What's your first food memory?
My first memory of food is of my mother baking bread. She would spend the entire day making dough, waiting for it to rise, punching it out, and braiding it and baking it. I'm not sure why she made bread, but it must've been the process. I remember the way that the house smelled like yeast. We lived at 5 McCormick on a cul-de-sac. Almost every house had kids. The ones that didn't were avoided.
This photo was taken when we lived in Venice. You can see an ancient appliance behind me, and my own monogrammed apron. My mom was the best.
Tell me your first food memory...what better way to kill the rest of your Friday?
posted by Sarah @ 3:12 PM
10 Comments:
Sarah, I'm a friend of Kristin's in New York. She shared your blog with me and I love it! My first food memory is from Winona Mississippi where my mother's parents lived. In Winona everyone worked in the farming industry (or so it seemed to me at age 4). Most of the men in my family owned farms. Every morning we would get up before sunrise to go get biscuits at the local diner / truckstop and grandpa would drop us back at the house before heading to work. A couple of hours later the women would all gather in Grandma's kitchen to start preparing a feast that always included butter beans, buttered rolls, mac & cheese, ambrosia, and some sort of fried meat. It was a site that would make Paula Deen squeal. The farmers would come for LUNCH and we would eat like it was Thanksgiving dinner. Afterwards everyone would visit before heading back to the farms. I haven't thought much about this in years. How funny though, that Winona, MS in all its glory had such a European approach to meal time!
Hi Sarah,
My first food memory is my father's yellowtail fish in soy sauce. As you can see, traditionally and currently men are the cooks of the home. But I can fix simple lunch and breakfast. :-)
This is the Wei, by the way.
Hi Sar-
It's fun to watch you "stir" up everyone's food memories.
I actually started the bread making when your Dad bought me the Kitchen Aid Mixer with a dough hook. It was almond to match the Irvine kitchen in the early eighties. I still have it as you know though it doesn't see the light of day very much anymore.
Love, Mom
Jenny-what an awesome memory...it sounds like the kind that has so many smells that come along with it. One thing I would love to do is learn how to cook from a Southern grandmother....thanks so much for sharing your memory! ~Sarah
Wei-that sounds so yummy! Thanks so much for sharing! ~Sarah
Sarah....I LOVE that picture. It makes me want to start having children so I can cook with them! My first food memory.... I remember sharing a birthday cake Grandma Curwood make Betsy and I. It seems to me that we were dressed up in something funny too. The coolest thing about this cake was how grandma decorated it. She melted chocolate down and somehow used real leaves to make chocolate leaves. I think she used foil to aid in her process. I remember looking at those chocolate leaves and not wanting to eat them because of they were so unique. I still want to make my own chocolate leaves to decorate a cake....complete with veins running though them and all!
Becky,
You'll make the best mother some day...I'll take lessons from you about how to raise my children. I love that memory-it shows how much your grandmother loved you-that even as a child she took the time to create those special touches. If you ever learn how to make the leaves, fill me in. Miss you much, Sarah
My first food memories are filled with Grandma and Grandpa Pearse in the kitchen in Irvine for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Grandpa really took control in the kitchen, but I remember him telling me what he was doing.....I wish I could remember all of what he said because this year will be my first experiment of cooking a turkey in my new home for my new husband! Hopefully no more kitchen fires! ~Christianne
Hey, Sarah, I'm enjoying reading your blog...sounds like you're always on the go, discovering and living life to the fullest. I love to see/hear about it.
I don't have one single food memory, but a collection, which includes:
Grandma Dee making Oppalpuffers (sp?), which is a Pennsylvania Dutch apple dumpling...great with pork. You should ask her for the recipe, but DO NOT serve it to Unlce Jack;
Grandpa Yuk making his famous baked eggs in the shell, smothered in cheese, crumbled sausage, chives, salt and pepper...a sure path to a heavenly heart attack;
Grandma Dee making the best no-cook strawberry jam, which we ate on everything...bread, toast, of course, but also cereal and ice cream...so sweet you could actually feel the sugar grains melt in your mouth!;
and in Jr. High, I took a cooking class and Grandma helped me (as always) make Cream Puffs and homemade caramels from scratch! Even she remembers that!
Thanks for stirring up those memories. Like Christianne, I also remember Grandpa's holiday meals...I'd say you inherited quite a healthy dose of his love of food and the joy it brings to a gathering of people. Put that together with your mom's flair for hospitality and great food and I can see you'll be creating fabulous food memories for years to come. That's heart-warming. It's always nice to start the day with a smile!
Post a Comment
<< Home