Avengers Forever issue #11 page 16

How to make dad's cereal

Cereal is such an American thing. But its convenience...oh my gosh. Not just for parents, but as a kid to be able to grab a bowl and sit in front of the tv for a bit before school...golden. But, I grew up in a different time and having done so with parents new to the concoction it's intro to the breakfast table was glorious. I say all this because I didn't grow up with the cereal you guys and gals ate. It's convenience was not always so cuz with my dad being a cook, and foreign to this country, we had to make our own cereal and that cereal was...different, and golden and glorious for me. And I'm going to break down my dad's four part receipt here and now...

1. Bread – sounds simple enough, but this is where the convenience of dad's cereal can sometimes be a drag. We couldn't just reach for a bag of Wonder Bread. The bread needed to be a bit dense and there is nothing better than stale Italian loafs for dad's cereal. Growing up we had a bakery a couple blocks away, and first thing Tuesday morning meant me or my brother had to trek out there for the first ingredient, the base of our breakfast. Through a door in the back we came across the ladies emptying 50 pound bags of flour into mixers prepping for the days stock. Couple of really hard pinches on the cheeks later and I would walk out that back door arms wrapped around one those emptied 50 pound flour bags filled with day old bread. It would be enough to last us the week! And with that my dad would cut the bread into one inch squares and fill our bowls.
2. Sugar – Oh how I miss that real granulated sugar. I don't really hit that drug much nowadays but as a kid to have my dad reach up and bring down that five pound bag of sugar, roll back the paper and spoon that pure snowy white addiction onto all those golden chunks, the best.
3. Coffee – Every morning my mom would take out and percolate a pot of coffee. Nothing like the smell of boiling coffee on the stove, seeing that small thumbnail glass window at the top of the pot spouting coffee randomly throughout its brew. HOT is how you needed your coffee cuz as you pour it over the sugar it melts its way into every tiny nook and cranny of that bread.
4. Milk – you can't just dive in now...that cereal is still hot and my patients is hot too. So once you've worked your spoon a bit to mix that liquid sweet coffee into your bowl, a cooling pour of milk settles the steam and you can finally pick up your bowl and head to the front of the tv.

Mornings were great and dad's cereal was a nitro blast that kicked sheets off beds. I can't even imagine doing this today! Never a weekend breakfast menu item as my dad loved my mom too much, this was strictly a middle finger to every teacher that had to put up with me and my brother as our wide eyed faces constantly tried to see through all four walls and touch other dimensions as we bounced ourselves to exhaustion. Fun times and I f'ing loved it.

So here, a special place in my gallery...in memoriam of my dad.