Unbearable Food

 

My dad was pretty good about eating whatever was set in front of him.  Mom said the only thing she remembers he truly did not care for (nor would even eat the entire meal) was liver.

Mom said she had also attempted giving my baby brother several pieces of liver which she cut up small enough for him to grab and stuff in his mouth.  Mom praised him for at least trying them all, but it didn’t appear that he had swallowed any of them.  She said when she returned to his high chair it was filled with chewed up liver wads.  I don’t think she ever cooked any liver after that.

She did make a few items that she had learned to cook in Relief Society – one being gluten.  She had prepared a glob that looked like and was supposed to taste like meat.  Bleh.  I preferred the hard “chips” she would make and douse in honey. It was supposed to represent a dessert. It was a food storage thing.  Preparing dishes did not last.  The wheat did.  25 pounds of it.  We ended up throwing it away after several years.

Probably the worse food she made for us was a recipe that for some bizarre reason got printed in the Salt Lake Tribune (or was it the Deseret News? Or both?) I must have posted about this on facebook though it doesn’t come up in my memory feed, but I can’t seem to find it in this blog; I do know that our neighbor made a comment as she also had same recipe so I don’t know if she shared it with mom or if it was the other way around.  My parents subscribed to the Tribune while her family enjoyed the other.

Anyway, this godawful creation was called “Peanut Butter casserole”  Whoever thought it was a good idea for putting onions, tomatoes and peanut butter together?  Dad may have complained about that one as well.  I know my brother did.  I don’t recall any of us finishing the monstrosity.  It was gross.  Perhaps it had been during the 70’s when the nation seemed to be out to lunch. 

Grocery Shopping

          Going shopping is always a major ordeal – no matter what kind of shopping it is.  Jenna tolerates shopping at best.  I loathe it.  Clothes shopping, home improvement, groceries . .  I hate them all.  Roland, on the other hand, loves to shop.  When he as at a store, he believes the clock stops and takes his sweet time reading every ingredient .  I wish he was as conscience about reading the price and comparing it to our budget.  I often do go shopping with him just to make certain he doesn’t overspend. 

         

          Once the groceries are purchased there is the matter of packing them into the car – and if they don’t all fit in the trunk, they get to ride on the back seat of our car – often next to Jenna who usually does her best to get out of going with us – but sometimes it is her that tags along with Roland while I stay home.

          Pulling into the driveway means the biggest ordeal of our grocery shopping is near its end – but is often more time consuming than the shopping itself:  Putting the Groceries Away

                            This is our routine:

          Roland will take them out of the trunk and back seat and bring them as far as the front deck.  Jenna than has the honor and privilege of taking them from the porch to the kitchen table (or drop off on the couch if food is going into the pantry or non –food items are going into a different room) and I get to put them away.  Slice open the packaging so we won’t have to do so later on (although I did leave both cartons of egg nog in the box and left the plastic on the eggs as there are over 2 dozen exposed eggs on top) and repackage meat if necessary.

          More than half our purchase was for food storage.  Roland assigned Jenna that job.  Lucky her.  We had just gone through the pantry the other day and I wrote down all of the items that were on the shelf and made a list.  I added to the list after the groceries were put away – I don’t know how accurately.  I guessed at the number of bottles or cans came in each case because it didn’t say on the receipts.  Oh, what fun!

5 cards

I opened 5 cards yesterday. 

First one sent from Kearns, Utah

It said:

"Wish you were still here

Sure Do Miss You!"

Second Card sent Local

It said:

"So grateful you moved into our ward

We're so glad that you're here."

Third one was from my cousin.

She had sent it to the wrong address

But our former neighbor forwarded it.

Forth card was to me from the school

Fifth card - no return address and

no signature.  Just a thought

to wish Merry Christmas and a

gift card

which Roland wanted to use for

food storage.

He thinks war is coming.

Our Nation's President has

offended many people.

Roland drove us to Grants Pass

It was my second time being there

since we moved to Oregon.

We splurged on food. 

The machine told us that we would

need a pin for our gift card

We might still be able to use it

for placing orders online.

But I don't know.

Roland says it is good until

Christmas Day 2025.