Grandpa's Blue Dog Lunches

As I prepare to break out my mom's old roaster, start cutting up apples to make her fresh apple cake recipe, and boil potatoes in the old metal pot she used for the same task, I am reminded of family again this holiday.  I miss my mom, sometimes more often than others.  Since I was too busy to take a lunch, and I forgot to grab something while I was out doing the grocery shopping, I decided a quick snack was in order.  I got the hunk of bologna out of the fridge.  Its the kind that is not cut and comes in a huge log.

"blue dog"

I am reminded of how my grandpa would get busy working on things in his wood shop and come in for something to eat when he finally realized he was hungry.  If he had time, he would fix a pan full of fried potatoes and onions.  I still love them to this day.  I think fried potatoes were a staple for grandma and grandpa, and that was passed down to my mom.  The only difference is now days I usually use a coated skillet and olive oil.

If grandpa just wanted something quick, nine times out of ten it was a saltine cracker and one of two ingredients.  To make things simple, grandma would keep him stocked with "blue dog" or sardines in mustard sauce.  Blue dog, as he called it, must have been a brand name for his bologna back in those days, or maybe days past even then.  He would slice off a hunk of bologna.  I have never been able to do it as evenly as he did.  It was pretty thick, and always without cheese.  If for some reason there was no blue dog to be had, he would go with some sardines in mustard sauce--again--on a cracker.

The other thing grandpa lived on was the 16oz returnable bottles of Pepsi.  He drank maybe three or four of them a day until the doctor told him he had to give up the sugar due to his diabetes.  Then he switched over to diet Pepsi.  I never once heard him complain about how they were different, not as good, or that he didn't care for them.  I think that's kind of neat.

So I sit here, taking a break, grabbing a bite of blue dog on crackers.  Kathy likes 'em too.  Maybe, with me at least, it's genetic.  I miss mom, but right now, I miss grandpa too.