Yeah, I haven't been a good blogger lately. I'm soooo aware of it. Seems when my creativity took a hike, I quit blogging as well. Blah :-(
Anyhow, this is a quick catch up blog and then I'm going to write about the rules of toast. Why you ask? Well, it was going through my head this morning so I decided to write it down.
Summer flew by and I'm still trying to get started on it... and now it's gone. School started on Wednesday and so far Ollie is happy with his classes and stuff. I took pictures and just dumped the card to my drive this morning. I'll post as soon as I've sorted the pictures out. Travel hockey season has started and I'm buried in team manager stuff to get done. I should have stayed retired! Does it count that I retired after the end of one season and then came back before the start of the next? Hmmm.... guess I didn't even really "retire".
Ok, on to the rules of toast ...
It occurred to me this morning as I was making breakfast for myself and Ollie that there are definitely rules to toast. Not that everyone has the same rules, however there are still rules. Some people have strange toast habits. The best example of this was my Grandma Vonda. She liked her toast burnt and flat. Not just a little burnt and definetly not just a little flat. VERY FLAT. The flatter the better. Now that I'm grown the closest example I can come to of her favorite toast would be very much like Melba Toast ... only much browner and crispier! I remember when her favorite flat toast toaster finally stopped working. She was devastated that they didn't make toasters like that any more. Finally through a lot of perserverance one was located at the Good Will and flat toast again saved the day. I can still picture her sitting at the counter in the morning with her cup of coffee and her flat toast.
So, you might now be wondering what I consider proper toast etiquette. My rules are simple, I want my toast toasty on both sides. Medium brown to slighly dark brown is best. It needs to crunch when I bite into it. Soft or limp toast is no good, it should hold your toppings without bending and dumping them off. I gave up my toaster a while back because with the new ones being wide enough for bagels, you end up with one side toasted and one side not even warm. One sided toast is no good either. I've decided the best toast now comes from my toaster oven. Once you have the perfectly toasted piece of bread the next rule must be followed exactly. Whatever your topping, it MUST MUST MUST be spread from edge to edge with no gaps. All the way to the edge!
I came to the conclusion a long time ago that eating breakfast out means that you will not get good toast. The normal diner or restaurant toast is most often either hardly toasted or burnt beyond recognition. It's either drowning in butter, or has almost none. NEVER is it edge to edge with no gaps. Therefore, toast is best enjoyed at home.
So now that we've determined proper toast etiquette, what toppings do you like on your toast? This morning my toast had a light layer of butter and was topped with peach preserves. Ollie's was butter with grape jelly. I'm also a big fan of cinnamon toast, peanut butter and jelly toast, and sometimes my favorite is peanut butter with slices of banana. I would love to know if you have toast rules too, or what you like on top of your perfect toast.
All this talk of toast has Grandma Vonda on my mind even more than usual. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her tremendously. I think there will have to be more blog writing about this amazing woman! My only consolation is that I know she's up in heaven watching over my precious Jenn. Speaking of those I miss, Granddaddy would have been 90 years old yesterday. Another one that I miss on a daily basis. I need to write a blog about Granddaddy and red wagons soon too.
