Although learning to thread a sewing machine turned out to be handy, I couldn't see the point of learning how to make a "tuna melt" (ugh) or why I needed to be taught how to make fruit salad.
I was dying to get into the woodworking/machine shop--but shop classes were for boys only, just as "Home Ec" was for girls. No exceptions. So I convinced the girls in my grade eight class to stage a mini-protest under the guise of an April Fool's Day joke.
The morning of April 1st, we convinced the boys to go to Home Ec, while the girls went to shop class. The Machine Shop teacher was not amused. He warned us not to touch any tools or machinery and made us sit where we were for the entire period, hands folded, doing and saying nothing.
Meanwhile, having learned that the girls had engineered the "switch," the Home Economics teacher postponed our "tuna melt" lesson for our next session and had the ingredients for strawberry shortcake sent from the grocery store across the street.
Just as we completed our miserable hour of sitting in silence in Shop, one of the boys, licking whipped cream off his face, delivered a large piece of whipped cream and strawberry-topped cake to the Shop teacher. We girls silently burned with the injustice of it all.
On April Fools Day, I can't help but remember how we were silenced and "put in our place" and I'm thankful for the feminist movement and that my daughters and my son all took both Family Life and Shop classes a generation later.
And I thank my father for having the foresight to teach me to do my own basic repairs and how to use a drill.
By the way, this isn't my Home Economics teacher's cheese souffle recipe.
This one originated in a 1971 collection of recipes a group of women in Miami Beach put together to raise money for a cancer treatment centre.
Golden Potato Puff Souffle
- 3/4 cup grated medium or old cheddar cheese
- 2 cups hot mashed potatoes
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1-1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. minced onion
- 2 tbsp. minced parsley (optional)
Combine grated cheese, mashed potatoes, sour cream, salt and seasonings.
Beat egg yolks, mix in. Beat egg whites till stiff.
Fold in beaten egg whites gently. Pour into a greased 1-1/2 quart size casserole dish. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven 1 hour. Serve right away.
Tuna Melts
- 1 7 oz. can tuna
- 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. (or more) mayonnaise or Kraft Miracle Whip
- 1 Tbsp. relish OR diced dill pickle
- hamburg buns or English muffins
- grated cheddar cheese or processed cheddar cheese slices
Combine tuna, eggs, onion, celery, mayonnaise and relish in a bowl.
Serve inside buns.
Optional: Spread tuna mixture on sliced halves of buns or muffins and put cheese on top. Place under broiler until the cheese melts.
