Are you hunkered down inside the house on this gloomy Saturday? The weather sure isn’t conducive for trekking out to buy the vittles for Thanksgiving dinner and I’m sure no one is working on the outside Christmas trimmings either. Despite the ice, which wasn’t so nice, the Wyandotte Christmas Parade went on as scheduled. Of course, Santa was right in his element as were his helpers and trusty reindeer. I know as I watched the recap online from the comfort of my kitchen. As for me, what a treat to sip coffee and listen to the freezing rain pinging the blinds and patio roof. It is a good day to be thankful for your warm house and food in your stomach. I’m not much of a cook … the easier the fare, the better. Some of my Facebook friends snap pictures of their culinary creations and another friend of mine will share details of her daily gourmet menu, all which sound pretty fancy-schmancy and rather complicated to me, but I’m sure they are a gastronomical delight. Last weekend a friend posted that she was stirring up a big batch of sloppy joes and it got me thinking that I was going to make some for myself the first Saturday that I had a little time … today was that day. When I was growing up, my mom made a big dinner every night of the week, including weekends. No rest for her in the kitchen –ever. Sundays were often roast beef or a chicken, with lots of clean-up as I recall. I never remember having easy or fun food on the weekend. No pizza or T.V. dinners, which made me feel a little deprived sometimes, though I certainly never went hungry. It was all practical food that was good for you. When I got to junior high, the school menu had daily hot lunches. My mom packed me a brown bag lunch, four days a week, but a big deal for me was Mondays as they had sloppy joes, corn and potato chips, so my parents gave me lunch money every Monday for this treat. Well, I thought I was in hog heaven. Back in those days, moms rarely worked outside the home, so most of my peers similarly brought a bag lunch but also got to buy the sloppy joe special every Monday. So, I recreated that lunch today which made me feel like a kid again … a kid from some forty plus decades ago. Even though I skipped the potato chips, I had bought pretzel buns which were a bit of a decadent treat. I browned the meat and poured in the Manwich sauce and I kept sampling the mixture while it was simmering on the stove. Mmmmm, and the kitchen still smells wonderful … whiffing that aroma, while I closed my eyes, I was standing in the line at Huff Junior High’s cafeteria, pushing my plastic tray along the rails, my lunch money in my plastic change purse. All I needed was the small carton of chocolate milk with a straw to complete the whole flashback meal. Who says you can’t go back again?