Ham, Green Eggs, and Stream of Consciousness Saturday

I do not like Green Eggs and Ham
I do not like them Sam I am.

Those lines from Dr. Seuss were the first things I thought of when I saw the prompt for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday post from Linda Hill:

Ham.

I also started humming, “ham, wonderful ham ham ham ham.” As you Monty Python fans know, that’s actually the spam song, but, hey, whatever. I think I’ve tasted Spam once. I know that my Pawpan hated Spam. When he returned from WW II and years eating Spam in Africa, Italy, and France and settled into married life with Meme; they would both say that there was one reason for divorce in the marriage – if Meme ever served him Spam. I don’t think he was serious. But Meme never did cook Spam for dinner for him.

Anyway, Green Eggs and Ham was one of my favorite books for my Mama to read to me when I was a kid. I can still remember most of the pictures and I know that she could recite it from memory. I always was sympathetic to the plight of our hero, tortured by Sam I Am’s constant attempts to get him to try Green Eggs and Ham. Would you at them on a box, would you eat them with a fox? In a house? With a mouse.

I do not like them here or there, I would not eat them anywhere!

Damn right, stay strong!

I always felt slightly disappointed when he caved in the end.

Particularly since, as a child, I had a small groups of food likes – spaghetti, fried chicken, pizza, bacon, O’Grady’s potato chips (whatever happened to those? They were awesome.) – and a large group of dislikes, especially anything green and healthy (barring peas and lima beans).

I spent a long time ignoring the Sam I Am’s of the world, attempting to shove things like brussel sprouts and salad into me. Eat it, it’s healthy! Also, tastes like ass, but, hey, it’s good for you.

Now that I’m a tad bit older, I’m a little more Sam I Am these days. Brussel sprouts are a no go (“but, I’ll cook them in bacon!” people say. Like that’s an enticement. No, that’s just a good way to ruin bacon.). I have been known to suggest salad for supper and I’ll even choke down broccoli because, sigh, it’s good for me.

Anyway.

I loved Dr. Seuss books when I was a kid. And I enjoyed reading them to the girls when they were younger too. I believe that just about all of life’s wisdom is found in “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” and I’ll pull that off the shelf and read it every now and then. The Lorax, Hop on Pop, Horton Hears a Who, Yertle the Turtle (one of Lauren’s favorites), Cat in the Hat, and all the rest. I was also partial to “I Wish That I Had Duck Feet” and “The Best Nest” and “Are You My Mother?”

And spaghetti, fried chicken, pizza, and bacon would probably comprise most of my food groups were I not married to someone who, sadly/happily (I never can quite settle on which it is) likes to eat healthily – barring french fries. Now the spaghetti is likely to have turkey meat and the noodles to be zucchini strips or whole wheat. The “fried” chicken to be baked in the oven. The pizza not to have extra cheese. And I haven’t put an entire packet of bacon on a sandwich in about five years – OMG, mouth . . . watering.

Ham is also one of those words that’s versatile. You can have ham for dinner. Is Deviled Ham actually ham? I wonder. Man, that stuff on a Ritz with a little mayo and square of Kraft single on top – that was good eats when I was a kid. You can be a ham. You can ham it up. Ham was one of Noah’s sons. You can operate a ham radio.

And now I think I’ll spend part of my Saturday reading a Dr. Seuss book or two.