More notes from a country kitchen

By Vicki Christianson

Mon, Feb 20th, 2012
Posted in All Columnists

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My last couple of articles have dealt with one of my favorite subjects -- food! Seems like you can never talk about or eat enough food. I’ve talked about beef and pork and chicken. How about “fish balls?” Did you ever have them? They came in a can and they still do. You can find them in with the salmon and tuna at the grocery store. Each little ball is about 1 inch in size and pure white. There are about a dozen in a can. Mom would fry them in a heavily greased pan until lightly browned on both sides. Then she would make the best milk gravy from the drippings. Stirred in a pile of flour to make a paste and then whipped in some milk to make a nice thick gravy! Then she would toss the fish balls back into the gravy and serve it over mashed potatoes. We all thought they were delicious, but they were a little more costly than pork or beef.

One item that I neglected to mention is that I happen to LOVE catsup! I cannot eat any kind of meat without catsup on it. My family has a fit when I cover my pork chops and ham with the red stuff. I even dipped my fish balls in the red stuff. I don’t know where I developed that habit, but everything -- except bacon -- gets catsup! If I make a beef stew I have to pull out all the little pieces of beef and dunk them in the catsup. I know, it’s a dumb thing to do, but I just really like that red stuff. However, I DO NOT like raw tomatoes! Yuck! I like spaghetti sauce and chunks of tomatoes in my chili, but can’t handle the raw ones. If I accidentally get one slipped into a sandwich I will try to eat it, but I don’t like it!

Now, my husband loves the raw tomatoes! He can eat them like an apple -- right off the vine. He does prefer them peeled and covered with lots and lots of pepper. He loves BLTs, too (bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches). That is something I do not like. Just give me the bacon and toast please, and you can hold the catsup!

I have friends that love those cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes that everyone seems to enjoy growing. Just pop them right into their mouths! Not something I would do.

Here’s an easy supper meal.

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