal grandmother was German her maiden name was Dichtenmuller
my paternal grandmother was American Indian
if all else fails I could do a rain dance in leiderhosen
Z - I like the yellow background on this blog. Yellow has always been my favorite color (although they say it is the color of madness.) ???
EB-Uhhhh, you sound American, alright! LOL!
Z-I have trouble with scrambled eggs...something about a gas leak and scrambled eggs for breakfast...shudder.
tmw
Jingo,
I'm with you on the okra, except sliced and in a great pot of gumbo... Have you ever heard Jimmy Buffet's "I Will Work for Gumbo"?
Damn, I just made myself hungry...
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