Your childhood meals

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My mom really learned to cook as I was growing up, once she was exposed to more choices. Before that, I think my dad's mom taught her to cook - really basic (yet, too time consuming) 1950s style stuff that my grandma always made, too. They were dating at 18. Then, later, once she travelled abroad she really honed the art and now cooks like a pro.
 
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Redbaron said:
Our favourite hamburgers for takeout came from Burger Chef, now lamentably gone. Far better food than McD, or BK.
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Weber's on Highway 11 near Orillia is (or was, haven't been in a long time) the ultimate in fast food burgers but get so busy during peak cottage season they may as well be sit down. Ain't very fast.
 
I think I mentioned - since covid I bought one of those old school sandwich makers that makes "hot pockets". It was under $20. At my dad's we had one of those and invented our own hot sandwhiches. I went between homes. (My step mom didn't cook much variety - we were often left to fend for ourselves - but her turkey dinner is the all time best - can't admit that to my mom) Yes, hotdogs, tomato sauce, and processed cheese was one of the hot sandwiches we made. :p Tasted like an Orange Julius pizza-dog.

When I was living with my mom and was a latchkey kid, my mom didn't cook much either. Lots of KD - was allowed to make it if I had a friend over - and canned chili I heated myself in the microwave. I was taught to make salad and it was a daily requirement at her house. Not so much at my dad's. In high school most of my friends were in similar situations - with single moms or both parents working and not home much - we'd eat at each other's houses. We didn't eat that healthy but we got creative.
 
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Kimmio Laughterlove said:
Yes, hotdogs, tomato sauce, and processed cheese was one of the hot sandwiches we made.
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Actually ... a younger me would have gone for that. Modern me would probably use a seasoned tomato sauce and real cheddar, though. Kind of like in "If I Had a Million Dollars" where the Barenaked Ladies talk about still eating Kraft Dinner but with fancy ketchups.
 
Mendalla said:
Actually ... a younger me would have gone for that. Modern me would probably use a seasoned tomato sauce and real cheddar, though. Kind of like in "If I Had a Million Dollars" where the Barenaked Ladies talk about still eating Kraft Dinner but with fancy ketchups.
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Occasionally I make it and add stuff to it. Once in a blue moon I like it all by itself.
 
Redbaron said:
Or mac & cheese with Bulls Eye BBQ sauce. I guess any brand would do, that's just what I happened to have at the time.
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BBQ sauce on mac and cheese? Hmmmm. Never tried that but...alas, we don't tend to have BBQ sauce around.
 
Redbaron said:
Or mac & cheese with Bulls Eye BBQ sauce. I guess any brand would do, that's just what I happened to have at the time.
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I like mac n cheese with fresh salsa (I buy it in the deli section sometimes - never made it myself, too much dicing involved. I don't have a food processor - I bought my brother a magic bullet for Christmas but I don't have one). Or Sriracha. But at least salsa has tomatoes and onions and peppers in it - can handle small doses finely chopped and it doesn't give me grief -some small amount of veggies - so it seems healthier.
 
There's a vegan restaurant I went to for my birthday last year - I was vegetarian at the time (I have phases but never stuck with it - I want to). They have the best Mac n "cheese" I've ever had, made with cashew butter or sunflower butter, some seasonings - maybe garlic - coconut milk and nutritional yeast. With a crushed walnut and nutritional yeast crust on top. And rice flour macaroni. Maybe that sounds weird to the uninitiated but it's seriously tasty. I've only had it once - apparently, it's their best seller. Obviously it's not good for those with nut allergies.
 
Kimmio Laughterlove said:
And rice flour macaroni
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Normal wheat macaroni made without egg should be vegan. And rice flour should still need something like egg to bind it. Were they aiming to be gluten-free or something as well?

Sounds interesting to me, but I know a lot of people who hate coconut and seem to be able to detect even small quantities.
 
Mendalla said:
Normal wheat macaroni made without egg should be vegan. And rice flour should still need something like egg to bind it. Were they aiming to be gluten-free or something as well?

Sounds interesting to me, but I know a lot of people who hate coconut and seem to be able to detect even small quantities.
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I'm not sure. Maybe they've figured out an egg replacement. I wasn't totally vegan - still ate dairy and eggs. And yeah...I think they're gluten free as well. It's amazing how tasty the food is. I also tried one of their "bowls" somebody else ordered - with rice and nuts and spinach and chick peas - and coconut milk (I love it. I love Thai food that uses a lot of it.) and spices - red curry, garlic. Also really flavourful. Not bland or boring in the slightest - hardy, and healthy to boot. But it takes a lot of effort to keep up an interesting vegan diet. One constantly has to think about it and find things they can eat.
 
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I guess they've taken their site with the photos of the interior and menu down?

I'm not spamming! But if you're ever around, this is it! It's a good food experience (The eastern new agey spiritual bent at a restaurant is a bit "cheesy" I find...but this town has a lot of that - it's not just them it's the trendy culture out here. Trying to be California. It's a nice idea, not knocking that - I guess I just get tired of the whole hipster thing. Nobody's actually behaving more loving or virtuous in there than anywhere else - and people sit at their own tables with the people they came with, and drink cocktails as well. It's not an actual community. To be honest. It's just a restaurant with good food. I've become more cynical about the commercialization of spiritual virtue. Not that I ever thought it was real - I just have feelings about it now. Advertising that it's healthy is different. It is healthy food. )

It's a city of young people and seniors, lots of trendy ones. I'm middle aged now and I don't go to places to be seen going to places.i kind of like the take out thing for that reason.

www.beloverestaurant.ca

be love | Vegetarian Restaurant | Victoria, British Columbia

be love uses at least 95% organic plant-based ingredients, mindfully-sourced according to local and seasonal availability in our vegetarian cuisine. Everything we serve in our restaurant is wheat, gluten, dairy and process sugar free.
www.beloverestaurant.ca www.beloverestaurant.ca
 
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The food is undeniably good without the branding. Man, I'm such a grumpy cynic these days. Can't help it. There's something wrong with everything. I watched the Goop documentary - part of it - and it's just like that, everywhere. A whole lot of gobblety goop! We went from really good ethnic restaurants (they do exist and Van still has lots) to expensive foody fusion everywhere in the past 20 years. Gentrification! But this tourist town has always been in the process of gentrifying. I don't even know if the actual family owned restaurants can eek out a living anymore.
 
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Dining room was for holidays and guests only. I knew the reason, kitchen had the tablecloths that were some sort of plastic on one side and a protective fuzzy fabric on the other, easy to wipe down. Floors were linoleum. The dining room had a cloth tablecloth, so it had to be washed if dirty. That room also had carpet. For every day, we did buffet style, with sometimes a dishes at the table. Holidays we passed the dishes in the dining room. We ditched that years ago though, it's just easier. So we fill up our plates in the kitchen and take them to the dining room for holidays at my parents. My mom like stoneware to keep food hot, and it's heavy and awkward to pass around. We also use electric heated serving dishes now for a fair bit of the food, so it's not even possible to pass those. My parents have also set those up on folding tables - with the long banquet style tablecloths to make it look formal in the dining room.

Here we don't have a dining room. We have an office that is fairly open (walls on 3 sides). My parents have brought the folding table for here when we've hosted. Between that and our breakfast bar it works well for buffet style and we can easily designate gluten free area so that there's no cross contact.
 
I remember the time mom and dad made sauerkraut. It stunk

I also remember lots of pickling at this time of year and jam making earlier in the summer.

We would only have homemade pickles ( all kinds) and homemade jam

One of my favourite James was oeach
 
Pinga said:
Hmm, burgers in my youth were mom's homemade burgers. She had a hamburger press at one point.
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Hamburger press that made one burger at a time (with two sides - a thin burger and a thick burger), or patty stacker (a plastic tube with dividing discs of plastic)? I have probably prepared and frozen a million burgers in my lifetime... Always remember my godparents' freezer at their cabin; there were two separate stacks of burgers (big staple at the cabin), "with onions" and "without onions"; their daughter, Sam, didn't eat onions.
 
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