Weird Food

Do you remember when you were maybe 9 or 10 or maybe junior high and went to a friend's house and got something out of their refrigerator or pantry?? Or maybe you were having dinner there?

Did you ever notice that other people had weird food compared to your own at home?

I always found it very interesting in my purely voyeuristic way to peek into people's pantries. No, I am not a bathroom medicine cabinet lurker just kitchen.

I had a friend that got their milk from REAL cows. Like the milk came in big glass jars. They would pour off the cream (tons of it!) and threw away a lot of it because they couldn't use it all. I love cream and can drink it straight (not recommended if you are on a diet!) and her family thought it was the funniest thing to watch me drink the cream.

They also ate cornbread broken up into buttermilk. They also made their tea as a thick syrup with sugar. Then you would add as much as you wanted to your glass of ice water.

Another friend's mom would cook dinner and I would eat biscuits and red eye gravy. (I lived in Oklahoma people - what do you think I would be eating??). My parents were both from Colorado so my mom didn't cook like this. I thought it was awesome! To this day, there ain't nothing you can't slather some gravy on and make it better. Or add bacon.

I can remember my friend Mona, who's family got one of the first microwaves (I was in maybe 6th grade??) and we ate a ton of cherry pastries just because when you warmed them up in the microwave it made them soft and heavenly.

It was always interesting to see how other people lived. Your idea of a meal was different than their's. Even how they approached meal time. I remember one friend who's brother would wear headphones (and I am talking the old timey headphones that could hardly fit through a doorway) to the table because he didn't like hearing other people chew. Her family would all act like this was totally normal and nothing was amiss. Or the other friend who's dad would sit by himself at his recliner in front of the t.v. while the rest of the family sat at the table. You couldn't talk very loud because he was WATCHING THE NEWS.

Looking back, I realize I didn't know anyone ethnic growing up. Boy, did I live in a white bread world. But wouldn't that have been great to have had an Asian friend?? Or Italian? or Thai???