Fried Potatoes and Onions

I love fried potatoes! I could probably eat them at any meal in different ways. They are super easy to make, but are a little time consuming.
Ingredients
Potatoes- Red, Gold, Bakers, you decide! I used 5 small to medium red.
1 Small to Medium Onion
4 tbls or more of Vegetable Oil
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Shredded Cheese, Ketchup, Gravy, or whatever else you enjoy on your fried potatoes!

First, rinse your potatoes. Potatoes are a root veggie. So, if you are super "germaphobic," scrub them with a scrubby sponge. I usually don't with red and yellow potatoes. I will if they are baker or russet potatoes, I will get a little more serious about cleaning them.
I don't peel, especially when the potatoes are red or gold. But also, I'm lazy, so, there's that. I got fancy on this and used a Mandolin to cut my onion and potatoes.  This makes slicing go super fast and gives nice even slices. But the potatoes and onion don't need to be perfect. You can also just slice with a knife.
I put a skillet on the stove on medium heat. I put in enough oil to completely cover the bottom of the the skillet, almost a quarter inch deep.

Let the oil heat up for about five minutes. When the potatoes and onions go in, you should hear a nice sizzle. If the oil is too hot, you'll see a lot of smoke! Be careful!
After about five to ten minutes, use a spatula and flip the potatoes, try to get the bottom potatoes on top. In this picture, you can see how the potatoes are browning on the bottom.

Flip the potatoes with the spatula every five to ten minutes depending how done you want them to be. I like a crispy brown on them, so, I let them go closer to ten minutes. I just make sure they are not burning. If you feel they are browning too fast and not getting cooked, lower your heat a little.
When they've cooked along enough, the potatoes should be fork tender. If you are worried about over cooking your onions, put them in the pan at about half way through the cooking process. I don't really worry about that though. They'll be thoroughly caramelized if cooked the whole time.

Usually, I put them on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil off of them, but we were out of paper towel! Fresh out of the oil, and salt, pepper, and/or garlic powder to taste. This time, I only used salt and pepper.

I served these fried potatoes and onions with cheese as a side with my steak. I added ketchup later. This is something my dad made for me often as a kid, especially for breakfast. He was basically my personal short order cook when it came to breakfast. My dad worked in the restaurant industry for years before I was born. He was a store manager of the Frisch's Big Boy in Richmond, IN. He was also the president of the National Restaurant Association, or something like that, or so, I've been told.
Do you have a favorite thing that a parent or grandparent used to cook for you on a consistent basis?