Today’s Bloganuary prompt is:

Do you have a memory that’s linked to a smell?

I could probably think of many smells that evoke memories, some good, some bad. (Bad = Bourbon St. on any given night). But the one good smell that brings back great memories would have to be the smell of a mess of catfish fillets frying up in a pot on the patio.

That smell brings visions of my dad standing over the pot, dipping the large draining basket into the hot grease, and scooping up a bunch of perfect, golden fillets, shaking the basket a little to make sure as much of the grease as possible goes back into the pot, and then dumping the fish onto a paper-towel-lined plate.

The family would be gathered on the back patio, chatting while he fried the fish. The smell was rich and warm. Daddy would let me sneak a piece now and then before it was time to divvy them up for everyone. His fried catfish fillets were the best. Thin and crispy. I’m salivating just thinking about them.

I don’t have any photos of Daddy frying fish. Don’t have many of him at all, but here are two that capture what he might have looked like on any given day. And for what it’s worth, he was the best dad in the entire universe.

This post is part of the WordPress Bloganuary Challenge for 2023, where everyone participating is provided a writing prompt each day. Today’s prompt was to write about a memory that linked to a smell.