Just Ain't the Same

I love the Dollar Store.  You have to watch what you buy, for lots of the merchandise is junk.  But now and then I find really good deals.  Coffee is one of them.  As I go through coffee by the gallon and because I am not a coffee snob, (If it looks like coffee and smells like coffee and sort of tastes like coffee, I'm happy.) I buy my coffee at the Dollar Store.  Food for my pets is cheaper there as well as some other things I use on a regular basis.

So a few weeks ago I was browsing the shelves at my local Dollar Store and saw some canned ham.  My Dad used to buy a canned ham once in a while when I was a kid.  It was good.  He would slice it up and fry it to go with pancakes and eggs or for sandwiches.  So I bought one.  Nice to have on the shelf if I had a craving for ham.

Today I decided to have ham and eggs for breakfast.  I opened the ham.  Didn't really look like the canned ham I remembered.  Popped it out of the tin.  Didn't smell like I remembered, either.  Started to slice it.  It was sort of like trying to slice canned Alpo.  So rather than waste it, I decided to try to make sandwich spread out of it.  I mushed it up, added some onion, pepper, a little sweet relish and mayo.  Mixed the whole works up.  Slathered on a slice of bread.  Took a bite.

Dollar Store canned ham makes Spam look like fillet mignon.  My Yorkie, Jessie Jane, is the consummate trash hound.  Can't leave anything even vaguely resembling edible within her reach.  She can tunnel into a trash bag filled with garbage waiting to go out to the dumpster, quicker than you can blink.  Good thing she is short or nothing on the table or kitchen counters would be safe.  I dropped a little chunk of the meat (if that's what it was, minus the mayo, etc.) on the floor for her.  She wouldn't touch the stuff.  This is the same dog who would dine from the kitty litter box, given the opportunity!

I guess I should have known better, but the memories of that canned ham meal my Dad would make were still strong, and hope does spring eternal.  But sometimes hopes are dashed.  It just ain't the same.