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All through elementary and high school, my Mom made sandwiches and lunch packs for me. She was one super nurturing Mom. She made sure my brother and I always ate healthy. Balanced meals all the time. Can't leave the house without breakfast. Lunch at noon, dinner at 7. Like clockwork. Breakfast would always have eggs and a tall glass of hot chocolate. When we had rice with breakfast, I'd pour some of the chocolate drink on it. I didn't grow up on coffee. We never had coffee. Coffee was for guests. I only learned to take it because everybody else was taking it at work. My Mom's sandwiches were also a "balanced meal." She'd have tomato and lettuce with my scrambled-egg and/or split-vienna-sausages and/or cheese sandwich. Sometimes the tomato would be so juicy it'd leak and start to dissolve the napkin that wrapped the sandwich. Cheese -- we *never* ran out of cheese. My Mom always bought those brick-sized blocks of cheddar. And we'd also have Chiz-Wiz, and cheddar in cans. And for the holidays, of course, we had queso de bola encased in hardened red candlewax. But because my Mom had a rather sensitive nose, we didn't have any of those pungent blue cheeses. So, up to this day, when I can't decide on what to eat, or if I feel like eating something that will surely make me feel good, I prepare the food my Mom raised me with -- scrambled-egg-and-cheese sandwich. With maybe a slice of tomato and a lettuce leaf. And as a bonus, I mix myself a cup of warm chocolate. I sit down and gently dunk the sandwich in the chocolate and very carefully bring the dripping corner of the bread into my mouth. I close my eyes to savor my favorite comfort food and dwell on my fondest memories of childhood. |
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nostalgic.