Swimming around in the bottom of the folder are little recipe cards from I-don’t-know-where. Until now, every Sunday dinner came from a recipe printed off the internet. (Is anyone still writing it “Internet”?)
These cards confuse me. Did Dad save them because he wanted to try them? Or did someone give them to him and he just chucked them in the folder? A tour reveals no tofu or anything else he regarded with suspicion. Let’s call them good.
Once I got rolling I realized it was a non-recipe recipe. Basically: Dredge some catfish in cornmeal, salt and pepper. Fry it. Eat it.
oil blotches for legitimacy
To be fair, I’ve deep fried maybe three times in my life. I would not have known how long to leave it on the oil. So thanks for that, little card!
I paired it up with some mashed sweet potatoes, which both boys ate and so I will make every day for the rest of my life. Carotenoids for the win, yo! Next time I will mix in a little apple sauce, because I am tricky like that.
On the eve of yet another business trip, when my baby calls me by the sitter’s name twice, it feels extra good to get in a nutritional win.
I need to add another category called “My Mom wouldn’t eat it.” At least she ate the potatoes, too.
Recipe #9: Dixie Fried Catfish from a mysterious little card.
Paired with:
Recipe #10: Salade Nicoise with Conchiglie from Vegetarian Pasta
There’s no tuna, which means it’s not Nicoise. Right? It’s shell pasta salad. Another non-recipe recipe.
jaysaint 
Posted by S. on August 21, 2011 at 11:00 pm
I love this post.
Sometimes I call my own personal daddy and ask him how to cook something and he says something like “Pour some milk in there…” and I ask how much and he says, “Enough.”
Frustrating, yet so very him.
Posted by Brian Patrick Flynn on August 21, 2011 at 11:01 pm
I especially enjoyed the authentic oil splotches.