Liver and Onions, Yuk! (from my book)

Friday's were interesting days at our house. It was the end of the school week and the beginning of the weekend. Friday was also Dad's payday at work and that meant we got to go grocery shopping with our parents.

"Mom, what's for supper?" my oldest brother would ask every afternoon upon coming in the house after school. Our thoughts would go to hamburgers or hot dogs, the favorite fare of children. Sometimes Mom would tell us meatloaf, pork chops, fish or chicken. Once in awhile we'd have a casserole.

Yet sometimes she'd say, "Daddy is bringing meat home for tonight's supper, probably liver."
"Not liver again, " our collective voices would ring out. She'd just smile at our response to the news and continue getting the rest of the meal prepped. We'd hold out hope that Dad would surprise us and not bring liver home. But, when he walked in with a pagkage of it in his hands, all thoughts of a good meal were dashed. I think they chose this meal for Friday nights since it was quick and easy to make.

Once Dad came home and Mom got the liver and onions in the fry pan she'd call the older girls to set the table. If we had been given the choice whether to eat the liver or go without, we probably would have skipped supper altogether. That, however, was not an option and we understood we'd have to eat the meal.

Once we knew there was no choice, our little minds tried to rationalize that it wasn't so bad. After all, our parents didn't make us eat wild game such as deer, rabbit, or squirrel like some of our cousins did. But to us, liver was almost as bad. Ick!

We didn't get beef liver. No, we were lucky enough to have PORK liver! It was more dense and grainy than the beef. Six children sat at the table trying to find ways not to eat the dreaded pork liver. Jen and I were lucky because Mom usually gave us small a piece as she could find, but that was still too much. I'm sure my parents knew this was a healthy meal, but we were, nonetheless, very unhappy children. The meal progressed slowly and somehow we finally managed to eat the liver.

"Come on kids, let's finish up and do the dishes so we can get to the grocery store before it closes," Mom would say. We hurried, as we were very happy to go grocery shopping after supper. Once in awhile Mom and Dad would buy us a bag of candy bars for a treat later in the evening.

Occasionally, after our shopping was finished, we'd get to stop by the meat market. We liked this stop. Frank, the owner, or Shorty, his helper, would give each of us a hot dog from the cooler. On the night's when we had liver and onions for supper, that hot dog tasted almost as good as an ice cream cone. It felt like our reward for eating the liver and onions.