Childhood Foods

It was a bad day yesterday, parts of which involved:

• Finding out when I went to pay for the groceries that Gabrielle had pulled out my wallet when she got into my purse earlier that day.
• This was after an hour of enduring my daughters whining, fighting, throwing temper tantrums, running up and down the aisles, and trying to open interesting containers.
• Being told that I was given incorrect information about the job I've been asked to do at church. I don't get to work with the woman I'd like to get to know; I have to work with the woman who acts like she hates me.
• All this after getting to bed late, because Gabrielle decided not to sleep the night before, so I spent the day tired and vaguely depressed.
• And then the husband called to say he'd be getting home from work two hours late.
  

That was just the highlights. It was One of Those Days.

Which is probably why, come dinnertime, I looked at the spaghetti I made (we were going to have tacos instead, but couldn't due to the fiasco at the store) and thought, "Yuck." Instead of sauce I had a great longing for butter and grated cheddar cheese on my spaghetti, the way I used to eat it when I was a little girl.

So I did. And it was delicious.

It grossed the husband out, but that's okay. He can learn to deal with it.

This has gotten me thinking, however, about other odd things I used to eat when I was a kid. Most of these I used to love, but I haven't had them for years. I wonder if they're still as good as the spaghetti was?

Bread and Milk
I think both of my parents grew up eating this. We'd just tear up a couple of pieces of white bread in a bowl, sprinkle sugar it and pour milk over everything. Yummy. We'd beg for it all the time.

Bread and Sugar
Something my mother used to make for us when I was very small. A slice of white bread with butter on it, sprinkled with sugar. I'd never dare give this to my children. Might as well just inject them with pure adrenaline! But, oh, how we loved it. I introduced my own variation when I was about six. I'd pile raisins on half of the bread and then fold the slice in half to make a sugar and raisin sandwich.

Peanut Butter Sandwiches
My father taught us to eat these. Take another piece of white bread (white bread was very big in our house) and slather a thick layer of peanut butter over the whole thing. Then fold it in half, top to bottom. I have been teaching my daughters to eat peanut butter sandwiches this way, lately, much to the husband's bemusement. He can't understand why you'd want to fold your bread in half. Because it tastes better that way, silly!

Milk Toast
Toast a slice of bread (white, naturally) and butter it. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over it, then put it in a bowl and pour milk over it. Oh, yummy. I can still remember the silky texture of the toast after it had soaked up the milk.

Graham Crackers and Milk
Another thing Dad would make for us. Crumble up a stack of graham crackers into a bowl and pour milk over them. Eat like cereal. A real treat and the reason my mother never bought graham crackers.

Rice Cereal
Cold, leftover rice, usually from dinner the night before. We'd eat it like cold cereal with sugar and milk. Sometimes we'd put cinnamon in it too. Another dish we'd beg for, to the point that sometimes Mom would make rice expressly for our breakfasts.

While most of these could have been eaten for breakfast, they rarely were. They were things we were given when we were hungry between meals, or when we were sick (the milk toast). Some of them my parents ate when they were kids, some of them (like the spaghetti) came about because of weird eating quirks when we were kids. (I refused to have sauce on my spaghetti.)

Which leads me to this question. What did you eat when you were a kid? Mustard on your waffles? Hot sauce on your ice cream? And do you ever eat it now?