Buttered Toast Party

[maggiethecat]

My mother finished a course of radiation a couple of weeks ago -- the Sharpie marks on her chest and neck are a thing of the past. Maybe crying myself to sleep every night because her tongue and throat are too sore for her to eat will become a thing of the past too. Hey, she ate a quarter of a cup of soup, two Ensures and a martini today, along with four tablespoons of yoghurt! If she lived in Spain she'd be too thin to be a runway model.

But things may be looking up. I ventured upstairs with a load of laundry in my arms at about ten pm, and swooned at the simple nursery food aroma wafting from the kitchen table. My mother looked up from Law and Order and said: "I'm having a Buttered Toast Party. Want some?"

Oh yeah.

My father had toasted something the grocery store calls "Belgian Bread" -- a medium density crusty loaf. Daddy'd toasted in perfectly and slathered it with butter. At that time and in that place it was the most delicious snack I could imagine. And my mother was eating solid food -- her choice, her request.

Toast: so simple and perfect -- we've decided to have a Buttered Toast Party every night. Toast tastes elegant and luxurious in the late evening. My English grandmother made it at teatime and I was a cinnamon toast addict in my teens (brown sugar please!) -- nothing better after a couple of strenuous hours editing the high school yearbook.

Are you a toast fancier? Or is there another dish so simple that you can make it from two ingredients in two minutes and throw a party for?

[Pierogi]

Maggie, that story is one of the most moving I’ve ever read. I could feel the love for Mom & Dad in each word. I hope with all my heart that Mom’s health is on the upswing, and that the treatments have done their job. My thoughts are with you and them for good things.

Now. Onto the topic……toast. Yes, the scent of toasted bread of any ilk can wrap me in comfort as deep and lasting as my own mother’s hugs were. I’m not sure why, exactly. I can’t remember any particular epiphany about TOAST per se. Certainly I had my share of wonderful weekend breakies that involved cinnamon toast (I will try the brown sugar varietal of this……*mental note*). But I think it had more to do with midnight snacks of toasted rye bread, spread with sour cream & layered with paper-thin slices of onion. Some S&P, served open-faced and you had nirvana at the breakfast bar, of course shared with Mom, divulging the deepest, darkest fears and secrets of adolescence, teendom and young adult-hood. And fried egg sammies on toast, also midnight snacks with the same setting, also with paper-thin onion, S&P and the thinnest layer of ketchup. Yeah. Toast parties sound like a happening thing. I’d *ink it in* for sure.

edit to fix silly typos from a cheap keyboard (Lord knows, NOT from my typing...)

Edited June 15, 2007 by Pierogi (log)

[srhcb]

Are you a toast fancier?  Or is there another dish so simple that you can make it from two ingredients in two minutes and throw a party for?

←

That's a great story indeed, in both topic and telling.

If you want to get just a wee bit fancier, try these!

[Lori in PA]

What a lovely story, Maggie. My best to your mom and whole family.

Lately, I've been enjoying an evening supper of toast topped with things like creamed onions and mushrooms, sometimes with a little cooked asparagus thrown in. Reading Marion Cunningham's The Supper Book reminded me of the pleasure of such a little meal.

[suzilightning]

oh, maggie!!! best to you and your family.

martinis and toast.....

but try boost - it tastes better than ensure

oh yeah - and throw some of johnnybird's toast dope on there

[mzrb]

Oh, Maggie. Your story got me all moist-eyed...I remember the the feeling of success/hope when my dad finally requested some "real" food and enjoyed it while he was going through chemo. His staples were Papaya King (yes, the nyc hot dog joint) papaya drinks and waffles with austrian raspberry syrup. The raspberry syrup was a total throwback to his days as an alpine mountain boy in Austria.

It's funny how that works, isn't it? (anyhoo, he's much better now and i send your family good thoughts for a speedy return to health).

And as for toast, well, for all the waxing on I could do on this site about the finer points of whatever it is...when it comes down to it, warm toast with melted butter. Maybe some kosher salt sprinkled on top....

My most comforting snack is toasted rye bread, slathered in butter and then rubbed generously with a cut half of raw garlic. It's what my grandma used to eat, too.

thanks for your post.

[demiglace]

Eating buttered toast is always a good sign of improving health isn't it! You're right...so simple and so perfect. My best to your Mom. You brought me a morning lump in my throat and memories of dipping heavily buttered toast into overly sweetened tea ...made by Grandma during sleepovers. My new favourite is toasted parmesan bread with melted gruyere on it..a great snack. I think I'll throw a toast party tonight!

[Jean Blanchard]

My Irish mother had toast and tea for me every time I was sick or just didn't like the world very much while I was growing up. When she nearly died on us 2 years ago, her first solids (and what she always asked for) were, of course, toast.

Thank you for sharing your love of mom and toast. All the best.

Jean

[srhcb]

And, of course, there's milk toast, celebrated by none other than MFK Fisher as ""an instinctive palliative".

SB (and toast crusts make your hair curley! )

[crouching tyler]

My mother makes great cheese toast. I think it is just cheddar cheese on toast, but somehow it just so much better than when I make it. She gets the cheese to seep into the pores of the bread in a way that I cannot replicate. I just chalk it up to the "Mom Factor".

It really is wonderful and heartening beyond measure when someone who has been ill returns to health enough to want solid food, or at the very least "real food". I think this is particularly the case among those of us who are, shall we say, food centered.

This reminds me that I have been meaning to try toast dope for sometime now. I think I will do that this weekend, in honor of the return to health. A toast to toast.

Hmm, I haven't ever thought about the fact that a "toast" is the word we (many Americans, at least) use to describe how we salute an occasion. I am pretty sure that the next time someone raises a glass, and announces a "toast," I am going to picture a slightly square slice of buttered bread with cinnamon sugar on top.

Edited June 15, 2007 by crouching tyler (log)

[jgm]

In my opinion, toasted bread is one of life's true delights. I like it with just about anything on it.

One of my favorite breakfasts is a sandwich made of a toasted bagel, scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, and a slice of tomato. Interestingly, a nearby fast-food joint always toasts the bagel to perfection. I have not found any other restaurant in town, including the high-end ones, that can turn out a decently toasted anything.

While toast dope is lovely stuff (try it on a sweet potato with butter sometime), the truth is, give me well-toasted bread with melting butter on it, and nothing else, any day.

Unless you happen to have a jar of homemade strawberry preserves on hand... oh, my.

[maggiethecat]

OK, I think I once knew what Toast Dope is, but it has slipped my memory in a big way. Please enlighten me. If it involves actual dope, so much the better.

No Buttered Toast Party tonight, which makes me sad -- she was up the Stair Glide early. Maybe I can make a huge stack of buttered toast to accompany her breakfast Super Ensure.

Maybe I'll throw myself my own Buttered Toast Party!

(And I can't thank you enough for your kind good wishes.)

[purplewiz]

I'm glad to hear your mother is enjoying her toast - being able to eat toast has always been a sign of recovering health in my family. When we were younger, my mother would feed us weak tea and cinnamon sugar toast whenever we were ill. There's still something very comforting about that combination, and I imagine that it's the same for many people.

Marcia.

[Toliver]

OK, I think I once knew what Toast Dope is, but it has slipped my memory in a big way. Please enlighten me. If it involves actual dope, so much the better.

←

Here ya go, Maggie.

Johnnybird's Toast Dope, Oh So Good

[Lady T]

Maggie -- good Heavens. A gal turns her back for a measly few months and all sorts of stuff happens. Please accept my kindest thoughts for your mother, and keep a good solid double handful of those for yourself and the Handsome One. Keep a few aside for the kitty if you like.

Am working on a jar of olallieberry jam someone brought me from California (Duart's Tavern). The work requires good homemade bread, and good butter, and a baking dish and an oven set to 375 F. A cup (or two) of Kona coffee with cream and sugar is also required.

Some work. Heh. Everyone should have such work on their docket.

[Susie Q]

MMMMMM! Toast

Thin and crisped through.

Super thick sliced that's crunchy on the outside chewy on the inside.

Lightly toasted perfect for a BLT or Club.

Darkly toasted to dunk in a morning bowl of cafe au lait.

Buttered, cinnamon spiced, jammed, cheesed, milked, gravied, fruit or veggie topped, meat or roe enhanced.... it's all good.

Party On!!!

[racheld]

This was the first thing I scrolled to as I sat down, groggy with miles of highway since eight a.m.---494 of them, to be exact---nine hundred of them spent at snail-crawl, watching the seasons turn and the world turn gray with the fumes of CO, between Chicago's Skyway and the Arlington Road? exit.

I wished several times to call you for lunch, but realized each time with a wince of missing, that you were still in Canada, still holding on, still caring and tending and (now) toastmaking. But with the upward outlook that a renewed appetite and a familiar, comforting taste can bring, you're all coping beautifully and all improving.

I have lots of tales of toast, all to be rendered at a better time. It's late and as soon as this chair quits moving, I'm for bed.

PS---I'll never understand this eG clock---It's 2:15 here!!

Edited June 23, 2007 by racheld (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Our need to feed is facinating isn't it. When someone starts to eat better, we relax and start to feel that everything is starting to become right with the world.

To me as a child, toast made on the boat always tasted so much better. In part all the exercise and fresh air, in part the damn hard work it was to make it. Firing up the alcohol stove with all that priming and pumping, the metal toaster that you placed directly on the flame, then the frequent turning and rearranging of the pieces so every inch would get toasted evenly. That was the theory, uneven toasting was the norm.

For toppings perhaps a cinnamon mix with brown sugar creamed with lots of butter and spice. Perhaps a thin slice of old cheddar topped with moms bitter orange marmalade (best with rye toast by the way).

My mom made a cheese toast too, slices of cheddar on buttered bread, nice hot oven until bubbly and the toast was brown and crisp on the bottom, thin layer of ketchup once it cooled a bit - best part - the bits of cheese that went over the edge and browned and crisped on the cookie sheet. I'd kill for those bits.

[jeniac42]

Maggie, a heartwarming story and well told.

Kerry, your point about needing to feed others really hit home. My own mother has been very ill and accumulating fluid in her abdomen, and has not been eating. I am not there with her but I call frequently and it's so reassuring when I hear she's eaten something, like everything is a little better somehow. My strongest desire is to go cook food that she would want to eat.

Personally, I love toast and can't get enough of it. My favorite is buttered toast with marmalade and a cup of tea with milk, no sugar. My grandma used to make us "cheese bread", which was untoasted white bread topped with slices of colby cheese and toasted in the oven. My mother's version was Velveeta bread - toast a slice of white bread and top with Velveeta and onion powder, then put in the oven until the inside of the Velveeta melts and forms that skin to hold it all together. I suppose that's the really low-rent version of Welsh rarebit, eh?

[racheld]

That's the La Boheme version, if you please. Perhaps the strains of Parce que tu croissant wafting softly in the background, along with the crisp, oveny scent of bread turning golden and warm.

My very best to your Mom and Dad, Maggie. And to you, Dear---take care of YOU, as well. Wish I were there to help tend, to make tea and toast, and to give you a respite in your busy days.

[miladyinsanity]

I like toast--one of my midnight snacks is dry toast, no butter.

Unfortunately for me, the past two toasters we've had...well, they hate me. Blackened bread is the norm, not toast.

My current addiction, however, is waffle toast.

I've one of those waffle makers that make thin waffles, not the thick ones. And well, my current toast makes me blackened bread more often than not.

So I buttered the waffle iron, and waffle-toasted the bread. Yum!

I didn't, but you could probably sprinkle toast dope or sugar on one side.

I think you have to use squishy supermarket bread for this though.

[teagal]

I had some duukah (I took some coriander seeds and cumin seeds, toasted them with some mac nuts, then ground them up with some s&p.) that I made for the first time yesterday on buttered toast -I knew my husband wouldn't like the bread dipped in olive oil. Hate to admit it but it was great with the butter! A great appetizer or when you want something not sweet with toast.

I've made the toast dope- its great.