/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>20461949
(continued) Anyway, one night Granddad came home with a big wet package under his arm, wrapped in brown butcher's paper and tied up with string. He mumbled something about getting an amazing deal at the market where he bought his Schlitz beer, and he wanted to stock up for some weekend barbecues. The package went into the basement chest freezer without further comment. (Years later, he remembered waking up in the middle of the night to find his grab crying in the hallway outside the bathroom, completely nude with the bottle of whiskey from under the kitchen sink, the bottle they all pretended wasn't there.) But otherwise, it was an idyllic summer. The family didn't have much money and couldn't normally afford to invite neighbors over for barbecues... but this year, they seemed to have new guests every week, at first with mirth and joy. But the package in the freezer gradually shrank as chops, ham, sausages, and pork medallions were cooked up and served on the rusty but reliable Weber kettle grill. As supplies dwindled, Granddad got more moody. Dad chalked it up to problems at work, but in hindsight, now he wonders. Granddad actually hadn't been to work in weeks. Apparently he would just drive out to the quarry and drink Schlitz for the day in the hot summer sun, with the windows rolled up in the old Chrysler, it must have been boiling inside without A/C. At the last barbecue on Labor Day, Dad was playing in the yard and suddenly heard screaming.
>EAT IT!
>I SAID EAT IT!
and Grandma quickly rushed him inside with an ashen face and a desperate tone of voice that admitted no argument. There was more shouting, and a crash as the Weber grill got knocked over, and the wail of police sirens, and at night, quiet weeping in the basement. When Granddad came back after a few years, he was different somehow. He smiled a lot, but the smile never reached his eyes. And we never, ever, ever ate ham again. That's how I got my nickname, Jimmy the Jew.

>>19255171
Potlucks are for high trust societies populated by people with high levels of orderliness. We no longer live in a high trust society populated by people with high levels of orderliness

>>19083337
It was a better time.