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    Winner of the 2008 Food Writing Contest

    By PDX Food Dude Last Update April 20, 2018 2 Comments

    The winner of our 1998 contest is Granny Moon for this terrific story:

    skillet pan of fried potatoesBreakfast, when I was a kid, was a weekend event – cold cereal before school didn’t count. And every weekend it was pretty much the same thing. Daddy would get out his cast iron skillet, place it on the gas stove and start frying. Always eggs. Sometimes bacon, occasionally ham – and if it were fishing season there would be freshly caught rainbow trout from his 4 am jaunt on the lake.

    But the thing I remember most was his fried potatoes. If I were really lucky he would grate them, then dump them in the hot grease and make them oh so crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I’ve tried forever to duplicate that. 4 out of 5 times I almost get it. That 5th time is heaven. Makes my arteries harden just to think about it…

    Daddy grew older and ended up having a triple bypass. But he never lost his love of fried potatoes. When he reached the age of 88, I moved to Tucson and lived with him and my stepmom. Over the course of 16 months, I perfected the fried potato. Not the grated wonder that my dad turned out; but a thin sliced, perfect circle of crispness. With a soft center that melted in your mouth.

    I would get up at 6 am when Daddy came out of his bedroom to get the newspaper, and we would have a cup of coffee together while I peeled a couple of small potatoes. Then I would slice and fry them up – using that same cast iron skillet and a gas stove. When I served them to him in his recliner, he would eat them with his fingers – savoring every bite.

    My stepmom always said that I was spoiling him. But I like to think that I was feeding his spirit – transferring the love that he gave his baby girl right back to him, by way of a fried potato.

    You’ll find the runners-up here.

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    Category: Contests and Competition, Food Writing.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. LadyConcierge says

      October 27, 2008 at 8:02 am

      Congratulations! That was a nice piece.

      Reply
    2. Granny Moonstar says

      October 30, 2008 at 12:11 pm

      Thank you, LadyConcierge, for your comment.

      Food Dude, I tried sending an email through the website – is there a more direct way of reaching you???

      Reply

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