It’s 1971. I have a 2-room apartment and I’m ready to get cooking. The gas stove is the first I’ve ever seen, and the faint reek of gas permeates the apartment, on the top floor of a drafty old rooming house. I have to wash dishes in the sink of the bathroom down the hall. I discover ramen noodles, buy tart small apples cheap by the bagful, and mostly live on cereal and toast. I am anemic. I solicit recipes for simple basic things, and this is one that hasn’t changed in a long long time.

Mix one-fourth cup (3 Tablespoons) vinegar, same amount of milk, and half a cup of Miracle Whip. Add salt and pepper and a big squirt of mustard.

Cut 3 large potatoes into chunks half an inch or smaller. Boil till barely done – don’t overcook them.

Hardboil 6 eggs. Rinse, shell the eggs, cut them up.

Mix well, salt to taste, wave the pepper shaker at it. Chill.

I often add some unsweetened plain yogurt to this, and you can replace some or all of the vinegar with lemon juice.

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