Posted to (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Bulletin Board, June 1, 2003

CUISINE NOSTALGIQUE

Poet X of PDX: "Subject: Toilet Paper for Dinner!

 
   


"A favorite food in my youth was a German dish Grandma made, strudla (pronounced SHTREW-d'la). Unlike my parents' generation, our generation was not taught German as children. It's part of why I had difficulty pronouncing some everyday foods. (German was saved as a 'private' language to be used when parents and grandparents didn't want to be understood by children. What a cruel parenting method.)

"Strudla is made by taking a flour-and-egg-and-water dough, rolling it thin as can be rolled with a rolling pin, then spreading lard onto it and putting it onto your hands and wrists, pizza crust-style, and spreading the dough even thinner. Grandma could get it so thin you could nearly see through it. Put onto a table and rolled into a log, the dough was cut in 3-inch segments, which were then steamed above potatoes over a low heat.

"It's not the usual way to eat them, but the rolls can be unrolled again when they're served. As a child, it was something I liked to do and led to my name for the difficult 'strudla': Toilet Paper! Grandma got such a tickle out of that that we called it Toilet Paper for years afterward.

"I sure miss my Grandma — and her toilet paper, too."





 
   

Band Name of the Day: Grandma and Her Toilet Paper