“Sometimes a little comfort food can go a long way.”
Today is cloudy but warm, and tonight too will be warm, finally out of the 30’s. I have no plans for the day. I am choosing a day of rest, a sloth day if you will.
My father always cooked Sunday breakfast when I’d visit. He’d stand at the stove with a dish towel over his shoulder. He used the cast iron frying pan. Before cooking, he’d ask how I wanted my eggs. Fried was usually my answer. My father would also cook bacon. I was in charge of toast. In my mind’s eye, I can still see him bent over the stove with the towel over his right shoulder and a spatula in his hand as he tended to the eggs.
I had tuna every Friday for lunch when I was a kid as we couldn’t eat meat on Fridays. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were never an option as we didn’t like them for lunch. They became messy sandwiches sitting for so long in the lunch box. The jelly, almost always Welch’s Grape Jelly, used to soak into the bread, the soft Wonder bread, and leave a big jelly spot in the middle of the sandwich. I don’t eat tuna now. I had eaten a lifetime of tuna by the time I was in high school and could buy a hot lunch. I don’t eat peanut butter and jelly either. I do eat fluffernutters.
My mother used to make specials foods for her parties. I remember her Swedish meatballs. They were kept warm in her copper sort of fondue pot. The pot always emptied. She also made shrimp dip. The shrimp came in those little real glasses everyone saved. I actually have a shrimp dip story. I was making it for my mother and didn’t check the top of the blender. I hadn’t secured it. I started the blender, the top fell off and shrimp dip flew all over me and the kitchen. To call it a mess is understating what the kitchen looked like.
I don’t like Jello. I don’t even like the look of Jello. I remember Jello with fruit hanging inside it, disgusting. I don’t eat Spam though my father did and my sister does. I figure it must be really popular because in 1959 the billionth can was sold. My father first ate it in World War II. He liked it right out of the can. I am not a fan of cream corn, neither its looks nor its taste.
We all have comfort foods. Mine mostly date from my childhood. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas were one of my favorite dinners. My mother always put ketchup and bacon on the top of the meatloaf. The bacon got crisp, and I used to try steal a piece. I think the one comfort food we all share is tomato soup and grilled cheese. On a cold, wintry day, it is the most magnificent combination for lunch.
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April 28, 2024 at 3:17 pm
It’s warm and rainy in Detroit so how to spend the day ? FT with a friend in Belgium, watch Tottenham get beat, power wash the winter off the garage floor and put some marginal effort in to organizing my copious amounts of music.
We had a lot of happy folks roll in to our city for the NFL draft. I chose not to join the 700,000+ but it reflected the resurgence of our much maligned community and, of course, the monster that is the NFL. Hope you got the QB you wanted.
April 28, 2024 at 5:56 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I spent my day being a sloth. I even took a nap. I took Sunday as a day of rest literally.
I think the Pats did well with their first pick. No decent quarterback has been an issue. Mac Jones had a great first year and that was it. The Pat’s took 2 quarterbacks hoping luck of the drawn will will strike again.
April 28, 2024 at 4:08 pm
Hi Kat,
Last night we experienced a couple of lines of thunderstorms that rolled through the area. The noise woke me up. Today the high temperature will hit a humid 79°.
Like you I didn’t and still don’t like a PB&J sandwich. I will eat a piece of bread any day spread with peanut butter, but I find that the jelly ruins the peanut flavor. I didn’t eat as many tuna sandwiches as you growing up, but I’m not a fan. My mother always made tuna with the white albacore fish. Once I had a tuna sandwich at a friend’s house and his mother used the lower priced tuna. I didn’t enjoy it and haven’t had a tuna sandwich since. I do enjoy chicken salad sandwiches. At work they will put fruit and, or nuts in their chicken salad. My better half hates nuts in her food. She also hates shrimp. I think she is the only human being on earth that doesn’t like shrimp.
Some of my comfort foods are grilled cheese sandwiches with or without the tomato soup. Another is braised brisket with potatoes and vegetables all slow cooked together. My wife fixed it earlier last week for Passover. There are so many comfort foods that I like, I don’t want to write a book on your blog. 🙂
April 28, 2024 at 6:08 pm
Hi Bob,
It stayed cloudy all day just as predicted. I stayed home and had a lazy day. Tomorrow should also be cloudy and in the high 50’s. I think it is finally spring.
I am into my very chunky peanut butter phase. I also can eat it plain on bread. I like jam but by itself on crackers or toast. Black mission fig jam is my current favorite. My mother always bought the expensive canned tuna. The cheaper tuna looked and tasted like cat food. If I am having company, I fancy up my chicken salad sometimes with nuts and grapes. My mother was a shrimp fanatic. When she visited and we went out to dinner, she usually ordered shrimp.
I like grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, sometimes with ham. I would never turn down a brisket dinner!
April 28, 2024 at 9:37 pm
I have never tried a grilled cheese with tomatoes. I have had them with a slice of ham. Isn’t that called in French, a “Croque Monsieur”?
April 28, 2024 at 10:57 pm
I think that sandwich has a sauce of some sort but it is ham and cheese.