Dad's cooking

I've always loved Dad's cooking. It's probably partially because it was a novelty (Mom did most of the cooking. Her cooking was yummy, too), partially because it was always yummy, but mostly because it was unique and I envied his ability to just throw things together.

We'll start with the most boring, but my favorite. Spaghetti. Man, Dad could make some mean spaghetti. I loved it. I remember once making spaghetti for dinner and begging Dad to come help me. He kept saying that he didn't do anything special. He couldn't understand why I wanted his help. I made him help me anyway. So he stood over my shoulder and directed me. And it still didn't turn out as good as his. I then decided that Dad had magic in his fingers. Dad's food was good because he was magic! Makes perfect logical sense, no?

The more unique stuff comes when Dad is in charge of cooking. He doesn't stop to get a recipe or anything. He just opens the fridge, looks in the pantry, grabs whatever looks good, and goes to it. It's even better during harvest season when he can also grab fresh veggies from the garden. As an example, while I was up there this last weekend he made Whatever I Found In The Fridge Casserole. Which was more of a stir fry than a casserole, but whatever. The magic isn't in the naming. :) It included sliced potatoes, sliced sandwich meat, peas, mandarin oranges, pineapple and peppered cabbage all fried together with cheese on top. Side dish: carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and celery boiled in water and butter. This kind of dish is very common at my parents' house. He doesn't understand how this is special. He doesn't understand that when most of us just throw things together, we usually end up throwing it out instead of eating it. I mean, really, who thinks to put mandarin oranges and pineapple in with fried potatoes?

I also remember a candy bar he made. Mom had some melting chocolate, so he melted that, added random yumminess like coconut, raisins, nuts, marshmallows, etc. (Sorry, I don't remember the details on this one. It was ages ago.) Then he dropped them on wax paper, stuck it in some Tupperware, and let it cool. I snuck bites of that for days… or however long it lasted.

Someday I'll be brave enough to cook like Dad. And hopefully it turns out for the best.