In honor of this occasion and it being Throwback
Thursday, Old Mother Frugal is going w-a-y back to a time very long ago for
this entry of "Frugal Bugle".
Recently, the opportunity presented itself to have
dessert with one of my dearest high school best friends at her dining room
table. The topic: my very first venture into cooking.
As a teenager, my dinnertime chore was to take a pound
of ground chuck and make burgers. Mom could only yield four burgers whereas I
could yield five burgers. Since Mom needed five burgers, she would assign that
chore to me.
But that was the extent of my meal preparation. Make the
burgers. Cooking the burgers was not in her lesson plan. Mom only thought I
needed to know how to create the burger, not cook it.
As this dearest best friend recalled with great accuracy, my first
attempt at cooking the burger was to place it in a frying pan with boiling
water. That’s right, a boiled burger.
Yes, that burger went into the frying pan with boiling
hot water, covered and simmered for however long for it took for it to turn
white. Once it reached its degree of doneness, it was served to my fiancé.
It was not a pretty sight and the burger did elicit some
odd looks. After that, there was no more cooking until the marriage vows were
exchanged and the license signed by all parties.
By now, this dearest high school best friend became
my cooking lifeline. When I called my lifeline “hey, how do you make mashed
potatoes”, she began with adding the butter and milk presuming that the
potatoes were already cooked and ready for mashing.
Oh no, no, no!
Mashed potatoes first needed to be cooked and I was
clueless. It was at this moment when that pot of boiling water was resurrected
as the appropriate cooking method for potatoes.
Cooking [and Old Mother Frugal] has evolved over the
years. There are microwave ovens to aid in the cooking process. There is
the internet with you-tube videos, websites and recipes to get a novice cook
through cooking a meal.
Had those options been available eons ago, what memories
would two old friends have to laugh about over a cup of tea or a pot of coffee?
Equally memorable by this dearest best high school friend
is the story of the “twenty meatballs for two” which is when my foray into cooking once,
eating twice, three or four times first began. That my followers, is another story for
another blog entry!
SOUND
THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Tap into the talents of your
little helpers for meal time preparation. Solicit them young and early on.
Little Grandmother’s Helpers can hold a carrot or mix the waffle batter. They’ll
love it and you’ll enjoy the memories created when many hands make light work!
WEAPON OF BURGER DESTRUCTION
OLD TIMEY HAMBURGER PRESS
