The Polander Post

Actually, I used to kind of like grilled cheese sandwiches that were black on one side. It was a while before I realized that wasn't the way they were supposed to be.

I remember liking the cornbread, so thanks for the recipe. I know that you (Sheryl) despised Dad's "clam chowder," but I liked it for a while just for the nostalgia and used to make it that way myself. It's actually more of a clam soup, and I made it for some friends that just loved it. I'll post the recipe if anyone is interested. Mind you, it's not Dad's recipe, since I don't think he ever wrote it down. It's just my approximation of it.

These days, I carry on the family tradition with my own clam chowder recipe, and have it on more than my children's opinion that it is good stuff. Once I got out in the world and had real clam chowder it was just as eye-opening as evenly cooked grilled cheese sandwiches, which I almost never burn on one side, though I have definitely learned how much skill it takes to make a proper grilled cheese.

Now the only debate remaining is whether the perfect soup for grilled cheese is tomato or chicken noodle. For those of you that read this and don't know how to respond to indicate your having read it, this gives you a nice neutral option: just place your vote. My vote goes to chicken noodle.

I still hate navy beans, no matter how anyone cooks them.

I don't see why the soups would be assumed to be Campbell's. I know you have an almost compulsive need to do everything your way, but really, the poll question was intended to include only the two soups mentioned. I'll state it more specifically:

"Between tomato and chicken noodle soup, which is better as an accompaniment to grilled cheese sandwiches, burnt or otherwise?"

As for the cooking in the Polander household, while I am in your camp in that it wasn't great, I don't quite have the emotional scars it seems to have given you. Regardless of the quality of the food, I am quite thankful that there always was food. Given the effort it took to be able to feed that many mouths, I can forgive them for not having time to take cooking classes.

Considering Mom's upbringing, both being as dysfunctional a story as I have ever heard, and having been in the land of bland, I give her credit for enormous improvement as a cook. You may have made a lot of your own food as a teenager, but you didn't have to buy any of it yourself, and you had plenty of cookbooks to reference for your recipes, which is evidence that someone was at least trying to learn more about how to cook.