Here's a picture of me and Stephen getting excited about dinner and a beer. Don't miss Stephen's Lederhosen.
My mom was THE world's best cook. It actually wasn't until recent years that I did the math and figured out that she cooked nearly 7 dinners a week for nearly 40 years. That's 14,600 prepared meals. And we're not counting lunch and breakfast.
As a cook, she was no slouch. She made full on 3 course meals every night, with meat, potatoes and veggies, or some variation of that. Even during the summer, when it was humid and hotter than hades on Long Island and in our house, she cooked in a very poorly ventilated, very hot kitchen. We didn't have air conditioning or anything like it. And as she will tell anyone who asks, nobody ever thanked her for these awesome meals except for Shauna. I like to think that I got a thanks or two in, but honestly, I have a hard time remembering details that far back. So let's say I did.
I got to thinking not long ago about the super yummy meals we got when mom was taking a break from cooking, which only happened when dad was on a business trip.
When dad was gone, mom would let us choose our favorite Fast Food, and she'd cook it up for us. Fast Food when I was a kid wasn't what it is now. I think I ate at McDonalds about 3 times before I left home for college. And it was all between the ages of about 15 and 18.
Our choices were usually one of the following scrumptious items:
TV Dinners were one of my favorites.
I loved the Salisbury Steaks and potatoes. It usually had a shriveled veggie that I left alone. And the mashed potatoes always had a crust you had to break through (but I didn't mind), with about 2 tablespoons of butter on top. Usually had Apple Betty or some other hot fruit thing, which I also passed on.
My favorite by far though, was the turkey dinner with the mashed potatoes on the side and the stuffing hidden under the turkey. Oh man. Was that good stuff. Looked exactly like the picture above.
Mom would slice and fry up our Spam. It's probably a good thing that I never snooped around too much while mom was cooking up the Spam. Because had I noticed that it arrived in a can covered in wiggly jelly fat, I probably would have crossed it off my list of favorites. Many people enjoy Spam Sushi today. I tried some at work a few years ago and found it to be pretty tasty.
Also very yummy. About 1/2 cup of ketchup was necessary for dipping all the sticks and tots in. I was feeling nostalgic about a year ago, probably because Jay and I had just returned from Italy and I felt that our bodies needed a crash course in greasy, processed American food. So I cooked up some fish sticks and tater tots for dinner for us. To be honest, I had a hard time finishing it. It was nothing but tan. I ate tan until I couldn't stand it any longer.Ellio's Pizza
I'm not sure if you can still buy Ellio's Pizza. I think I loved it so much because it reminded me of school pizza. I was one of those poor kids who's mom refused to pack a lunch for her. So I had to buy lunch every day, and I LOVED it! I lived for potato and gravy day, salisbury steak day, Ellio's pizza day...
SpaghettiOs
The little round O's that you can eat with a spoon. We never had plain spaghettiOs. We always had the meatball ones or the sliced frank ones. Sliced franks were my favorite. I still enjoy a can from time to time. But now I eat the franks with the noodles, instead of saving all the franks for last. I never did figure out what the little white bumps on the franks were. I wonder if mom ever used the handy 7 cent coupon?
So what were your Fast Food favorites when you were a kid?
No, on second thought, don't tell me. Tomorrow I'll have Jay post his favorites and you can all just comment on his post : )
12 comments:
Oh man the pizza and the spam were my favorites!!!! I don't think you missed any of the old favorites. I can't come up with any others.
Mmmmm, SPAM.. I know I don't eat meat anymore, but I LOVED SPAM. ALOT. I think Mom took us to Burger King once. You hit all of my old favorites too. If there is one thing I appreciate Mom for, it was her cooking. It was beyond delicious. It was gourmet.
I think Mom was the best cook, too. We we're really lucky to have a Mom that put so much time and effort into our meals. But, it was also VERY exciting when we got the occasional Pizza Hut. Or when we would get KFC or the big Taco Bell family meal. Those were my favorites. I think I missed out on the whole Spam phase.
well cait I think we missed out on the whole KFC and big taco bell meal phase.
Actually, we did go to Pizza Hut sometimes, which was great. Dad was always there for that. I missed the Taco Bell thing entirely. I thought our experiences might differ from first kid to last.
Well, I can't comment on all the favorites. But, I remember loving TV dinners as a kid. My mom would get out the TV trays, we'd put them in front of the TV, and wolf down our TV dinners. That's why they were called TV dinners, right? I loved the half baked brownie right at the top in the middle. My favorite! I also remember separating a lot of lima beans out of my meals...
I loved when we got beer with dinner, as you can see from my face. I wonder what happend to those Lederhosen?
Cathy alerted me that there was a special treat on your blog ... Thanks for the trip down Kimball Kid food memory lane. My favs were the spam and spagetios. You always new something good was coming when they went out. Remember Nina's and Big Barry's?
Uh, guys I grew up BEFORE fast food. My first McDonalds visit was in high school. We ate out like once or twice in my childhood. Sportsman's lodge in Pollock Pines. You could order dinner by pointing at the appropriate head-trophy on the wall. Vegetables somehow did not make it onto the menu... Well anyway time to work up my top ten meals...
I loved Big Barrys. One time we ate there and Mom forgot to pay and we got half way home before she realized it. She went back and paid and the waitress was really mean to her. Remember Beef Steak Charlies....we ate there once and the next day they got shut down for being a drug front.
I'll go for the leaderhosen, but the bootles are 1950's vintage Squirt. That's kind of a 7 Up made out of grapefruit! So beer at the Kimball's , like give me time to get over some huge belly laughter! AND if Stephen has EVER had a beer I'll happily do 10 pushups [excercise not the bra]...
Yeah, I thought about including Nina's, the other mafia drug front in town, but it wasn't technically Mom's Fast Food. No idea what Big Barry's is?? Maybe that came after I left for school? I have a picture of Stephen in the lederhosen. Should I share?
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