OK, you're the ones who got this started and now I can't stop.  Chris mentioned SOS, which I had completely forgotten!  Kathy says she still makes that once in a while.  One of my favorite dinners was the tuna salad (with celery) and french fries which we would have for meatless Fridays.  Never did understand how fish wasn't meat, but I didn't complain about having the tuna salad.

I'll bet this is another forgotten treat:

We didn't get this Danish pastry very often but I loved the almond paste.  I love how this is in her careful handwriting, all stained and discolored.  There's a backside to this with just the brief finishing touches so if you want it, let me know.  A recipe that takes two days won't go far in this household, that's for sure.

I was so sure I had the chicken marinade recipe in Dad's handwriting, but I guess not.  But here you go:
1 or 2 eggs
1/2 cup cooking oil
5 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1.5 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 cup vinegar
Beat all ingredients well (can add garlic or onion).  Let chicken soak well.  Grill, basting with extra sauce (yes, I know using the extra sauce the raw meat was sitting in isn't recommended, but that's the recipe I have!)

HOWEVER, pork chops and meatloaf were forever ruined for my palate as a result of childhood experiences!

Pizza Anyone?

I made dinner again last night--take out pizza as seen above.  Some of you read the Good Morning Gloucester blog and they take much nicer pictures of food than this, but the pizza-for-dinner last night got me thinking.  I don't remember that we ever had pizza for dinner when we were young (or at all for that matter).  Pizza was a treat for me and I have fond memories of some of my favorite food treats.  Costa's pizza in Silver Creek remains top on my list.  That pizza was GREAT.  Once in a while, I'd bring a pizza home after work in Walton --maybe from Aiello's?  Mom and Dad both seemed to enjoy that. 

I remember only one time that we had pizza with Nanny and Weenie in Olean.  I got the clear idea they didn't like pizza--perhaps that's what they told me.  Anyhow, in my little 10 year old brain, "old people" didn't like pizza so I always thought that was a fact of life.  It's kind of strange to me that we didn't have pizza more often --it's fairly cheap especially made by hand from a mix.

Once in a while we'd have fish fry at Foits.  Out to a restaurant with all of us for fish!  I can't say I remember the fish dinners themselves, but I do remember that going to Foits was a treat.  I still enjoy fish fry as a treat.  It's not something I've tried myself.  I'll leave fish to the experts. 

Another treat was the mandarin orange, banana slices with confectioners sugar dessert--chilled.  Ummmmm.  I shared that special recipe with my own kids and they have always loved it.  Thinking about it now, I don't imagine that mandarin oranges were normally on Mom's grocery list. I don't recollect having them for anything other than this dessert.  But she would have had to have the mandarins on hand.  I buy them semi-regularly these days to have on hand for fruit salads but I think it must have been an extra expense on the normal grocery list for Mom.  This makes that dessert even more special in my eyes.  If she used mandarin oranges regularly for something else, don't tell me.  Oh!  I just remembered jello with fruit which we never saw after she'd been hospitalized.  Perhaps that's why she'd buy those mandarins.

Dad's "special" barbequed chicken sauce wasn't so much a treat as an event, as I recall.  It required preparing the marinade ahead and soaking the chicken for at least a day.  That was pretty good chicken too.
Another treat would be when Mom made pancakes for dinner, blueberries upon request.  That was never my favorite meal but it wasn't fun for Mom to churn out all those pancakes and she did it once in a while anyhow.  Mom's spaghetti sauce was a treat for me and I like making that for my family too. 

I guess that's what makes some food or meal a "treat"--you just know some kind of special effort went into it and it makes you feel like it was all about making you happy.  A lesson I'm happy to carry forward with my children, even though I suspect that the things I thought I was doing special for them won't be the fond memories they share around the table over beers some evening in the future.  It will be something ordinary and unexpected.  I'm sure Mom was as surprised by the popularity of the mandarin orange dessert as I was with Amy and Ryan.  And so it goes.

Distant relatives

These are the Virginia Beach Murphy siblings standing proudly next to one another with Mom, Pop and Uncle Jameson in the background watching over the kids. 

It was so nice to see a comment from Jess here that I decided to address this post to her, her siblings and cousins. 

I don't have all that many pictures of Ryan and Jess together.  Ryan looks pretty comfortable but I'm not sure Jess could say the same.  This was taken during a trip we took to Boston together in April 1995.  I remember specifically because our entire ride out there was dominated by the radio broadcast updates on the Oklahoma City bombing.  Upon hindsight, we probably shouldn't have had the kids listening to all these stories but you couldn't help yourself.  It was a little bit scary as there was quite a bit doom and gloom speculation as to larger forces at work in this act of terrorism.

Anyhow, we continued on our trip but this event did overshadow much of what we did in those high traffic tourist destinations in Boston that April.  There was lots and lots of extra security and visible security measures in place.  Do you remember that Jess?

One of the stops we made was to visit with Patty Flynn Donohue and her sister Sharon Flynn.  They had never met any of you so it was kind of cool to introduce them to you guys in person.

Patty and Sharon are Weenie's nieces.  Weenie had two brothers:  Charles (Dinty) and John (whom we called Four Five).  Patty and Sharon are Four Five's daughters.  I don't ever remember meeting Dinty but I do remember going over to Four Five's house--a particular treat was to play with the poker chips in their holder.  Poker is apparently how Four Five got his nickname.  One of us ( I think it might have been me) counted out cards emphasizing FOUR FIVE between three and six.  Then he was Four Five.

Weenie called his wife "Fat Aunt Marg".  Though I didn't realize it at the time, she was anything but "Fat" and I'm sure that's how she earned her nickname.  Classic Weenie.  I also think we were the only ones to ever call her that.  I remember a little bit about these girls.  They were older than us and rarely around when we were there but always present in the catching-up phase of the visit.

This is Chris and Uncle Four Five in their yard in Olean.  Those Flynn men were pretty handsome all around.

I think this is your grandmother as a small girl with her parents Weenie and Nanny-Nan.  The woman behind Nanny is Gammy Flynn, Weenie's mother.  Behind her is her sister Anna.  I believe the other men are John (Four Five) and Charles (Dinty). 

Pretty odd about the nicknames, don't you think?  One thing I think about a great deal is how we all called our grandfather Weenie--just like EVERYBODY else.  The entire city called him the same thing we did--a little bit different than most grandfathers (and great-grandfathers--which he was indeed!)

So we can bring this right back around to Jess!

PS:  I'm a little disappointed that no one seems to have read all the way to the end of the caption on the picture of us girls in the green dresses.  Take another look!  I'm ever so clever.

Who Do You See?

I see Patty Anne, Kathy, Paula, Mary Jane and Matthew in a green dress!

10 years gone

It's hard for me to believe an entire decade has passed since I last was able to give Mom a hug.  As cold as it was when Dad died, early July 2002 was equally hot.  When plannng Mom's services, we had to keep the July 4th holiday in mind--and with Dad it was the Super Bowl.  10 years!  Really?

Apparently so.  And sometimes we think we were so original.  Ha.

Here's a letter I received from Pudge that I thought you might like.  Nice memories.  It's a kind act to share these reminiscences with family.  I have appreciated these so much that I try to do the same.

Paula tells me the Bruce street house is for sale.  She also recommended that I check out the pictures of the inside, which I did.  You'll want to as well.  Click here or search Ogden Real estate listing 83694.  I have forgotten what we sold the house for but they are asking $125000.  Someone was very generous with the measuring tape in the bedroom listings--Chris' room is listed as 8x8!  Not in my memory.  The Bruce Street house wasn't my favorite (Buffalo St was) but it's linked pretty solidly with how I remember Mom especially.

So here's a favorite Bruce St memory:

So much in this picture worth a mention--not the least of which are those damned swimming trunks.  1987 so they were only maybe 25 years old.  Who painted the stone?  I kind of wish it were allowed to be at the cemetery with him.  

Cheers Mom, Dad and 42 Bruce Street!