These are gorgeous, Jolene! I love the whole story and sweet photograph of you and your classmates 💓 A funny recipe came to mind just now - my granny Nancy’s chopped olive and walnut tea sandwiches, which I’d have with a cup of tea after school on Friday’s if I visited her. She had the most wonderful parties, always rolling a Chinese carpet out into the garden under her magnolia tree in Santa Barbara, so her friends’ heels didn’t sink in the grass. For “luncheons” she would blend half iced coffee with half (!) heavy cream and simple syrup. A delicious treat. On Sunday nights she made a “chicken pie” (never using the word pot for some reason), which had a dollop of yogurt and a squeeze of garden lemons in the gravy, and no vegetables. This was baked with only the top layer of pastry - the bottom pasty round was cooked separately on a cookie sheet to create a never-soggy bottom crust. She would then serve this de-constructed pie by placing a crispy triangle of crust on the plate, topping it with the filling and top layer, and separately passing vegetables in silver dishes, swimming in butter. Thank you for your story today which brought back a flood of memories ☺️❤️🙏🏻 X, Daphne
Sep 9, 2022·edited Sep 9, 2022Liked by Jolene Handy
JOLENE! First, I was going to get all giddy at the perfect lunch box and how I also eschew-ed peanut butter....and jelly!....however, there is something even more (potentially!) endearing to share as I read on. I though to myself, I also went to an all-girls high school! on Long Island! in a historic convent! Yup, same since-closed ASJ ; )
Utterly delicious post, Jolene! I think I recognize you in that adorable little girl in the center front! I don’t think my mother made us many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as children either and I don’t remember liking them much. Leftover roast beef, salami or tuna was more likely--on the sliced seeded rye my family favored. Those homemade crackers look amazing, especially with the toppings. When (if!) we ever cool down on this coast, I’ll be giving those a try--perfect prep for holiday gatherings!
What a fun post Jolene! I bring my lunch box to work everyday, it's a black insulated hand bag where I keep one or two tupperwares... very boring compared to yours!
Dear Jolene--I love all your posts, but I LOVED this one!!!! My mother often made Ritz crackers with soft boiled eggs. Ah, Ritz crackers! Sweet and salty! They bring back so many memories! Thank you for the recipe, the gorgeous photos. I so loved the photo of you as a little girl in your plaid Catholic School Girl uniform. You were adorable--and you still are! Love,
What memories have surfaced since reading this post! Happy memories of "sack lunches" and my Mom in the kitchen assembling them. I love the picture of you in your classroom, picked you out right away. Unlike you, I love peanut butter. I always have and peanut butter toast is one of my favorite snacks. I do want to make the crackers and hope I can present something as lovely as you have!
Fun article. I myself never liked peanut butter as a kid. I do like as an adult. Love the simple canapés, in this world of tick tick food fad and charcuterie boards the simplicity of your crackers is soothing.
I love endive boats with any manner of stuffings as a canapé.
Oh my--so good to read this, see familiar plaid (!) and the pic of you in school. Your Momma, making special lunches for you, just warms my heart (As the recipient of many soggy PB and frowned banana slices, and a bruised apple... ugh.)
Cream cheese and jelly on crackers!!!! WOW does that ever bring back memories. It was a snack my mom made often for us. Though I haven't had it in years! She also used to make me cream cheese and jelly sandwiches for lunch. One year I had a Raggedy Ann lunch box, another year it was Holly Hobby. I also wore a similar uniform at the school I attended in Brooklyn. Great post!
The cracker recipe is great, thanks for sharing!! Good crackers are weirdly difficult to find here, so maybe I’ll just have to make my own 😊 also love that you were already a tea drinker as a kid...you’re a woman who knows what she likes!!
Jolene, this was completely delightful. (And look at how utterly ADORABLE you were!) I’ve long loved cream cheese and jam on crackers — maybe I will bust this out for dinner tonight 😉
Not sure I'll be making my own crackers anytime soon, but thanks for the time travel back to my own parish school plaid uniform-wearing metal lunch box carrying days. Yes, there were the Friday Frights when you might have had to forgo the bologna sandwich your Mom inadvertently packed. And yes, the thermos would sometimes break, leaving you with a thermos of broken glass and milk. But did those nuns know how to teach! and discipline! 50 in a classroom -- and everyone last one got educated!
These are gorgeous, Jolene! I love the whole story and sweet photograph of you and your classmates 💓 A funny recipe came to mind just now - my granny Nancy’s chopped olive and walnut tea sandwiches, which I’d have with a cup of tea after school on Friday’s if I visited her. She had the most wonderful parties, always rolling a Chinese carpet out into the garden under her magnolia tree in Santa Barbara, so her friends’ heels didn’t sink in the grass. For “luncheons” she would blend half iced coffee with half (!) heavy cream and simple syrup. A delicious treat. On Sunday nights she made a “chicken pie” (never using the word pot for some reason), which had a dollop of yogurt and a squeeze of garden lemons in the gravy, and no vegetables. This was baked with only the top layer of pastry - the bottom pasty round was cooked separately on a cookie sheet to create a never-soggy bottom crust. She would then serve this de-constructed pie by placing a crispy triangle of crust on the plate, topping it with the filling and top layer, and separately passing vegetables in silver dishes, swimming in butter. Thank you for your story today which brought back a flood of memories ☺️❤️🙏🏻 X, Daphne
Speaking of crackers do you remember a recipe for saltines that included soaking them in ice water then baking them on a buttered cookie sheet? Thanks
I want a bite of all those canapés! I also didn’t know that’s what they were called. In French, “canapé” means couch 🛋️!
Great story, Jolene.
I tried to remember what my 1962 lunchbox looked like... then I remembered: I wasn't born yet!
JOLENE! First, I was going to get all giddy at the perfect lunch box and how I also eschew-ed peanut butter....and jelly!....however, there is something even more (potentially!) endearing to share as I read on. I though to myself, I also went to an all-girls high school! on Long Island! in a historic convent! Yup, same since-closed ASJ ; )
What happenstance!
Perhaps an overlap of nuns ! ! ! ! !
Utterly delicious post, Jolene! I think I recognize you in that adorable little girl in the center front! I don’t think my mother made us many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as children either and I don’t remember liking them much. Leftover roast beef, salami or tuna was more likely--on the sliced seeded rye my family favored. Those homemade crackers look amazing, especially with the toppings. When (if!) we ever cool down on this coast, I’ll be giving those a try--perfect prep for holiday gatherings!
These look delicious - and fellow peanut butter haters unite!
What a fun post Jolene! I bring my lunch box to work everyday, it's a black insulated hand bag where I keep one or two tupperwares... very boring compared to yours!
Dear Jolene--I love all your posts, but I LOVED this one!!!! My mother often made Ritz crackers with soft boiled eggs. Ah, Ritz crackers! Sweet and salty! They bring back so many memories! Thank you for the recipe, the gorgeous photos. I so loved the photo of you as a little girl in your plaid Catholic School Girl uniform. You were adorable--and you still are! Love,
Jamie
What memories have surfaced since reading this post! Happy memories of "sack lunches" and my Mom in the kitchen assembling them. I love the picture of you in your classroom, picked you out right away. Unlike you, I love peanut butter. I always have and peanut butter toast is one of my favorite snacks. I do want to make the crackers and hope I can present something as lovely as you have!
Fun article. I myself never liked peanut butter as a kid. I do like as an adult. Love the simple canapés, in this world of tick tick food fad and charcuterie boards the simplicity of your crackers is soothing.
I love endive boats with any manner of stuffings as a canapé.
Oh my--so good to read this, see familiar plaid (!) and the pic of you in school. Your Momma, making special lunches for you, just warms my heart (As the recipient of many soggy PB and frowned banana slices, and a bruised apple... ugh.)
LOVE that you had tea... of course you did!
Cream cheese and jelly on crackers!!!! WOW does that ever bring back memories. It was a snack my mom made often for us. Though I haven't had it in years! She also used to make me cream cheese and jelly sandwiches for lunch. One year I had a Raggedy Ann lunch box, another year it was Holly Hobby. I also wore a similar uniform at the school I attended in Brooklyn. Great post!
The cracker recipe is great, thanks for sharing!! Good crackers are weirdly difficult to find here, so maybe I’ll just have to make my own 😊 also love that you were already a tea drinker as a kid...you’re a woman who knows what she likes!!
Jolene, this was completely delightful. (And look at how utterly ADORABLE you were!) I’ve long loved cream cheese and jam on crackers — maybe I will bust this out for dinner tonight 😉
Not sure I'll be making my own crackers anytime soon, but thanks for the time travel back to my own parish school plaid uniform-wearing metal lunch box carrying days. Yes, there were the Friday Frights when you might have had to forgo the bologna sandwich your Mom inadvertently packed. And yes, the thermos would sometimes break, leaving you with a thermos of broken glass and milk. But did those nuns know how to teach! and discipline! 50 in a classroom -- and everyone last one got educated!