Meditations on food that will not end up in my thesis

I was shopping today, and started thinking about food and how strange we can be in our relationship to it. Not just in over- or undereating, but in our likes, dislikes, habits, and secret cravings. Here are a few of mine. I'm not going to tag anyone, but please play along!

1) We’ve been trying to eat whole-grain bread, but I still love a ham sandwich (with either miracle whip or mayo) on white bread. Lettuce and tomato optional. What is it about ham and white bread?

2) Cook either a chicken or a turkey, roasted in the oven. Make sure to leave the skin on, and rub it with olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper. The minute it leaves the oven (the very minute), place it on the range top and begin eating it straight out of the pan. You’re not allowed to remove it from the roasting pan.

3) I like jello salads, pretty much any kind. I like how southern women call them “molded salads”. My mom used to make one with cherry jello, bing cherries, and a little port wine. It was awesome.

4) My sister and I always like to eat tuna fish sandwiches (again on white bread), with Campbell’s cream of celery soup. This is a meal Ellery and I often eat together, since we were kids. I don’t know why we enjoy it so much, but we do. The tuna fish must have mayo, lemon juice, sweet relish, and chopped celery. No substitutions.

5) My mom used to make a spaghetti dish that Ellery and I still love. You open a can of Franco-American spaghetti and put it in a saucepan. Add ketchup and Italian seasoning. Mix, heat, and serve. The next day, make a spaghetti sandwich out of the leftovers. Yum yum yum.

6) I’m very particular about the big Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. I mean, if I’m a guest somewhere, I’m an easy guest, but if I’m preparing it myself, there are certain rules to follow. First, you have to have a turkey. Second, the dressing has to be my mom’s recipe. Third, you have to have both homemade cranberry relish and the kind from a can. Fourth, no fancy veggie dishes – just green beans or asparagus. And if there’s anything left of the turkey after #2 above, I love eating days and days of holiday leftovers. Make a sandwich with turkey, dressing, gravy, and a little cranberry sauce. Wow.

7) Sometimes I get a 12-pack of soda, put them in the fridge, and then chain-drink them throughout the day.

8) I love celery with velveeta cheese melted in the trough. This is soooo my Mimi (paternal grandmother).

9) My mom makes meatloaf with onions and raisins. It’s great. Then, make sandwiches from the leftovers, with French’s yellow mustard.

10) I love eating cereal (especially the less-than-healthy ones) with whole milk and half-and-half. Or heavy cream, even better. (Hey, if you want to eat water on your cereal, just use water and stop the charade that is skim milk.)

11) I love cheese toast – white bread with a slice of American cheese, put under the broiler until the cheese poofs up and the top gets nice and brown. Ultra-yummy.

12) When food is supposed to be hot (especially soup), I like it very hot, where you're just able to eat it.

13) Last but not least… this is almost too embarrassing to write. I still like to get Gerber’s meat sticks and eat them straight out of the jar. And I’m proud of it, so what!

This really was a meaningless post, but it was fun to write!