Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Bread: Theme Thursday



This week's Theme Thursday topic is "Bread".   There's a great group of writers participating in Theme Thursday each week so be sure to go check them out. You'll be glad you did!  In the meantime, here's my humble offering.

I grew up in the 1950's in rural Iowa.   It was a great place to be a kid.  My mom would send us out to play in the morning and we'd roam all over kingdom come until we were called in to eat.  Meals back then included plenty of home cooking... heavy on the meat and potatoes, with vegetables from the garden.  And every meal included bread and butter.  For those who didn't do their own baking, Wonder Bread was all the rage.


Our closest neighbor to the east was Old George, an elderly bachelor who kept pigs.  My brother Waldo (the archer) and I used to visit George to look in on the new piglets when the sows gave birth.  Our favorite we named "Half-Pint".  We'd wander over regularly to watch Half-Pint wallow in the mud and totter on his tiny feet.   Old George knew how much we enjoyed watching him and even let us feed him.


Being thrifty, Old George would make a weekly trip into town, where he'd load up the back seat of his car with prime pickings from the Wonder day-old bread store to feed to the pigs.  He told us we were always welcome to get a loaf out of the car to feed to Half-Pint.  So we made it a regular habit for awhile... at least until Half-Pint outgrew his cuteness.  Then one day we hit the mother load... there in the back seat of Old George's car was something we coveted.  It was a package of "brown and serve" rolls.



We had "brown and serve" rolls at our grandma's house once before and we thought they were the ultimate in fine eating.  Waldo and I looked at the package of rolls, looked at each other and nodded our heads. Oh, yeah!  Score!  We took off down the road with the "brown and serve" rolls, proudly offering them up to our mother to brown and serve to us for dinner that night.

But what was this?  It didn't make her happy that we were bringing home the proverbial bacon?  Why on earth was she so upset with us?  After all, Old George said we could get any of the bread we wanted out of the car to feed to the pigs.  Why would he care if we ate the bread instead?

Mom may have been embarrassed and humiliated by our desire to eat stale bread designated for swine, but we were in hog heaven!   Pig food rocks!

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah! Pig food. oink oink!

Brian Miller said...

i feel like a pig sometimes...especially when i eat bread. nice tale. smiles.

Lee said...

Those are the best rolls evah! I would have taken them too!!

Anonymous said...

Thank god the story didn't end with half pint getting an apple in his mouth :)

Anonymous said...

Nothing like the aroma of bread baking in the oven!

California Girl said...

My father, borin in 1910 and grew up on a farm, would not allow Wonder Bread or anything similar in the house. As kids, we thought it was great stuff. Go figure. Dad liked to make bread for the family. He encouraged my mother to buy wholesome whole wheat bread. As I grew up, I finally realized Wonder Bread turns to s sticky gooey mass in your mouth that is "hard to swallow" (I'm borrowing Brian's phrase from his Waystation One post today). Praise be to fresh bread!

Betsy Brock said...

We grew up on Wonder Bread...or Sunbeam...remember that brand?

Anonymous said...

Now I want bread.

And lots of it.

Eeek.

Anonymous said...

Haha, Wonder bread. Funny what commercials instill in you as a kid. My friend' mom used Wonder bread and mine bought Country Pride...so I thought her mom was better because she was getting the proper nutrients from her "white bread".

JeffScape said...

I'm with you. Wonder Bread and pig food definitely rock.

ReformingGeek said...

I LOVE bread. ALL of it!

Good job, CatLady!

Corrie Howe said...

I love your story. And I love bread. I especially love the brown and serve dinner rolls.

Me-Me King said...

Wow, I'm eating bread as I read your blog. Yep, an "everything" bagel. I love your story and probably would have done the same thing - I just love me some brown 'n serve rolls.

K A B L O O E Y said...

Pig AS food rocks as well. Great story. You know, I always wanted to get Wonder Bread -- it seemed so space age and pillowy. We ate rye bread at my house, bagels on the weekend. (secular NYC Jews) The only upside was challah, which is still one of my favorites; in fact, those brown and serves pictured remind me of a nice loaf of challah. Mmmm. My dad used to say "bread is my favorite kind of cake."

Wings1295 said...

Cool memories! I could have done a piece on saving stale bread for the animals at my grandmother's place. But I didn't even think of it! Man...

Unknown said...

the mother load! I love stories about people growing up.

Jayne Martin said...

As a kid, I used to roll my Wonder Bread into a ball where it would return to its former life as dough. You couldn't pay me to do that now... Oh, who am I kidding. There is little you couldn't pay me to do now.

Really cute story...

C.M. Jackson said...

old reliable--wonder bread and heat and serve rolls--hog heaven indeed-happy tt-c

The Author said...

Aw, the little pigs are so cute!

Gladys said...

Yes I too would wrestle a hog for brown and serve rolls and then I would make a pig of myself eating the whole package.

gayle said...

I love bread but not as much as my husband!!! Those rolls look so delicious!! Love the memories!!

Indigo Roth said...

Hey CatLady! I was a dumb kid too. So what if I ate a little stale bread? The ducks weren't going to miss it! We rock, Indigo

Vodka Mom said...

my mother made the most incredible sour dough bread. Every time I smell it, my heart goes back in time.

MacabreWebs said...

I often heard of Wonder Bread being compared to the library paste of old times... a more fitting description might be just plain GLUE! Yuck.

My Hubby bakes the best home made bread ever, usually with varied grains and seeds, with a bottle of dark beer in it to substitute for leavening. Makes for the most hearty, rich, flavorful loaf ever. Yummy to the max!

Love your site more as time goes by...!

Mike said...

Pig food rocks! That made me snicker! haha!

Marlee's Movements said...

i love eating bread
love those carbs!

http://marleesmovements.blogspot.com/

Jen said...

We had Taystee bread. The bakery was located right on the interstate so when ever you passed it you got this whiff of bread baking. Whenever we went anywhere we could always tell we were almost home when we smelled the bread.

http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said...

Quirky: I'm such a pig!

Brian: Thanks!

Lee: I know good rolls when I smell 'em!

frigginloon: Half-pint lives on... I know he just ran away from home and is now happy living in the woods. Then again, that pork mom served a few months later was pretty tasty.

Secretia: Nothing finer!

California: It did kinda stick to the roof of your mouth.

Betsy: We had both Wonder Bread and Sunbeam!

suzicate: Country Pride? Oh, you poor thing!

JeffScape: Rock on!

Reffie: Bread is one of those things that gives you an excuse for eating butter.

Corrie: I haven't actually had any brown and serve rolls in years. I suppose they still make them, don't they?

MeMe: Brown and serve are sounding pretty good right now!

K a b l o o e y: Mmmmm... challah! I could go for some of that!

Wings: Or you coulda had a V8 *hits self in head*

Amy: It didn't take much for us to think we'd hit the mother lode.

Jayne: Bread balls were the best... one of my favorite after school snacks. Just doesn't work with wheat bread, though.

C.M.: Thanks for stopping by hog heaven... without the cats.

RJ: Piglets are like kittens. Cute for awhile and then they grow up.

Gladys: I make a pig of myself every day.

Gayle: Bread = good Bread slathered with butter = excellent!

Indigo: Duck food rocks, too, then.

VodkaMom: Amazing what memories smells bring.

Quirk Shop: Yeah, I used to eat paste sometimes... but not in large quantities. Just a nibble every now and again.

Otin: snicker, snicker, pig snort!

Marlee: Thanks for stopping by!

Jen: What a great way to know you were home!

jules said...

Oh, how I remember that feeling as a kid being so proud of something I'd done, and not understanding when it didn't translate to my parents! Sounds like a fun childhood and reminds me of Charlottes Web. (My favorite!)

Megan said...

That's a great story! Yum, brown & serve rolls!

Anonymous said...

Heh, heh...I'm one for shopping the discout bread rack( when we have any )...forget the piggies! Reminds me that I've not been to the Wonder thrift shoppe in a while...great post CLL :)

And belay my other post comment. Looks like you fixed the main prpoblem here ;)

http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said...

Jules: We had big spiders in the barn, but no Charlotte. Just Half-Pint.

Megan: I'm going to have to go to the store and look for some... mmmmmm.

Subby: I'm still the piggy when it comes to fresh bread... warm out of the oven.

Anonymous said...

CLL, I like to eat it while I'm shopping( when I get the chance and I'm near the bakery ). Of course I gotta pay for it but....

Linda Medrano said...

I LOVE Wonder Bread! I LOVE any kind of bread (as long as it comes with butter). Pigs are the cutest when they are babies. Love them.

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