993 - Friday Food Flashback

To start the long weekend, our offices closed early today at 2. It's one of the perks of working for a small company that the boss can just decide to do this. Granted, it would be nice if he'd let us know in advance so we could plan for it, but we tend to not complain as we dash out the door.

The best thing about getting off early from work is the feeling that you've got some kind of "free" time that you didn't have before. As you move through the next couple of hours, it feels like you're playing some kind of hooky - even though it's company-sanctioned.

I had skipped lunch today since I figured I'd just get something when I got home, and after a quick trip to the grocery store, I did decide to have something to eat.

There was plenty of stuff I could have munched on, but I decided to go with one of my favorite summer foods - oatmeal and brown sugar.

No. This isn't cooked oatmeal with brown sugar. This is "Quick Oats" (the flat stuff from the cardboard can) with actual brown sugar, mixed together and eaten cold/dry. And, if you're doing it right, it's eaten out of a coffee mug.

I have no idea where my mother came up with this food. I do know that when I was growing up it was her way of getting the kids (or at least the youngest kid - me) out of the house for a little while. She'd put about a cup of oatmeal and a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar into a (plastic) mug, and send me out to sit on the back steps (or, more often, the swing set) to eat it with a spoon.

As I've gotten older, I have come to occasionally add other things to it. Coconut is a nice addition, because it's just slightly different from the texture of the oatmeal. Chocolate chips are nice because... well... they're chocolate chips. But the main thing is the oatmeal and brown sugar - and the mug.

I'm sure that, way back when, the mug was the main choice because it was easier to hold than a bowl, but you could still use a spoon with it. These days, the mug is just part of the ritual of it.

So today I had my short workday, my pseudo-hooky, and my mug o' oatmeal and brown sugar (with a scattering of chocolate chips). If that's not the perfect way to start a long weekend, then I don't know what is.