The Farm - Winter Breakfast

Hi - I'm Wendy's husband (that's how I identify myself when meeting people she knows) - because it's just easier. She's the more outgoing partner in our marriage.

I grew up on an 80 acre horse farm in Spokane, Washington and it was such a wonderful experience - full of so many "stories" - that I asked her if I could share some on her blog.

We had a little bit of snow today here in Gig Harbor; and it reminded me of winters on the farm, and a particular breakfast my Mom made me.

My Mom was an old fashion cook. Full farm breakfast, clean up those dishes and then immediately start on lunch. After lunch dishes, on to dinner preparation. And we are talking multiple offerings of dishes at each meal. And my Mom was, and is an outstanding cook.

But this one morning, I remember it was a more simple breakfast.

It was cold and had snowed; and Mom had baked homemade bread the previous day. She offered to make hot cocoa for me and I immediately agreed. Because this wasn't the out of the box cocoa mix that you added water. This was from the Hershey's Cocoa tin, with milk - heated and blended in a saucepan over the stove. And this was during a time that we still would buy raw milk from the farmers (remember the huge glass gallon jars with the white tin lids - we would seal ours tight with wax paper). So, as it would heat - a "skin" of milk would rise to the top that she would remove before pouring it to drink.

I cut a big slice of homemade bread (probably bigger than I should have because I had trouble
getting it in the toaster) and once toasted - slathered margarine over it. Yes, not butter - because I grew up thinking margarine was butter. And to this day, there are certain dishes that I prefer the taste of margarine over butter - because my memories of that dish associate with the margarine flavor.

Then, I began to dip the bread in the hot cocoa and eat it that way. I had obviously put too much margarine on the bread, because I looked down and saw that I had a bit pad of butter floating on the top of my cocoa. And I would like to think that added to the flavor of the hot cocoa. But what a breakfast; and what a memory! The sounds, smells and flavors of childhood trigger such wonderful memories - and this is one of the most memorable breakfasts I can remember.

Thanks for allowing me to share this memory, and I hope to offer a few more stories as time goes on.

Wendy's husband