Laughin'

Mark and Brian in the Morning is such a hoot that when I listen to them banter, I sometimes laugh so loud and so hard that I have to pull over to the curb! I've discovered their radio show during my morning commute to the college and wonder why I've never listened to their daily programs before this -- perhaps because I used to be at work in the morning, rather than on my way to teach a 10 o'clock class.

This morning, listening on my way home from b'fast, the boys were talking about "favorites," including favorite candy, favorite cookie, and favorite b'fast cereal. When the talk wandered into manipulating the cereal box to find the prize and claim it without having to eat the entire box of cereal, I was suddenly back at home in Santa Barbara, sitting at the b'fast table with 5 siblings, and wondering how to pour just enough cereal out of the box so that I was the one who claimed the prize. Of course, the prize was long gone because one of the boys had already stuck his hand through the cereal and found it, but I never knew that until many years later. Always the optimist, I actually thought that I had a chance to be the lucky one this time.

They also asked whether you drank the milk after finishing off the cereal, which I never did because I've never liked milk. Of course, you can't eat cereal dry, so I always added the milk, but I either passed my bowl to one of my siblings or I fed my milk to the ever-present dog. However, when mom made Cream 'O Wheat, which is still one of my favorites, I stirred the milk in to make it more creamy and sometimes added more milk to get the exactly right consistency. And what a happy bowl of Cream 'O Wheat when I discovered more than one lump! I don't know what it was about the lumps, but I liked them. Still do.

My mom used to keep a box of See's candy by her bedside until the time she picked up a piece and discovered that her "no candy" ban for the children had been violated in a cruel way. We had picked our favorite pieces, scooped all the filling out with a toothpick from the underside of the chocolate, and then replaced what appeared to be an intact piece of See's back into the box. Mom was so pissed at this prank that she took to hiding her candy. I never found the hidden boxes, but I know my brothers found it often enough to get more than their fair share of each pound of chocolates.

My mom could bake, and her chocolate chip cookies with lots of walnuts were always my favorite. We added walnuts to everything because they were so plentiful at my g'parents' home in SB. They literally fell off the tree, and every time we went to take care of g'ma, we filled our aprons with walnuts that we then set on a drying rack made from chicken wire. Once the walnuts were dry, we cracked them and separated the pieces from the whole halves, which mom then put into the freezer downstairs. When she baked, we had walnuts, walnuts, and more walnuts. A date stuffed with a walnut half and then rolled in powdered sugar was ambrosia to me, as well as the best chocolate fudge I've ever tasted with big hunks of walnuts and not quite melted marshmallows.

My favorite of all, however, were the hot crossed buns my mom made, complete with big, juicy raisins, lots of cinnamon, and white icing on top. I don't know why making the cross on top made the hot rolls special, but it did. Mom didn't make them often as they were a lot of work, but oh, my gosh, were they wonderful!

Mark and Brian evoked some good childhood memories this morning and it was fun recalling the good times for a change.