A Hard Find
As a little girl, my grandmother would sometimes buy scallops to accompany our weekly Friday night dinners of fish, hushpuppies, cole slaw, and vegetables of my choosing. My grandmother casually put one on my dinner plate one night. The round disk had been pan-fried and was the same shape, size, and color of the hash browns we used to get at the Hardee's restaurant down the street. The crispy, golden outside encased a piping hot, farinaceous inside that was always a special morning treat. I was amazed that grandma had taken the time to make hash browns for our sea-fare. I popped the "hash brown" into my mouth and was greeted with the bitter, fishy taste of a scallop. I immediately cried foul, and my grandmother explained to me that it was a scallop. Seafood. I was mad at grandma. At the scallop. And my dinner.
Hardee's restaurants are far and few between these days. So are good hashbrowns. I just read a press release about how Hilshire Farms is now teaming up with Hardee's for a brand-new biscuit. I haven't stepped inside a Hardee's for years. I hope they still have those good hashbrowns.