South San Francisco, CA July 28, 2015 By Michael Harris
I was on the last ship built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1965 – 66, the USS Duluth (LPD-6).
We left Brooklyn & the ship was completed in the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
We often went into Cardinal Spellman’s Serviceman’s Club in New York City.
On Sundays the Club Manager made breakfast for anyone who wanted it.
One Sunday morning he failed to show.
Since none of the girls could cook, I took over the job.
I had never cooked eggs or pancakes or bacon before.
I just watched Mom or Grandma Kelly do it many times.
I put an apron over my Dress Blues Uniform.
I was Radioman Third Class at the time.
I cooked eggs sunny side up, over easy, scrambled.
I think I boiled a few. Some guys & gals wanted boiled eggs.
I cooked bacon, crisp or not as ordered.
I made up pancake batter & added eggs to that too.
If we had a waffle iron, I could have used that too.
One of the girls took orders and served the breakfast.
I remember doing this 2 or 3 times as I recall.
One of the girls there was from West New York, NJ.
She had an endless supply of Italian jokes.
I remember a few of them.
No one ever suspected that I had never cooked anything before this.
I usually helped clean up & wash / dry dishes.
The church & club were torn down to make way for a highrise.
The club was in the basement.
We had cadets from both SUNY & USMMA come in now and then.
My closest friend Mike D’Allessandro was an Army Cook / Baker.
Mike is the best cook that I know. Mike just turned 71 this week.
BTW: I invented a way to cook eggs in a microwave.
Buy a $10 frother. Beat up the eggs so there is a lot of air in them.
Cook in a Corning Ware bowl. Use a little oil in the bowl.
Bowl is hard to clean. Eggs come out very fluffy.
Cook with Garlic Powder.
I used to help Grandma Kelly cook her Loganberry Jelly on a wood burning stove in 1950.
I used to light the fires for the stove as well. Children should not be allowed to play with wooden matches.
The stove was called a Trash Burner. I remember Grandma / Grandpa having 2 of them.
The refrigerator was called the Ice Box.
Mom would have been furious. Grandma used to send me to the store for Milk.
One store I had to figure out where it was on foot. I had only been there in Grandpa’s 1939 Studebaker.
When I asked Grandma: Is that all you want? She answered: don’t make the store man rich.
You would never send a 5 or 7 year old out alone in that neighborhood today.
The walk to Kindergarten was a long walk. It must have been 1.5 – 2 miles.
I walked it after Jackie Speier’s last town hall meeting in Ingleside.
It was still a long walk.
My sisters never had the freedom that I had, nor the responsibility either.
They grew up with a sense of entitlement.