Thoughts on toast

Many, many years ago, my family took a vacation to Hawaii and stayed in a condo with a furnished kitchen. The crowning glory of this kitchen, believe it or not, was a toaster. We were disproportionately excited about the toaster because we didn't have one at home. (Is that weird? A trip to Hawaii but we didn't have the most basic kitchen appliance?) Anyway, we all quickly decided that toaster toast was the best toast in the universe. We were eating toast like it was going out of style and going through loaves of bread in a daily basis.

Several years later, we took another family vacation to Hawaii with my mom's sisters. Once again, we stayed in a condo with a furnished kitchen. Once again, the kitchen had a toaster. Only this time we didn't care, because as soon as we'd gotten home from the other vacation, we had acquired a toaster. But one morning one of my aunts was making breakfast and introduced us to fried toast. You make fried toast the same way you make a grilled cheese sandwich...just butter the bread and place on a hot skillet until golden. Once again, we lost our carb-loving minds and ate fried toast every morning. Fried toast with strawberry jam is indescribably delicious.

So what's the point of these little gems from my memory bank? Toast tastes better in Hawaii.

No, I'm kidding. I was reminded of these stories this week when Scott and the kids brought white bread home from the commissary. Normally we eat wheat bread at my house, but since I grew up eating Wonder bread exclusively, seeing that squooshy white bread immediately gave me a toast craving. (Stop laughing. It is entirely possible to crave toast.)

I made cinnamon toast and William lost his ever-loving mind. It's all he could think about, all he could talk about. More toast! More toast!! I think Scott took a sandwich to work one morning, but other than that, the entire loaf of bread was dedicated to cinnamon toast. A store bought loaf of bread usually lasts at least a week around here, but that loaf lasted two days and its replacement didn't fare any better. I even had to refill the cinnamon-sugar shaker and I can't remember the last time I did that.

The best part is how he carries on with joy and gratitude when I make it. "Oh, thank you, Mommy! Thank you!! There's just nothing like cinnamon toast in the morning!" Yeah, and there's nothing like feeling like the best cook in the world because you can broil up some rockin' cinnamon toast.