August 5, 2011

The air-conditioning was singing most of the night and the doors that were cracked were now closed. A whisper could be heard across the street, but interpretation was hit and miss. The downpour that was finally meant to be last night, came in like a dinosaur looking for it's last meal. All that was left behind was pure steam. A window cleaner would've been a millionaire. The rain could have ruined the night, but fresh broccoli saved the meal. Do you remember those old-fashioned casseroles of 40 years ago? They're still alive and doing just fine. Trust me on this! I found a book at the library a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed some nice recipes. These were the ones that never go out of style or date. They take you back to a childhood memory or even, a country church dinner. Now, when I was growing up years ago, There was no lunch and dinner! There was dinner and there was supper. That was that! You see, my lunch was now dinner, and my dinner was now supper.(This became really complicated for an eight-year-old in the 70's. Part of it was time zone issues, and the other part of it was me being not that smart. I didn't understand how one day lunch was now dinner(I thought dinner was the night meal? And now, out of the clear blue sky, dinner was now supper! Am I missing something here? At least breakfast was still called breakfast. Holy smokes!) Anyway, back to the broccoli. This was pure heaven! This side dish was so good, you could eat it for dessert. The torn bread pieces. The sugar. The milk, egg butter,cheese and salt. And who could forget the star attraction: Broccoli. The key to this whole dish was the very rough chop of the vegetable and the broil the last 3 minutes in the oven. There was little fanfare when it was removed from the oven, but the fireworks flew off your tongue the second it entered your mouth. Sweet and gooey broccoli casserole that was so light and airy with a slight toast on the very top. They don't make these recipes anymore. They are found over again in sunken recipe books. Sealed with a kiss!