I’m standing at the kitchen counter spreading cream cheese on crackers as a substitute for supper, and my mother’s approach to school lunches rises in my mind. I’m not sure of the connection, other than the cream cheese. Mother loved cream cheese.
When I was grade-school aged and brought my lunch, Mother worked hard to provide variety in the standard sandwich. She made egg salad, bought bologna, mixed diced black olives with mayonaise, always had peanut butter and jelly handy, and occasionally substituted a leftover chicken leg from Sunday dinner. She made cream cheese sandwiches too.
What I remember most is that as Monday bore toward Friday, the bread became more stale and the sandwich became less appealing, regardless of the filling. I would often pull the bread slices apart until the thing was open-faced and then just eat the middle.
Now, sixty years down the road and far removed from either eating lunch box sandwiches or making them for my own children, I see belatedly how creative my Mother tried to be as I swipe a Triscuit® with cream cheese and call it supper.
I’ll always remember “The Menu” — canned ham with mustard sauce, Tater Tots, Le Sueur peas, salad, and cherry crumble for dessert. No alcohol was served as I recall . . .