April 19, 2006

Mayonnaise or Ketchup? Maybe Both!


If you know me very well, then you know that I have eaten a strange variety of foods growing up. We were served powdered milk until we questioned mom about why she was stirring our milk before pouring it, and why it didn't taste as good as Aunt Melony's. We ate hash...which we loved...but it was just ground beef, potatoes, and carrots topped with ketchup and mustard. Sounds gross, huh? We ate beans and meat--instead of beans and weenies (gross) and I liked it when mom added bell peppers to it. For an afternoon snack we got to eat bread and butter with sugar on top. Who else does that? We ate cold pork 'n beans with mayonnaise mixed in, and we ate tomato sandwiches or pickle sandwiches. Also, our favorite breakfast was "dip strips and tea" which was cut up toast (dip strips) and hot tea. We dipped our toast in the tea and loved it. Jeffrey dips everything in tea (or kool-aid) to this day, but that is a whole other posting! The weirdest thing we ate was apparently when we were very poor. Now I have seen hard times since I have been out of the house, but never hard enough to serve this to my kids. Obviously we couldn't afford lunch meat, pickles or tomatos....or maybe mom just didn't want to take that dreaded trip to the grocery store with her three kids. Either way, we GOT to eat mayonnaise and ketchup sandwiches! Yum Yum! No, way! I refuse to believe that I ever actually liked that. Not even a piece of lettuce or a tomato on that thing! Just bread, mayonnaise and ketchup. Apparently our family used mayonnaise in a lot of dishes though, which may explain my dislike of it now!
(And I must add that since I have been married Ben did try to substitute mayonnaise for milk in macaroni and cheese....come on! Everyone knows water works fine, but mayonnaise is absolutely disgusting....In his defense, he thought it would make it creamier than water!)

13 comments:

Melissa said...

It's a good thing I'm not pregnant or I would have been gagging while reading this blog entry! What about that dish we ate at Maw-Maw's house. What was it called? You know the one with toast, ground meat and greasy gravy. I can't think of the name, but I remember the taste of it like it was yesterday.

Windy Smith said...

YUCK!!! I might have eaten cereal for most meals when mom was boycotting cooking but never anything like that. Our cabinets were always fully stocked with cereal of all varietys(except when Michael lived with us)he went through that stuff like crazy and ate it from a mixing bowl because a normal sized cereal bowl just wasn't good enough!!!! Kudos to my cereal making MOM!!!!

Windy Smith said...

Oh Melissa, the one you are talking about was called SOS or something but what about the runny Sloppy Joes that they added extra water too so it would feed us all!! And Maw-Maw always wanted me to try cornbread and buttermilk..Can you say GAG ME WITH A SPOON!!!! She could afford to buy that nastiness but not real milk, go figure, she preferred the old stuff....

Caci said...

Yes, it was SOS. What's weird about that is that everyone else in America was eating Biscuits with sausage and gravy while we were eating toast with hamburger meat and gravy. Ben thought I was weird because I had never eaten biscuits and gravy before I met him. And I don't like it either!
Windy, my mom added water to everything to make it go further...including ketchup...and I do not do that!

Caci said...

Oh, and Michael ate that cereal because the only thing available at our house was Honey Nut Cheerios or Fruit Loops.

Patti said...

Well girls...you are all correct. You did eat toast (no butter by the way, what would be the point in that)with hamburger meat in a gravy sauce poured on top. You even have the name correct SOS!!! which in my day was referred to by it's more accurate name "Shit On a Shingle" I can't believe none of you remembered that...I'm quite sure Papa didn't call it by its nice name (SOS). There was nothing nice about it...

Windy...you still have me laughing so hard. Michael used a mixing bowl to eat his cereal from because when he was growing up he could only have about a 1/2 cup of cereal maybe once every 6 months or so...and remember, I only buy whole milk. Two luxuries at once won't fit into those toddler size tupperware bowls. You know, he had to make up for lost time. And I thought you liked cornbread and buttermilk??? Do you remember Jonathan's experience with buttermilk while I was talking on the phone?

Michael said...

You are absolutely right, Aunt Patti. Lost time; that's what I was making up for. Thanks for being there to help me through that time.

The irony of it is that now when I go to Mom's she's got 10 different kids of cereal and whole milk for Logan. What gives??

Oh, and by the way, I have fed pork and beans and mayo to my kids. Reagan loves it.

Caci said...

Hey Michael, it is nice to hear from you! I still eat the pork n beans and mayo but Cole is the only one who will even try it!

Patti said...

All of us ate a WHOLE LOT of weird stuff when we were growing up. The thing is, your kids actually love some of that so called "nastiness", but the difference is....they don't HAVE TO eat it or STARVE!!! They don't HAVE TO eat it EVERY NIGHT until it is gone. When your kids get to try these finer foods, they think they are having a delicacy that only the rich and famous can afford!! If they don't like it...they don't HAVE TO sit there for hours gagging it down....

Caci said...

that is very true, AP! We hardly ever have left overs because Ben and I both hate feeling like we "HAVE TO" eat the same meal again. And, if my kids have extra ketchup on their plates, I DO NOT make them eat it with a spoon!

Melissa said...

I'm just glad my dad didn't take any of that weird food stuff with him when he got married and had kids. We enjoyed our food! We had whole milk, great cereal, pop-tarts, Little Debbies, etc... I don't think I've ever tasted any of the nastiness, except the S.O.S.

Caci said...

Count your blessings!!!

Caci said...

yeah, fried spam doesn't work for me, and I can still see Maw-Maw frying up a nice thick piece in her (Mom's now) kitchen! YUCKARONI!