My mom, god rest her soul, was a wonderful baker - she could make homemade bread that made angels sing. Her desserts were mouth-watering.
But cooking was not her forté. I was in my late teens before I found out what rare/medium rare roast of beef tasted like. I never knew meat didn't have to be an awful shade of grey!
When it comes to raw chicken, my issue is more of a textural thing rather than a "germ" thing.
I quite often will eat chicken that is a tiny bit pink in the middle or has red/pink bits near the bones. As long as the texture isn't the slimy uncooked chicken texture, I'm fine with it.
*shudder* It's like what I imagine biting into a slug would be like.
Okay, mine is jam and cheese sandwiches. Smear a little of your fave jam or jelly on some horrible ol' Wonderbread (both pieces need a smearing), and then slice up some sharp, old cheddar and line one side of the bread. Place other slice on top and enjoy. It's a sweet/savoury thing.
I've also been known (at certain times of the month) to toss a handful of plain potato chips into the mix for that extra crunch and saltiness.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I was a huge fan of the Fuji up until last fall when I was introduced to "The Honey Crisp", which I refer to as 'the crack of apples'. I can still enjoy a Fuji, but my god ... that first bite into a Honey crisp as it's sweet juice fills your mouth and the aroma floats up into your nose like a natural drug - there's nothing else like it.
And yes, eat it plain for the sheer, sensual enjoyment of it.
I'm a big fan of "kitchen sink" salads (my name for your scavenger salads, because I throw in everything but the kitchen sink :) ).
But my favourite salad is one that contains no type of lettuce at all. I chop up cauliflower, broccoli, red/yellow peppers, cucumber, some cheese (I love an old, sharp cheddar), a few halved cherry tomatoes and a handful of sunflower seed. Toss with a nice, light dressing (I love a soy/ginger vinegarette).
And now I know what I must have for dinner tonight ...
Try a nicely fried piece of bologna with some spicy mustard (insert spicy mustard of choice) spread on. I recently tried a wasabi mustard (holy head explosion Batman!) and will definitely be trying it with some bologna!
Raisins. When I was about 5/6 my father once pointed out rabbit droppings to me and said they were "bunny raisins". I then saw said bunny "drop" said raisins ... and it was years before I would even look at a raisin.
The things our parents do to us ...
Steam them until the colour is bright and they are tender-crisp. Toss a bit of butter (or olive oil) and squeeze some lemon juice (or vinegar). Serve as a vegetable side with any meal.
We use to pick them in the boggy fields of New Brunswick as a child and I"m glad to see they're around here in Ottawa as well.
Enjoy - they are divine.
Dear god. I'd almost be willing to buy a car simply to be able to drive *anywhere* for a burger like that ...
You *must* make poutine with cheese curds, not mozzarella or any other "white cheese". The "squeak" is part of the experience.
I live in Ottawa, Ontario and the best poutine is found across the river in Gatineau, Quebec. There are several small "chip wagons" and little dives that make drool-worthy poutine.
There are several variations on the original poutine including "Italian Poutine" (with a meat/pasta sauce instead of the gravy), or the "Montreal Poutine" with chopped smoked meat thrown on. Personally, I love the original version the best.
And now i know what I'm having for dinner tonight ...
Peanut butter and butter is awesome!!
My mom is a pretty good cook, but sometimes she makes weird stuff.
She made these single-serving meatloaves(baked in custard cups) made with leftover pot roast ground up. They were topped with a sauce that was canned tomato sauce simmered with bay leaves and onions (bay leaves taken out to serve, onions left in). They had some really strange name...do they sound familiar to anyone?
My dad had some theory about hamburgers and they always ended up almost as round as a meatball--all I wanted was the flat patty like they had at McDonalds. My mother made this horrible, gray meat (cube steak? flank steak?) that took 15 minutes to chew in order to swallow. I usually put as much as I could in my mouth, went to get more milk and spit it out while in the kitchen. I think that is partially the reason I no longer eat meat!
haha I forgot about the throat blessing. We never went hungry but, I have to say, we are all excellent cooks now and I believe it's about self preservation. We had no idea that putting ketchup on spaghetti with meat sauce wasn't standard (I use the term "sauce" loosely), my dad still prefers it with ketchup. If it came in a can, it was dinner. Oh yeah, you cook meat until it's very, very dead. Once when my mom was staying to help when one of my kids was born, she was cooking boneless chicken breast in the oven. After 45 minutes my husband asked me to Please get the chicken out. When I asked her didn't she think it was done she said no, I just poked it and nothing came out, the juices are supposed to run clear. Sigh, WHAT JUICE? The jello salad had shredded carrots, raisins and chopped celery. My favorite was "green stuff", pistachio pudding, cool whip, canned crushed pineapple and slivered almonds. It was quite yummy. I think it had little marshmallows too but my sister says no.
SOS was popular at our house because that's what my dad cooked if mom wasn't home. My dad ate Peanut butter and butter sandwiches and it was considered ok for my sister and me to make brown sugar sandwiches for lunch. Yes, that's brown sugar on white bread.
What about fried bologna?
someone mentioned ice cream on waffles...yeah we had that alot!!! but i always thought everyone ate them that way. so delicious...... reading about dad's putting milk on everything i remembered my dad would make these biscuit-y cinnamon rolls on weekends and he always served them to us kids in a bowl of milk. it was really awesome actually! also i hated scrambled eggs so he would dump a bunch of leftover pasta into the eggs and then they were delicious!!!
my father in law though...my husband tells of his inventions, the one that sticks in my head is the popped popcorn scrambled in with his eggs! :)
i think the worst we had it was that my mom put spam in everything. still does.
so when i went vegetarian and she'd put it in and tell me it wasn't meat, i couldn't really argue with her...
My mom has been dieting since 1963. Growing up, we used to regularly have a dish made with skinless chicken breasts, marinated and baked in a mixture of diet orange soda and soy sauce. Mom also has a pathological fear of chicken that is remotely moist, so this was always cooked to absolute desert-dryness.
My mom was and is a wonderful cook, but she had some recipes that were strange like fruit salad made with Miracle Whip and canned fruit cocktail. Then there was my dad, also a very good cook, but who liked to barbecue all meats until every ounce of moisture was gone from the thing. I'm certain a lot of these quirks were part of their Filipino upbringing, though, since all my relatives from PI cooked the same way.
My mother served creamed salmon with canned peas over toast. This was definitely a "day before payday" meal. I detested it (I hate canned peas to this day). My roomie in university introduced me to the chicken with the Russian dressing, apricot jam, and onion soup on top. I actually liked it then, but I suspect I would find it too sweet now. Tomato aspic (lemon jello, tomato juice, radishes, green onions, maybe celery too?) was my mother's jello salad - she still makes it occasionally to the absolute horror of my husband, who had bad experiences at boarding school with Jello-based meals, along with French Toast tuna sandwiches, and Peanut Butter soup (oy that makes my skin crawl just to think about).
@ kfarrel3 - I have a recipe for chicken that involves a sauce made out of orange juice, raisins, cinnamon, and slivered almonds. The sauced chicken then gets topped with mandarins and sliced banana. It sounds atrocious but it actually pretty spectacular.
My mother didn't make anything strange that I can remember. I know she eats a couple of strange things, like the jelly that comes in jars of gefilte fish, but in terms of cooking she's pretty conservative.
Looking back now, my mom was great at having us try different things...but some of those tries were not as successful as others. I remember her telling us that tofu was like "Japanese marshmallows." The worst one was when she sliced up an eggplant into thin strips, pan-fried them, and tried to tell us the result was french fries. I vividly remember the first bite I took of those "fries."
Let's not talk about the reason that stuffed green peppers are my nemesis now.
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Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
About: Diabetic foodies who tries (really, really tries) to eat healthy, doesn't always manage, and lives vicariously through other people's gourmet adventures.
Favorite foods: Thai food (damn near all of it) Cheesy mashed potatoes Butternut squash soup Sushi home made french fries roasted sweet potatoes Southwest roasted pork loin
Last bite on earth: a beautiful, delicate coconut Thai soup.