Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Thursday, April 12, 2018

A Toast to You


Mom’s Breakfast. The best meal of the day.
Not including all the other meals . . .
Radio blaring out the latest country song and today’s beef auction prices.
Bacon sizzling on the stove and blasting the aroma of sweet deliciousness into the atmosphere.
Perfect eggs beaming their ‘sunny-side-up’ smile.
Potatoes in a steaming, melty-cheese mound.
And the unmistakable sound of a sharp knife scraping with purpose over a piece of burnt toast. Eliminating all signs of black, way-overdone-ness.
For all my childhood, that’s how I thought toast was made. Burnt black, then scraped back to the desired colour and texture required by whomever it was being made for.
Imagine my surprise to marry, receive a toaster that had more than just a ‘char’ setting, and discover a world of levels of toasty done-ness.
Yow.
Move ahead several years . . .
Last night, my daughter and her family were over for supper.
I made a big pot of rich, creamy cauliflower-cheese soup.
Of which there is no more delicious soup on the planet.
I’m quoting my daughter, of course.
She was in charge of the garlic toast.
Made in the oven to the perfect level of . . . perfect-ness.
We got talking.
It’s what we do.
I sniffed. “I think that toast is done.”
Daughter: “Oh, man!” There was a bit of scrambling and a pan of blackened pieces of bread pulled from the oven. “Well, I guess garlic toast is out of the question.”
“Not so fast!” I grabbed a sharp knife, the first piece of toast, walked over to the sink and started scraping. In no time, it had been restored to a lightly-browned, perfectly-toasted state. I handed it back to her.
She stared. “Really?”
I grabbed the second piece and re-enacted the scenario.
Still slightly doubtful, she started buttering that first slice.
Soon, we had a platter full of fairly appetizing, hot, buttery garlic toast.
Now granddaughter had been watching the entire process. And proclaimed her profound doubt as to the eat-ability of the end result.
In strident six-year-old tones.
She finally took a tiny, tentative bite. “Hey! It’s really good!”
She finished her piece and reached for another.
I like to think of it as ‘toast resuscitation’.
Yep. My mama weren’t no dummy.


18 comments:

  1. "Toast resuscitation!" LOL - too funny!!! I will remember this next time the toast is a little... extra crunchy :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've had to do this a few times myself, including very recently . . . it really works!

    These young uns can learn a few things from us after all, Diane!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not for me. Perhaps no-one I know scraped well enough, but the singed taste stays.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love how you take the small moments of life and infuse them with such beauty. So wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love life, Laurie! There's something amazing in the every day!

      Delete
  5. This is delightful. My husband burns the toast often. We even got a new toaster oven, but he still manages to burn it now and again. Char is not good for you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, indeed. Those good old days. Haven't made toast in years (I have throat issues, and find it hard to swallow, but that's a story for another day).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To tell the truth, the only toast I eat is when Daughter makes her famous Garlic brand. So sorry about the throat issues!

      Delete
  7. Who hasn't needed a good toast resuscitation from time to time. Weekends In Maine

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've scraped many a piece of toast (and hot cross bun come to mention it) I don't think it tastes quite as good as an un-burnt one, but smother it in enough garlic, vegemite, butter, jam and you don't really notice the difference.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A-ha! That's the true secret! Not in the scrapings. But in the toppings. Genius!

      Delete
  9. We make our garlic bread a little different, we don't toast the bread first, just spread the garlic butter on the slices, then bake until the garlic butter is melted in and serve.

    ReplyDelete

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