I grew up with five brothers. Food was vitally important, we attacked the food supply with abandon. I was hungry for 17 years. I ate whenever I could and ate as much as I could as fast as I could. This has left me with a few lingering bad habits including eating too fast and eating until the food is gone. Leftovers were non-existent growing up. Never heard the word, didn't comprehend it.
When I first got married Lisa fixed me dinner and made a gigantic bowl of mashed potatoes that could have fed ten people. As was my custom I ate until it was gone. Never heard of anyone foundering themselves on potatoes until that day, and it wasn't pretty.
I remember Sunday dinners as a youngster. Pot roast, corn and mashed potatoes, mmm can still smell it. And every Sunday it was the same, mom would sit down and say the words I dreaded more than any other. "Take it easy on the potatoes" It was liked getting kicked in the junk. So the first brother to scoop spuds was watched intently by ten crazed eyeballs. If you took too much the words "pig, hog, sow" said in quick run together fashion was thrown about by everyone. After the meager portion of mashed spuds were gone it was time for Plan B which included taking a piece of bread breaking it up sacrament style and pouring gravy over it. This continued until the gravy gave out which was a sad moment indeed.
Ironically when I got older and found out how cheap potatoes were I was furious. I thought the damn things were precious, pricey, imported and hard to come by. I think my mom was limited in the cooking by too small of a cooking pot. She should have procured the biggest kettle on the market kept it boiling continuously and dumped the spuds in by the gunny sack and let us little buggers eat until we keeled over with protruding bellies and glazed over eyes.
As it is I still love potatoes especially mashed. I may still eat too much but haven't foundered myself in 20 years.
When I first got married Lisa fixed me dinner and made a gigantic bowl of mashed potatoes that could have fed ten people. As was my custom I ate until it was gone. Never heard of anyone foundering themselves on potatoes until that day, and it wasn't pretty.
I remember Sunday dinners as a youngster. Pot roast, corn and mashed potatoes, mmm can still smell it. And every Sunday it was the same, mom would sit down and say the words I dreaded more than any other. "Take it easy on the potatoes" It was liked getting kicked in the junk. So the first brother to scoop spuds was watched intently by ten crazed eyeballs. If you took too much the words "pig, hog, sow" said in quick run together fashion was thrown about by everyone. After the meager portion of mashed spuds were gone it was time for Plan B which included taking a piece of bread breaking it up sacrament style and pouring gravy over it. This continued until the gravy gave out which was a sad moment indeed.
Ironically when I got older and found out how cheap potatoes were I was furious. I thought the damn things were precious, pricey, imported and hard to come by. I think my mom was limited in the cooking by too small of a cooking pot. She should have procured the biggest kettle on the market kept it boiling continuously and dumped the spuds in by the gunny sack and let us little buggers eat until we keeled over with protruding bellies and glazed over eyes.
As it is I still love potatoes especially mashed. I may still eat too much but haven't foundered myself in 20 years.
3 comments:
I laughed until I cried reading this.
as adalee would say, "Pravo, pravo"
I never liked the bread and gravy. The texture makes me gag thinking of it.
I would have to be one starving, WWII Russian to ever eat that stuff again.
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