Guest Blogger: Ma Green

Hello, all.  Karen here.  It's been an eventful week in the world of the Green family.  Over the weekend, Brother Tony graduated from Chapman University with a B.A. in screen writing!  Watch for his name  in the future as that brief flicker before one of your favorite, critically acclaimed, and cancelled-too-soon comedy shows (or so I'm predicting).  We're just so proud of him.  The whole family came down to Orange to celebrate the day.  And by "celebrate" of course I mean "eat copious amounts of food."  The entire weekend was one giant meal after the next . . . followed by snacks.  Unfortunately though, between the fine Mexican meal at Cha Cha's and the adventurous fare at Honda Ya, not much cooking got done.  So in lieu of our weekly cooking adventure, we offer you a guest blog written by the one and only Ma Green outlining her food philosophy.  Enjoy!

Ma Green's Food Philosophy. . .


My favorite meal, as a kid, would have to be hamburger patties.  These were generally skillet-cooked and mine would be covered with, no, not ketchup, not A-1, or my mom’s favorite, Worcestershire, but . . . barbecue sauce.  Chris and Pitts barbecue sauce to be exact (or Piss and Critts if you’re amused by that sort of thing).  I don’t think KC Masterpiece had been invented then.  Said burger patty was generally accompanied by canned pork-and-beans (the white glob of “pork” to be avoided at all costs), and a canned vegetable (corn, green beans or peas).  Frozen vegetables must not have been invented yet either.  Of that “vegetable” selection, canned corn (sometimes of the far-less-preferable creamed style) would have been my first choice, followed by green beans (often pleasantly enhanced with bacon grease), and lastly, those icky grey-green mushy peas.  Let’s face it, peas lose a LOT in translation when canned.  Peas are still not a favorite, except when left in the pod, and of the “snap” variety, which are delish.  Yes, times have truly changed (to a certain extent)!   


Surprisingly-or not-ground beef patties (with KC Masterpiece) is still a favorite meal for me (see “comfort food”).  That patty though, is always grilled (with charcoal) and accompanied by a wedge of fresh onion, cottage cheese (with more onion as in “chopped green”) and steamed-or better-yet, blanched-broccoli. 


In the “good-ole-days”, we ate margarine and drank far too much Shasta soda; Shasta being cheaper than Coke and Pepsi.  Their cherry cola was my favorite followed by cream soda.  We never went “out” for dinner (it was too expensive), except for the occasional treat of Jack-in-the-Box burgers, which we never referred to as “fast food”, that term having not been coined yet (I don’t think).  Jack-in-the-Box must have pre-dated McDonalds, in Chula Vista anyway.  


OK, I just looked it up and Jack-in-the Box opened in “San Diego” in 1951.  McDonalds opened in San Bernardino in 1940, closed in 1948 and reopened three months later with a menu reduced to nine items, including a 15-cent burger.


I do like to cook, especially when I have more time (weekends), but I admit that cooking for a family of four could be a real chore when you work full-time.  Bill was pretty easy, but would have loved for me to bake fresh bread every week, like his mom did (yeah, right!).  Karen was not a picky eater and pretty brave, even loving tomatoes.  Tony, by his own admission (and I remember it even better), seemed to think I was trying to poison him.  He didn’t even like spaghetti sauce for cryin-out-loud!  It was chicken fingers or nuthin when he went out.  They all liked “Near East” rice pilaf; it was a staple, as were frozen potatoes in just about any form.  Even Tony, thank heaven, liked broccoli, and we ate lots of marinated/grilled chicken.  In fact, I grilled most all meat unless it was raining.  Speaking of which, salmon too, was pretty much fool-proof.  Tacos are a no-brainer . . . always good (especially if it’s raining).  Cooking on Fridays is against my religion-so to speak-and we always did pizza (not too much sauce, Tony).


So let’s jump forward and I will say that food has undergone an absolute RENAISSANCE, which I will sum up in the following (but not-limited-to) list:
Olive oil . . .YES!
Balsamic vinegar . . .YES, again!
So many new cheeses
Farmer’s Markets
Oh, yeah . . .cilantro!


My philosophy, in a nut-shell (see pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, pecans and peanuts), is that food is fun and cooking with my kids (who can now enjoy wine with the meal) is one of life’s greatest pleasures!
Karen and Tony:  I love you more than pork and beans . . . I mean hamburger patties (or even olive oil), I love your blog, and I thank you for allowing me to contribute to this admirable endeavor.


ALL my love, mum