Did you ever eat Mustard sandwiches? I would often get home from
school still hungry, we never had "leftovers" most of the time there
was barely enough "overs" much less anything to be left. Hunger
makes you creative! Grandma would let me fix a Mustard sandwich,
French's mustard spread so thin you could barely tell the bread was
yellow....on "light bread", our name for store bought bread.
Anything over just a thin film was "wastin mustard" so I always put
a little salt and peppa on it to spice it up!. Sometimes as if by
miracle a piece of Fatback had made itself through both breakfast
and lunch....but usually with a reason... most times it was a piece
with a rind so thick and tough you would just get tired of chewing it
and toss it to the dog. I swear I think I remember even Bob the bird
dog giving up on a few of them and just leaving them in the grass in
disgust. "Mater" (Tomato) sandwiches slathered with Dukes Mayonnaise
were the best. Grandma peeled her tomatoes, seasoned them with
vinegar, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Lay them boys (tomato
slices) on "light" bread with Dukes, a couple pieces of "skint" (cut
the rind off) Fatback or Middlin (Streak of Lean) and a big slab of
aged sharp "Rat Cheese" (Hoop Cheese) and "Haaaaw" (sorry, couldn't
contain my excitement, even today) you had somethin fittin! I ate
them until Grandma would finally say "that's enough, other folks got
to eat too" and take the bread away from me. Usually then I would
sneak the salt shaker out and go to the garden and just eat them off
the vine. I ate twenty three hours a day, and didn't weigh forty
nine lbs. when I was twelve years old. As Grandma told me, I just
"run it off." Today, I ride the bike ten miles, drink a twelve oz.
soda and somehow gain four lbs. Just don't seem right.....
This one really took me back..I made mustard sandwiches everyday...and when I was livin really high on the hog I would make "steak sauce" sandwiches..Heinz 57! Haven't touched it in years, but I loved it back then. Like you Jimmy, It needed to have some heat...so black pepper and Texas Pete fixed it up real special. Used to make butter and sugar balls out of that light bread..or if Momma and Daddy were sleep...sugar toast. I loved to use the oven.
ReplyDeleteIda Mae and Wimpy were tenants on my grandparents farm. I loved to stroll down the path to their house and visit whenever I could. I would play with their children for hours. Then we would go inside and have mayonaise and jelly sandwiches with a big cup of spring water. Whenever I could eat those sandwiches, I thought they were the best I had ever eaten. One day at home, I asked my Mom to make me a mayonaise and jelly sandwich like Ida Mae would make. My Mom tried, but it was not the same. Ida Mae's were the best! As I look back on it now, I realize that even though they probably didn't have much extra for another mouth to feed, I was always included. And there had to be a lot of love in those sandwiches for them to taste just like manna from heaven! Thanks for the memories, Jimmy!
ReplyDeleteAte mustard and mayonaise sandwiches as a child. Still do from time to time. Also loved mayo and saltine crackers. Often took these in my lunch. Nothing better than mater sandwiches and hoop cheese. Thanks for the memory.
ReplyDeleteRemember eating mayo sandwiches on toast with a little pepper, loved them. I'd always get yelled at for eating all the bread. " Wayne you know that breads got to last all week" and it would be Tuesday. It was kind of hard not to when you look in the fridge and see a pither of store brand kool aid and some condiments and if we were lucky chicken would be on sale or marked down so we would get some fried chicken to eat on for a couple of days. Other then that had to my sure you ate your school lunch. Whicih most of the time I hurried threw because lunch time always turn in to pick on the poor kid whicih was always me never failed. Guess I really cant complaine I turned out alright. I wish I had been more thankful for what I had then. For a woman who never made over 6.50 her whole life my Mama never let us go without always kept a roof over our heads. Dont think I would have changed a thing.
ReplyDeleteMe too Wayne, me too! Mama went without so we could have what we did... No one could or ever will love us that much.
DeleteDammit! If y'all did that, why am I the only fat one??? I ate mustard sandwiches, and I made bread balls, too, Jene! Sometimes I'd make them into little squares. I often took the salt shaker outside because I loved to eat salted green apples. That was the good thing about living in an apple orchard.
ReplyDelete