Random Monday Memories

If you happened to visit my blog on Labor Day (also a Random Monday Memory) you would have read about this group and The Playpen Escape. If you missed it you can check it out here. These are the "seven children". You have "Big" Steve holding Jerry and Joyce ~ these are Bonnie's children. Next is my sister Emily holding our brother, "Little" Steve, then me and my brother John. The dog belongs to Bonnie. Her name is Coco and she's part cocker spaniel and part basset hound. Interesting combo, don't you think! This picture is probably from late 1963 and it was taken at Bonnie's house. Check out the television and "cardboard" fireplace in the background!

We had such fun together...especially during the mid-sixties. We were all at good ages and just loved being together. Many of my good time memories are about food. We lived very close to the grade school we attended and we were able to walk home for lunch. We only lived "three doors down" from Bonnie, so we often ate lunch at each others houses.

I remember tuna casserole at Bonnie's house. She would make a baking dish full of it and she would put it in the oven to crisp up on top. She had one of those stoves with the oven above the cook top. I remember that we could watch it brown through the little window (at least I could, the others were too short!). I used to think that she always let it get too crispy. I didn't like the "hard" noodles ~ now that's my favorite part!

I remember pancakes at my mom's house. Stacks of them. We'd all be sitting around the table waiting for the pancakes. You can only make so many at a time and the seven of us wanted them all at once, I'm sure! Mom would cook them and Bonnie would pass them out out. The older kids buttered their own and poured way too much syrup on them! But we ate everyone of them! It was my favorite lunch as a child!

Then there was my all-time favorite place for those special carry-out kind of lunches! White Castle hamburgers! Hmm Hmm good! A station wagon full of kids and their moms and sacks of burgers. Mom and Bonnie would just keep passing them out ~ one little burger after another ~ and we just kept eating them ~ pausing for an occasional sip of some liquid refreshment. I don't remember what we drank ~ for me it was all about those burgers! Little buns, little burgers and chopped up onions. I still like to stop there when we go to visit my Mom...although we haven't the past few times. I've tried the White Castle burgers in the frozen food section and they're not quite the same ~ but they'd do in a pinch!!

Established in 1921, White Castle has been serving its unique, steam grilled, square burger for over 75 years. The grilling process takes place over perfectly diced onions, and yes they are real! The smell is to die for! The square buns are never stale and melt in your mouth.

They were originally priced at just 5 cents until the 1940s and remained at 10 cents into the 1960s. When the original burgers sold for 5 cents, White Castle ran promos in local newspapers offering 5 burgers for 10 cents for takeout only!!!

White Castle Timeline