Fried Squash

I went to my Weight Watchers meeting this morning (at 7am on a Saturday morning) to discover that I had lost 4.8 pounds this week. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I was wearing my air cast last week when I weighed in, but chose not to wear it today. So that probably accounts for at least 2-3 pounds of that. Regardless, for the first time in weeks, I actually lost weight rather than gained weight in the course of a 7-day stretch. I am more than a little thrilled.

My weight loss this morning was even sweeter because I went into my meeting convinced that I had "blown" the week. Last night, as is typical on a Friday night these days, I was tired and bored and missing Ruanita and ready to begin the weekend. I had picked a freakishly large yellow squash from my garden the night before and was trying to decide what to do with it. In a moment of weakness, I decided to fry it...the way my Kentucky mom and her Kentucky mom and her Kentucky mom before her cooked squash. So I sliced it into thin disks, dipped the slices in milk, dredged them in cornmeal, and fried them up in a skillet with a hefty dose of salt of pepper. I have probably not had fried squash in several decades...perhaps even since I was a child...but the taste was instantly familiar to me. It tasted like Kentucky. It tasted like hot, sticky summers. It took me back to barbecues in my backyard, surrounded by family. It made me think of my grandma and her love of charred hot dogs off of the grill...we always had to burn one or two to a crisp for grandma. It made me think of church picnics on the muggiest nights of the year. It took me back to digging in the dirt under the slides at Legion park. It took me back to sprinklers and backyard kiddie pools. Catching lightning bugs after dark. "Tenting out" in the Murphys' backyard. Swimming with my cousins at Miller's Lake. In essence, it tasted like my childhood. And that fried squash was THE single most delicious thing I have tasted in years.

I think I will try fried green tomatoes this weekend. Mmmmm.