December 15, 2012

Food Fondness and Memories


Happy 10 days before Christmas!!

Hey friends! After reading through some past posts I realize that I share a lot of memories associated with food. It's the same in most posts...I share a memory and then a picture and recipe. I think that is why I am so passionate about cooking or baking. It makes me feel good. It makes me think of the people I care about. It makes me smile. It makes me dance. Wait, pretend I didn't share that. Moving on.. quickly.

I have correlated my life with food so that certain smells and flavors associate to people or events in my life. I can probably rattle off a smell or food that reminds me or relates to a family member or close friend. And there is probably a story to share. It's crazy but true. I'm sure other foodies are the same way but I have yet to hear stories.

If you read my blog, you'll know some of mine. For instance, my husband LOVES peanut butter so I always think of him when I see something that has peanut butter in it, chicken adobo always makes me think of my precious grandma and childhood of her cooking delicious Filipino dishes, the smell of steamed rice also makes me think of grandma and sugar cookies remind me of Christmas decorating and baking with my beautiful mother.

I guess I can share one of my food memories that I haven't mentioned before. The smell of chocolate always reminds me of one of the best times of my life. It brings back fond memories of our honeymoon in Rome in September 2006. We were exploring one evening and walked by this little chocolate shop a few blocks from our hotel in the heart of Rome. It looked like they just sold various chocolates but then we saw a sign that mentioned cafe or snack bar so we ventured down a set of stairs to this tiny cafe with a small list of beverages and sweets available. I went for the milk chocolate and my husband loves dark chocolate. I was assuming it was more of a hot cocoa. I suppose I had not had the pleasure of tasting hot "drinking chocolate" before. We had no idea what we were in for. This stuff was the BEST chocolate I have ever had. They gave us a few little tea biscuits to enjoy with our drink. We both took our time to savor each drop of this liquid gold dessert in a mug.

Now I would love to hear from YOU! I want to know what dishes or even ingredient is attached to some of your memories. Please comment on this post and share so I know you care. It doesn't have to be long, just a snippet of what it is that makes you think of family or a special someone.

I'm anxiously awaiting to hear from you!

2 comments:

Pretend Goddess said...

Great article! I have great memories of making fudge with my dad during the XMAS season while sipping on egg nog. We haven't done that in a few years. This article has encouraged me to change that. Time as we know, is precious.
Making sugar cookies with red and green sprinkles for Santa was always a fun activity.
Currently, I enjoy making cornbread dressing and perfecting it each year. The smell of sage and all the wonderful flavors put a smile on my face.
Because it's the holiday season my memories are only focused on that.

Unknown said...

I love to bake goodies every year because of the closeness I feel when My kids were little they would get their little fingers in and want to help out, They would try to make all kinds of shapes and decorate them,then they couldn't wait to eat them up I love the other special memory i have of my uncle Jerry when i was a little girl it was bedtime and my sister and brothers were told to go to bed and my uncle would come in and get us all and take us to the kitchen table and tell my mother that he needed help to finish the cinnamon rolls and cookies he was making,she gave in and told him not to late though,needless to say we were up till wee hours ot the morning.I was the only one that stayed up the rest of the morning to finish up.By the time we were done we had so many cinnamon rolls and cookies,we had to pass them out to the neighbors because the table for a family of eight was so full that there was no room to sit at. I guess you could say I am still the same way.It is very tiring ,fun and I love it even if I don't have my little helpers around.