Salt Does Not Equal Pepper

When I was little we had several staple meals for each meal; Breakfast was oatmeal or cream of wheat; Lunch was sandwiches or hot dogs; and Dinner was meat and potatoes, or scrambled eggs with toast or muffins. I've spoke of breakfast before, all I'll say about lunch is that I remember choking on hot dogs and oranges, and dinner...well that is what this post is about.

You see when we had meat and potatoes it was usually with gravy and green beans. I would spread the mashed potatoes out and then put gravy on and then stick the beans vertically through the gravy and into the potatoes. I imagined that the brown gravy was mud and the green beans were trees. This helped me to eat it all because I would try to get some mud and a tree with every bite of potato.

I noticed that the adults added salt and pepper to their food and I wanted to try it. I added a little salt and pepper. When I tasted it it seemed too salty, so I added more pepper. Then it was too peppery, so I added more salt. This vicious cycle continued until I had a concoction that would probably have preserved you mid sneeze. My mother was the type who wouldn't let you leave the table without finishing your food, especially if you had insisted on taking more (or in this case, insisted on adding salt and pepper). If my first salt and pepper experience had been delicious I would not remember it, but I do remember it.