One of our grandfather’s favorite things to do was play solitaire. He used to sit down and really take his time. He’d play until the birds started chirpin’ (we hated those freakin’ birds). He was real OCD about it too. He had to have his big glass of cold water that said “Dom” on it and, of course, a big pile of pumpkin seeds. Now, he didn’t just put all the seeds in his mouth at once like most people. No. Our grandfather would put each shell in his mouth, crack it, and put the seed on the table. Then he’d continue playing solitaire and go to the next seed, put it in his mouth, crack the shell, pull the shell out, take the seed out, and put it on the table. He’d wait until he had like a hundred seeds outta the shell before he actually ate ’em. It was like his reward for workin’ so hard to get those seeds out. A lot of times he bought his seeds at the store, but whenever we’d make jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween, he’d just clean off the pumpkin seeds, salt ’em to death, and roast ’em in the oven.
1 pound unshelled pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons salt
¼ cup olive oil
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a medium saucepot, bring just enough water to cover the seeds to a boil. Add the pumpkin seeds and boil for 4 to 5 minutes.
Drain the seeds and spread them evenly on a baking sheet. Coat them with the salt and olive oil and roast for 10 minutes or until they’re lightly browned.
SERVES 1
This was something we ate all the time as a snack. We’d take a whole sleeve of Nabisco graham crackers, crack ’em up into a bowl, pour cold milk on top, let the crackers get all mushy, and eat it like it was cereal. This is not somethin’ to be taken lightly—it’s not some half-assed recipe we cooked up as kids. This is like the best bread puddin’ you ever had. If you didn’t know what it was and they served it to you at one of Thomas Keller’s restaurants, you’d rave about it. No joke.
1 box of graham crackers, preferably Nabisco
1 gallon of whole milk
Crush up one sleeve of the graham crackers into small pieces and put them in a bowl. Pour the milk on top, mash it all together, and eat.