Post 300: Back in the Bowl

 

Or… How I Remembered My Most Memorable Dish

By Jeff Salter

Let’s get this 300 thing out of the way before I delve into this week’s topic, “memorable dishes”.

Back at the very dawn of 2011, when I and the original Four Foxes were discussing this group blog (naming it, sketching out a schedule of topics, and settling on our “days”), I never would’ve imagined that I’d still be here 300 posts later. It’s been a fun ride and I hope to continue for many more Hound Days to come.

Memorable Dishes

When I first saw this topic I drew a blank. I’m not much of a “dish” person. I once raised the ire of my wife’s maternal grandmother for proudly and truthfully admitting that I’d just as soon eat out of a tin mess kit as on bone china. [Never said that again, not in front of Robertine Roudebush.] We received some beautiful dishes for our wedding, but – as some of the Foxes have noted this week – those fine pieces are typically used only for very special events or gatherings.

So I still had nothing to write about for this week. It wasn’t until I recalled how our youngest granddaughter – now in kindergarten – was so particular about which sippy cup she drank from and which colored plastic spoons/forks she used… that a flicker of some memory fragment sparked my brain about my own kindergarten-age preferences in dishware.

To be certain that flicker was not just a poorly fired synapse, I consulted my older brother to ask if he recalled. At first, his recollection was merely a vague flicker also, but then it began burning more brightly. Short version: we now agree that THIS was my favorite dish when I was in kindergarten, in Macon GA, in the year 1955-56.

This is NOT my personal bowl, of course — merely a representative image.

In 1955, Disney TV showed three episodes of the (quite fictionalized) life of Davy Crockett. And most of America’s boyhood went Davy crazy. Charles and I both had coonskin caps and my mom made us vinyl fringed, cotton “buckskins” from a pajama pattern. Charles also had an official Davy rifle (plastic) and many other Disney merchandising treasures.

My recollection, once again firmly jelled in my brain, is of eating all my cereal, oatmeal, and Malt-o-Meal… from my precious Davy Crockett bowl. It was white, milk glass (made by Anchor Hocking). Can’t recall if it was store-bought or if it was the result of sending in coupons. [Heck, back in those days, it could have come inside a box of detergent!]

Whatever its source, that Davy bowl was likely my companion for hundreds of meals (and probably desserts, when we had them). My brother does not recall what happened to that bowl – or whether we actually had TWO such bowls – although we’ve tracked down all the other Davy merchandise. That makes me suspect it got broken somewhere down the line — perhaps in the family moves from Macon to Covington LA, or Covington to Mt. Pleasant IA, or Mt. Pleasant back to Covington. My mom left some belongings in Coffeeville AL, so it’s conceivable that bowl is among them. Who knows?

At any rate, this Davy Crockett bowl is surely my special dish — the one that made everything taste better.

Question:

Did you have a special dish as a kid? Do you have one now?