Do you remember the first time you ate a tuna fish sandwich? My mom told me about her first tuna fish sandwich experience this afternoon. She said that she must have been nine or ten years old and her school class was going to the park for spring picnic celebration and they were told to bring sack lunches. She remembers her mother packing her a scrambled egg sandwich. I've never had one but it sounds like a good idea for breakfast tomorrow morning. But back to my story, when it was time for lunch and everyone took out their lunches, one of her classmates mothers also brought out a large bowl of tuna fish salad and a loaf of bread to share with everyone.
My mom said that she took a single slice of bread and made herself a fold-over with the tuna salad. She couldn't believe how delicious it was and said she must have eaten five or six more. She was slightly embarrassed when she realized how many she'd eaten. Can't you just picture the sheer joy on her face as she enjoyed her first (second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth) tuna sandwich(es)? I asked her what it was that made her recall this memory and she couldn't say. It just popped into her head. She even remembered that it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day.
I don't remember my own first time eating a tuna fish sandwich but I do remember my mom making tuna salad sandwiches for me and my friends to take with us when we would go to the beach for the afternoon. I wonder now if her making them was inspired by her first experience with a tuna fish sandwich. I remember that I loved eating tuna sandwiches while lying on the sand and listening to the waves softly roll onto the sand. Even now as I think back to those days, remembering the taste of the tuna sandwiches, the sounds of the waves, and the smell of the coconut-scented, Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion I used brings a smile to my face. It too is a happy memory.
My mom's tuna salad was famous in our neighborhood. My parents owned and ran a coffee shop (candy store) and my mom made the tuna. My friend Grace and I used to trade half-sandwiches at lunch very often. Half of my mom's tuna for half of the jaegerwurst sandwich her sent to school with her.
ReplyDeleteAh... the old sandwich swap! Love it!
DeleteI used to make tuna salad for Andy to take toschool for lunch, you would have one for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot about that! But now that you mention it I remember eating them for breakfast. :-D
DeleteI remembering having tuna casserole at a friends house. I gobbled it down and asked for more. Back home, I told my mom I had casserole and loved it. She nearly fainted. #1 I ate something and #2 it was a casserole. She called my friends mom and got the recipe.
ReplyDeleteThere is something especially yummy about tuna salad and tuna casserole! I love that your mom called her for the recipe! :-) I still love tuna casserole but haven't made it in ages!
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