The Things we LIKE

17:28 hrs.
29 June 14

     Growing up there are things that everyone learns to love and things that they learn to hate. I'm not talking about learning to hate going to an Aunt's house because her boys are the BRATS FROM HELL.

     Well, I could be...but I'm not.

     I'm talking specifically about foods thst a person is raised on. Some people, due to where they were raised have an affinity for some items and a complete distaste towards others. Case in point: When I was in Germany, during the summer of 1981, I was on a patrol along side a German cornfield. I thought that this was a great opportunity to augment the rations we were eating by having a little corn boil. So I, and a couple of other NEOPHYTES, loaded up the map pockets of our combat pants with as much corn as we could carry. Took it back to the APC (armoured personnel carrier) and cooked it up.

     Funny thing was that when we offered the corn to the rest of the section they all declined. Fine! More for me and I do love a good corn boil!

     At the first bite I knew that something was wrong. The corn had certainly cooked long enough but it was still as hard as a rock. No wonder nobody wanted any. It was cattle corn. This where I learned that Germans, for the most part, do not eat corn. It is primarily grown as fodder for the livestock.

      Who here likes liver and onions?  My parents love the stuff. And as kids we ate it too or we had the option of having nothing. I don't think kids today haven't tried it. Unless Kelloggs has come out with a suger coated livet flavoured breakfast cereal. Mmmmm, just what every kid needs first thing in the morning is a large bowl of FROSTED LIVER O's!!

      But there are somethings that I grew up with that may sound utterly ludicrous to you but for me it was a luxury. My grandmother used to take left over bread (a couple of pieces per person) and tear it up into pieces. Scalding some milk and add some sugar to sweeten. Pour the milk over the bread and sprinkle with poppy seeds.

     THAT'S IT! POPPY SEED BREAKFAST.

      Other personal faves are BBQ ribs, pickeral (walleye), perogies, mom's home made tomato soup, my BETTER HALF's shortbread cookies, donuts from the Cumberland bakery and not the ones from the Quay in Port Alberni, the steak Fred cooked directly over a wood campfire, scallops done on a BBQ and the sticky buns from Roberts Lake (they're the size of a baby's head!).

     One thing that I and my family really love us a simple peasant dish called beet leaves and dough. That's all it is.

1) Take some beet greens. Wash them. Dry them and let them sit out overnight and wilt.

2) Take some bread dough and roll a small ball into a sausage shape. Then wrap a belt of wilted beet leaf around the dough sausage.

3) Place them into a buttered baking dish. Let them (the dough) rise and bake at 350°F until the dough just starts to brown.

4) Remove from the oven and toss in a couple three globs of butter and pour in a cup or so of table cream. Then pop it bsck into the oven for about ten minutes. 

THATS IT!!

    The object is to be the first of the family to make this dish and then phone the rest of the clan to say "GUESS WHAT I'M HAVING FIR SUPPER? THAT'S RIGHT! BEET LEAVES AND DOUGH!"

     At which point the person at the other end of the phone will tell you all about "Sex and Travel" and then hang up. My Li'l Sister beat me to the punch this year. Of course I didn't believe that she made them and said that she had probably purchased them from a Ukrainian Street Food Truck.

 

     Now they are supposed to be these nice little delicate sausage shapes about the size of your finger or a breakfast sausage and not the size of a KIELBASA. All kidding aside, looks like Li'l Sis did a pretty good first stab at it. Congrats