Evidence of Midwestern Girl

Sometimes I feel like I've lost my Midwesternness.

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Boston has gotten to me. I'm a little sharper than I used to be. Maybe a little more pretentious. I admit it. Definitely, a little more jaded.

But from time to time, I notice the Midwestern girl coming through.

Exhibit A: The woman at doggie daycare busted my chops for about the 6th time this month. I was 5 minutes late about 4 weeks ago and she won't let it go. It's been getting on my nerves. So what did I do yesterday in response to her teasing? Smiled and changed the subject to the weather.

I think she got the hint because today she didn't say anything.

Exhibit B: I was asked to bring my special dish to a pre-Thanksgiving meal. As much as I'm into sustainable food and all that lately, this morning I whipped up a huge tray of traditional green bean casserole for 30 people.

The recipe? Buy a large aluminum tray. Dump in 5 big cans of French style green beans, 2 big ole' cans of cream of mushroom soup, a few cups of milk, some pepper, and a generous helping of those yummy fried onions in a can. Stir. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350. Open a second can of fried onions, and sprinkle on some more. Bake awhile longer.

Perfection.

I actually tried to make a homemade, non-canned foods version of this once. It was an abysmal failure. Since then, I've just gone back to my roots on this one.

When it comes to certain things, you can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl.

2 comments:

Heidi said...

I love it.

Have you read the new Lorrie Moore book "A Gate at the Stairs"? The main character has some very Midwestern traits...things I see in myself that I never thought of before, and it's funny.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sara said...

Sounds good! I'll check it out!