Savoring a treat.

We rarely had "junk food" available at our house. Soda was on hand only when we entertained: Dad used 50/50 or Canada Dry Ginger Ale to mix high balls. Potato chips appeared only during birthday parties. I so envied classmates who had little bags of Fritos and Jay's Potato Chips tucked in their lunchboxes. The absence of "junk food" didn't arise from a focus on healthy eating. After all, Tatjana often cooked with instant soup and Jell-O. I think we didn't keep "junk food" in the house because that was the type of food Americans, not Lithuanians, ate.

 
Mom occasionally accommodated my taste for American-style snacks. She sometimes let me select a "$100,000 Bar" or a Slo Poke during our Thursday trips to the grocery store. She also occasionally indulged my favorite after-school snack: a glass of Hawaiian Punch and a bowl of deli-counter potato salad.

Suburban Chicago, March 1964 . I'm watching television in the Rec Room as I sip a treat. I'm drinking from one of those tumblers from the Jewel Food Store.