Nothing Vital. I was just thinking.

Here's how I remember it. If any of my siblings read this and have a different recollection, lemme know.

My mother was not a casserole maker. I remember one occasion when she made some kind of casserole and my dad complained or questioned what the "dish" (not his word probably) might be and maybe questioned her wisdom in making it. He was a meat and vegetables man. Soups were welcomed, even spaghetti and chili, but not casseroles. I mean, I only remember that one occasion when Mama put a casserole before us.

*     *     *

On the other hand, my mother-in-law was a casserole maker. And that fact explains why I had to make tuna casserole--my husband's favorite, if such a thing is possible--and Doritos casserole and tamale pie. My family liked those dishes, except for the tuna casserole. They still bring up the subject of tuna casserole from time to time. It's kind of a cross I have to bear.

My mother-in-law gave me the recipe for Doritos casserole and for tuna casserole, which I didn't make exactly as she did--the tuna casserole, I mean. Wayne noticed, but I don't think he complained exactly.

I found my own recipe for tamale pie, which he loved. Maybe that was his favorite; he once said he could eat tamale pie every week. I couldn't fix it every week, though. No, I couldn't, even though I liked it, too.

Shepherd's Pie, I don't know if she ever made it, but I did.

There.

It's good to know these things

Here's a little quiz for you.

Well, not exactly a quiz because I'll be telling the answers here. But anyway.

Let's say you have a box of graham crackers and you pull out one of the packets of crackers. How many graham crackers are in that packet? That's the quiz question.

Here's the answer. Nine.

Certainly you have noticed the box getting thinner as the years have gone by. I have.
Perhaps you don't count the graham crackers. I do. And I know there used to be 12 crackers in a packet. Just right for the Yum-yums recipe my mother-in-law passed along to me.

So I noticed when there were only 11. A couple of years later, 10. Now nine. This means that instead of getting 36 graham crackers in a box, we're getting 27, and don't be thinking the price has gone DOWN. No sirree. It keeps going up.

I suppose it's possible they could cut it down to eight. Heck, I know it's possible. And then what?

Here's what I don't know. Are the graham crackers themselves as big as they used to be? I hope so. I'm making Yum-yums today, and I want them to be at least okay.

A Little Surprise

I have a box of recipes. They're written on scraps of paper and, when I had them, 4x6 cards.  I have alphabetical dividers in there too.

That's the back story.

Today I was looking through the D section, looking for a dumpling recipe. Didn't find one. But I did find a card with a recipe for a dill dip. I don't make it any more, but apparently, one of my children was not fond of it when I did make it.

The top of the card shows the name of the recipe, of course.  This one reads Dill Dip  is gross.

Made me laugh. Laughing still.

Hmph!

I know very well that I speak for the minority here. Truly the minority. But I must speak because I really do object to what's going on at the local Winco. That's a grocery store.

A grocery store that is now being turned into a saloon. Our Winco, where I shop often, has, just as you come away from the cashier, a pizza and growler bar. I once thought, silly me, that a growler might be a sandwich. No. It's beer on tap.

You can bet I don't like that development. Pretty sure Fred Meyer up on the hill will do the same. I've seen the growler equipment there.

Do I want to walk around the store with my fellow shoppers while they're drinking beer? No.

But, you say, its location is near the exit. So do I want to drive with folks who have a beer in hand? No.

Yes, yes, I know. Mine is the minority position.

Addendum:
So maybe they just fill big bottles with beer. I don't know for sure.