Let me tell you a story.
First off, got to get a confession out of the way. Liver and Onions. I'm a fan. I know. Most people hate them. But, I'm not most people. I've loved it ever since I was a kid, and my dad thought he was slick by putting a piece on my plate. I, and my mom, were eating steak, and I left for the bathroom or something. I come back and there's a piece there. Looking nothing like the steak. Not to mention I hadn't cut a piece off before leaving. I was young, I wasn't stupid. I tried it, and liked it, then made fun of my father for trying to be sly.
I haven't had liver & onions for more than a year. Some of that has to do with Jessie being a non-fan. Not all if it, though.
The last time I had liver and onions, I was having lunch with my father. He would bribe me with lunch to get me to fix his computer for him. See, he loved the computer. But he wasn't savvy at all. If there was some spyware out there, odds are he had it. Anyway, he would take me to this little shack of a place around the corner called Mikie's. First time we were there he told me to try the liver and onions, they did it pretty good for a restaurant. My dad was a big believer in home cooking liver and onions, didn't think restaurants did it justice. He was right, both about most restaurants, and Mikie's being good. Every time I've been there, save one time, that's what I've had.
But I haven't touched it in more than a year. The last time I had some was February 2006. My father died on March 19th, 2006.I've seen it on menus and been tempted. But I can't bring myself to ordering it. Of all the things in this world that could possibly make me think of my father, it seems liver and onions is the one I'm most emotional about. How weird is that?
The closest I got to ordering it was the day after he died. My aunt and I had gone to the funeral
home to get the arrangements under way, and she suggested Mikie's for lunch since it was close. I sat there with the menu in hand, still sort of numb. I'm not even sure my aunt realized that Mikie's had become my father's favorite eating hole. But I sat there, wrestling with whether I should get liver and onions. I, obviously, didn't get it. Couldn't tell you what I substituted.It's amazing how food can invoke such an emotional response. I heard once (on CSI I think) that smell is the sense most closely tied to memory. While I suppose that's true, since when I smell Old Spice and stale cigarette smoke, I automatically think of Dad, at the same time, it doesn't invoke the same response as liver and onions.
Hi Bart
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, we had liver every Tuesday evening. OK for the first five years, but after that it got a bit tedious.
Best wishes
YB
The smell of liver cooking... just doesn't appeal to me. But my mother loved it.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, I think you two sort of missed the point of my post. :D
ReplyDeleteHey... I can make a mean liver and onion dish, the liver has to be marinated with soy sauce and lemon juice first to really get the flavour, then I fry these with loads of onions. I often add green peppers too! YUM!
ReplyDeleteYou and the missus are welcome to come and visit to try it. Don't worry tell her I will cook Thai curry for her... :)
BTW, what happened to Rhyme and Reason?
I know exactly what you mean. These little inexplicable memory triggers that twist something deep in your gut. And there's never any inkling what they will be until one presents itself.
ReplyDeleteThe smell of school corridors, or rather the memory of it, brings back a friend who commited suicide at school.
ReplyDeleteFloor-polish? Chalk? Old stone?
I can remember the smell exactly, can't describe it at all, and can barely now remember my friend's face.
Maybe this is what we take into the next world.
Wow, that was very powerful, Bart. You made me weepy.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean though. I can't eat coffee cake anymore (and yes, I'm aware that coffee cake is something that most people begin to enjoy as they get older but bear with me). That was my Pop's favorite and a trip to his house always meant we were getting some crumbly goodness. But now, the very thought of it can make me misty. At the mere mention of Entenmann's my brain goes down same road: coffee cake - Pop - Pop's brain is now totally frazzled - my Pop is long gone. Smells do it too. I used to work with a guy who wore the same cologne as Pops did and whenever he walked past I'd suddenly get sad.
I think it's a time thing too. I'm sure that one day, you'll go the other way and liver and onions will become your meal to eat on certain occasions. Your dad's birthday, father's day, etc.
Let me know and I'll get a hunk of coffee cake :)
Hi Bart-Man,
ReplyDeleteWe went through a similar loss nine months ago. This is such a powerful post.
On a lighter note, I'll have the onions, you take the liver.
Keep smiling
David
Hubby loves liver and onions, but the kids won't go near it. My dad used old spice, he also rolled his own cigarettes. You're right about smells being a time-capsule to lasso you right back to certain people and events. I can never smell Jasmine without being reminded of my mother.
ReplyDeleteBreak your liver fast, your dad would want you to..
Off topic here; I laughed my invisible socks off at your response to chewy's "z" question..
ReplyDelete