We just had our Texas Guests leave and are expecting the Reimers tomorrow. It gives me a chance to cook for the masses. I think my calling was as a cook in the Army and in their typical fashion they assigned me to be an Artilleryman. I also think that because I was a typical growing boy I love to eat. I am more a consumer than a gourmet, but I also have had a lot of positive reinforcement from Barb. Dave thinks my assessment is spot on. "Anyone that goes home hungry from the Petty's does so at their own free will."
One of the things I enjoy is an evening out that starts with dinner. We generally go from there to a grocery store. Mom would say, "If I can eat it or wear it, I don't need it." I now understand that much better. We have stuff coming out of our ears and storage places. In fact I noticed that the freezer needs to be defrosted but it is full. I think this is one assignment that I need to focus on before we go on vacation. We came home a few years back and the GFI circuit breaker had tripped. It is hard to describe what a freezer full of frozen food can turn into in a couple of weeks in a garage in August in Kansas. My father would say, "It would gag a maggot." Dad wasn't a flowery in his sayings but generally pretty much spot on.
Speaking of sayings, (Notice the transition that is symptomatic of ADD) When we would have dinner it was generally the source of things that both Mom and Dad would say. When Mom would cook up one of her surprise hashes, Dad would look in the pot and say, "Looks like the dog got sick." Mom would answer with, "I cooked it, I don't have to name it." Me, I would just get a fork and dig in (Most of the time) I am sorry that my Mom would cook liver and onions now and then and I would just try to not be there for that meal. She also had a mystery meat spread that we ate in large quantities on Wonder Bread. One day I was home sick from school and Mom cooked the ingredients for her mystery meat. I could handle the beef heart but the cow tongue was more than I could stomach. When I spilled the beans on the contents, the mystery meat was taken off the future menu.
One of my favorite meals was the Arkansas Hash that mom made one vacation trip we went on with my Cousins that moved to Colorado. We went to the Cabin my Grandparents had near Pruitt, Arkansas. After a week of roaming the hills and swimming in the river, we had a powerful appetite, At least I did. The women in their wisdom took an electric skillet and cooked everything on the pantry shelf for that last meal. Having been a victim of the mystery meals by Mom, I just dug in. My Aunt, Mattie Jean, hadn't been given Mom's rule about naming it if she cooked it and she pronounced it as Arkansas Hash. For years, Mom would laugh when someone would ask for that Arkansas hash. She could throw stuff in a skillet as well as the next woman but replicating that meal was just not possible.
For years, when we would go to Pruitt, South of Harrison, AR on AR - 7 Highway, we would almost always go through Carthage, Missouri. It wasn't until much later that I really looked at our route on a Map. It was a little out of the way but then I remembered my Dad loved Hamburgers and there along the highway was two Hamburger stands. One on each side of the road and we would almost always be there at a meal time. Both of them had a sign that told us the hamburgers were 6 for a dollar and we would always get a sack full. I don't remember French fries, just burgers. Most of the time we had a cooler full of Pepsi and that was probably the cheapest meal we could get on the road. The funny thing was that a few miles South of there Dad would almost always take a cut off through Roaring River Trout area. About the second turn, there was a turn off and my sister Carol would almost always have dad stop so she could throw up. It was a regular thing and it didn't seem to bother anyone else but her.
Oh well, better get on with the final touches down here in the basement. I will have to do what we called mucking out of the area around my computer. Things seem to accumulate here as it is an area I spend a lot of time at. Have a great day. Did I mention that here in July we are having September weather? It may get down in to the 50's tonight.
MUD
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