OLEO

My friend Patty requested that I email a copy of my recipe for "Banana Split Cake". She called me later and told me that her husband Chuck was getting the ingredients ready for the cake and she heard him "chuckling" (that's laughing for guys named Chuck!) and when she asked him what was funny, he asked, "How old IS Sue?" When Patty told him that she and I were the same age, she asked him why he'd asked; he told her that he assumed that I was older as he hadn't heard anyone use the word "oleo" since he was a kid. I'd written "oleo" instead of margarine in the recipe.

I haven't uttered the word OLEO since!

OLEO STORY # 2: I was at Kroger and a young woman was beside me at the dairy case and she mumbled, in exasperation, "I don't know what this is." I asked her what it was and she showed me a list of groceries written in a scrawl and she told me that she was getting groceries for her grandmother. Her grandmother had wisely written the list by sections: 1. Produce, 2. Canned Goods, 3. Deli, 4. Dairy. The young woman pointed to the word "OLEO" which was clearly written and said, "She has this in dairy." I said, "Oh, that's margarine." The young woman said, "Well, why didn't she write that?" I told her that her grandmother no doubt grew up saying that, as I had, and then I gave a probably boring recitation of how margarine was originally "oleomargarine" and that when my mother was young, the oleomargarine came in white blocks with a packet of yellow food coloring to mix with it to make it butter-colored! The young woman laughed and said, "I thought she wanted Oil Of Olay!"

OLEO STORY # 3: Another time I was in Kroger and two young guys were unloading and stocking margarine and I heard one say to the other, "Man, this old guy got mad at me because he asked where the OLEO was that was on sale and I told him I didn't know what that was." The other guy said, "Well, what is it?" The first guy said, "He said it's butter." Of course, I had to be helpful and bore those two young guys with the history of oleomargarine!

BANANA SPLIT CAKE**

1 1/2 packages cinnamon graham crackers, crushed finely
1 stick OLEOMARGARINE, melted
1/4 cup sugar
Mix together and press firmly into a 9x13 glass dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool completely.

2 packages (3.5 ounces) instant vanilla pudding
2 cups milk
Beat thoroughly.

Add:
4 cups Cool Whip
Mix thoroughly.

Slice 4 bananas and fold into pudding mixture. Pour onto cooled crust.
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple (thoroughly drained)
Spread pineapple over pudding mixture.

1 small jar maraschino cherries, thoroughly drained and cut into quarter pieces.
Drop evenly on mixture.
Spread a layer of Cool Whip on top.
Drizzle chocolate sauce attractively on top.
Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Cover and refrigerate; let set at least 4 hours until well chilled.

**My brother Norman's favorite dessert I make.