Childhood food memory…

I had a food memory last week when my friend Ann was visiting from NJ.

When I was 7 or 8, I went to my Uncle Steve’s mother’s house. His mother was straight off the boat from Hungry.

I spent a lot of time with my grandmothers, but I also spent a good portion of time with my Aunt Claire and Uncle Steve. I’ve written about her several times.

Uncle Steve’s mother didn’t speak any English and she was old. Her apartment was small so while my Aunt and Uncle sat at her dining table in the kitchen, I watched what she was doing.

She put out a big spread of food, all of Uncle Steve’s favorites and ours too but the first dish she served were open-faced tomato sandwiches.

She started with toasted rye bread. She smeared a small amount bacon fat on the toast then added slices of Jersey tomatoes she grew herself.

She finished the open-faced sandwich by sprinkling red onion on top along with salt and pepper. Mmmmm!

It was so good. We talked about it all the way home Perth Amboy where she lived. I told my aunt and uncle I could make what she made.

A week or so later, they bought the ingredients for me to make those sandwiches.

Since I was so young, I needed help cutting the onions and tomatoes. I don’t recall who did that for me, but I assume it was Aunt Claire.

I used the kitchen table as a makeshift counter for me since I couldn’t reach the real one.

After I pulled the toasted rye bread slices out of the toaster, I carefully spread them all with bacon fat, going to the edges like I watched her do.

I put the tomato slices on next and sprinkled some onions on top.

Then, I used salt and pepper shakers just like I saw the old Hungarian women do.

My parents were also there, waiting to try what I was making. I put the open-face sandwiches on paper plates and served everyone in the next room.

I turned to get mine from the kitchen when everyone started making mmmmmm sounds.

Aunt Claire told me that my version was as good as whatever she called her mother-in-law, I don’t remember.

I’ve been craving that open-faced sandwich all week; I made it for lunch today.

My onions were minced small and stayed on the tomatoes better than when I made it 50 years ago. I should have added more in retro speck.

The taste was the same as I remembered. Marty said the open-faced sandwiches were delicious; this was the first time I had made them for him.

When I was making our sandwiches today, I had a nostalgic moment and prayed for all of them, especially Uncle Steve’s mother who was a very good cook.