Some of my most treasured memories are of the times I spent with my grandfather. Especially the year when my Mom and I made him burgers and ‘Sunny Side Up’ cake on Father’s Day. These kind of memories really should have a place in our family cookbook. I want to record those smells or flavours that so strongly bring back my childhood.
To me as a kid, hanging around wondering what all the fuss was in the kitchen, my grandfather had some unusual tastes in food. He used to eat burnt toast with sunny side up eggs, I remember. The smell of charred, forgotten toast still makes me think of him. Scrapple. Corn pancakes. He also liked raw oysters, and it wasn’t until I was in my mid-30s that I learned to appreciate them.
My grandfather grew up in hard times just after the turn of the 20th century, when men changed their shirt collars instead of their shirts, and bread that you sliced yourself was a few pennies a loaf.
Hamburger dogs for (grand)father’s day
That Father’s Day that Mom and I made hamburger dogs and sunny side up egg cake for my grandfather’s celebration is still so clear in my mind. The hamburgers were shaped like hot dogs. They were not too appetizing looking, but they did taste pretty good.
It was a bit hard to adapt to the hamburger meat shaped like hot dogs, and eaten in a hot dog bun. I was never sure whether they were hamburgers or hot dogs.
Sunny Side Up Cake
The sunny side up egg cake we made for my grandfather was cute. It was a yellow cake with white frosting – when you could get frosting in a box.
I decorated it with a sunny side up egg by drawing an oblong outline in black frosting on the flat smooth top surface, and added a yolk of yellow frosting to complete the effect.
This was all reminiscent of a time my grandfather and I tried to fry an egg outside with a cast iron skillet using the hot August sun for heat, testing the axiom “it’s so hot you can fry an egg on the sidewalk.” (It took awhile, but we eventually did get our egg cooked.)
I’m sure you also have some treasured food memories of your father or grandfather that would fit into your family cookbook. Just write them into the “People” template of Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, and your family cookbook will come alive with some precious personal memories.
Happy cookbooking,
Erin
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