Monday Musings – The Remains

There is always something leftover.
The snow and ice have melted
And soaked into the earth and run down into the creek.
But the azaleas are bent from their weight,
Some branches snapped from the tulip poplar
And lie discarded in the yard.

There is always something that remains.
Coffee cups with a slight residue
In the bottom or a ring marking
The undrunk coffee and left in
The sink overnight.

There is always something unwanted.
Chicken bones, a bit of salad,
A smear of egg on a plate,
The faded teeshirt from last summer –
Worn with so many smiles
And almost like a talisman – at the time.

There is something always that remains.
And though you’ve washed that pink set of sheets
A thousand times, when you make the bed with them,
Your eyes go to that spot,
The semen left behind to dry and crust
After he said he wanted to branch out
And find others more suited to his
Supreme wonderfulness.

There is always something discarded.
The dried rosebuds,
The handwritten notes,
That silly teeshirt he bought
And you wore, almost like a talisman
At the time.

There is always something unused.
Like that beautiful tie
You bought for him the day before he left.
There is always something wasted, unwanted
There is always something remaining,
There is always something discarded.
and this time, it is you.

Tater Cakes

A frugal dish, but highlty satisfying in its simplicity. On Sybaritica’s blog, there is a sinful recipe with the name of “Champ”.  It is a local dish in his/her area.  Basically, mashed potatoes made with scallions and heaped up and hollowed out with a huge amount of melted butter in a sunshine yellow pool in the pool of mashed potatoes.  There was no special name for this in our area, just….mashed taters. A recipe that has spanned generations in my family is called Tater Cakes and would use those leftover mashed potatoes.  Yes I understand it is amazing there would be leftover “Champ” but trust me, on our family dinner table, there would be such a large bowl of mashed potatoes and in the center would be a lake of butter big enough for a toddler to swim in.  So here is the recipe for Tater Cakes.  Don’t blink or you will miss it.

 

RECIPE

Mix leftover potatoes to incorporate all the butter (if any.  Some politically incorrect Southerners would have sipped out that butter with a straw).  Put in a storage container and store in the fridge.  Next morning for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, take the mashed taters out of the fridge. Get a pan nice and hot with a bit of oil.  Scoop out a couple of tablespoons or so of mashed taters, form into a ball, and flatten out.  Dip lightly into some flour and put in the pan.  Repeat. Let cakes  brown delicately and flip over on the other side to finish browning.  Slip cakes onto a plate and serve as a side dish or entree.  You can add a dollop of sour cream, drizzle with ketchup, or just eat as is.  That’s it.

If you didn’t make “Champ”, then fix your recipe of mashed taters.  Put in fridge to chill.  Bring out and mix into the taters some finely minced onion or scallions.  Make cakes and fry.