Got your attention didn't I.
Once upon a time, before we were all warned about the dangers of slathering ourselves with baby oil, cooking oil, and all other sorts of oil in the search for the St. Tropaz bronze and brown tan, I couldn't wait for April and May to come around so I could trot down to the corner drug store and purchase my summer supply of Coppertone, Bain de Soleil, and Hawaiian Tropic.
Even in snowy Northern Michigan, there was nothing like opening a bottle a of sun tan lotion to make you believe it was the middle of July again and you weren't being blinded by the sun on the snow but the sun on the sand and lake. I especially loved Hawaiian Tropic because it smelled so fantastic, with its blend of coconut and pineapple smells. It was like taking a pina colada and smearing it all over yourself. It smelled so good, it made you hungry.
Now, every time I smell a pina colada or the combination of coconut and pineapple, I am instantly transported back to the summer of 1978, with the music from the soundtrack from Grease playing over the transistor radio at the end of the dock, and my first serious boyfriend Billy sitting next to me rubbing sun tan oil on my back. He had a powder blue 1975 Chevelle and it still amazes me to this day that my parents even let him date me let alone sit alone on the dock with me. But I digress...
Today at lunch, while I caught up on the past three weeks of "unimportant" email I had been ignoring, I opened a container of Dannon Light & Fit Pineapple Coconut yogurt. Instantly, I was not trapped in my office, a slave to my computer and my job but rather I was a carefree fifteen again and the only thing I was responsible for was making sure my room was clean and my homework was done. For just a few minutes, the weight of adulthood wasn't on my shoulders any more.
Who says you can't be fifteen again.
What food smells bring back childhood/teenage memories for you?
Showing posts with label Summer Foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer Foods. Show all posts
Friday, October 30, 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
Good Southern Cooking or How I'm becoming Paula Deen
I'm home from my business trip/mini vacation to Southern Virgina and Northeastern Tennessee and as usual, I had some fantastic food while visiting. I also discovered two of the best kept secrets of Tennessee, strawberries and tomatoes.
It is the peak of the strawberry season and this morning, before departing Bristol. TN to head back home to Connecticut and LB, I stopped off the local farm stand down from the family homestead for some strawberries and tomatoes. The strawberries didn't even make it to the Pennsylvania border. Scratch that, didn't make it to Lexington, VA.
Somewhere outside of Blacksburg, I started just eating one because they were smelling so sweet, it was just too tempting. The next thing I knew, I was rummaging around the bottom of the brown bag like I was looking for that last french fry. I also had red fingers and strawberry juice stained lips; real attractive to the drive through guy at the Roanoke Starbucks, I'm sure.
Did you know that some of the best tomatoes come from Tennessee? I didn't until this trip down South. After munching on slices of the early tomatoes out on Wren's mother's back porch while we had our afternoon adult libation, I was a convert. It was late summer in my mouth. Sweet and crisp, I could have eaten one just like an apple. I liked them so much, that I had to also pick up a tomato plant yesterday to bring home and plant out back. I can't wait until August.
My trip down south also included a trip out to Hampton, TN on the North Carolina border to Shirley's Home Cooking, a family style restaurant where we feasted on just about the best fried chicken I've ever had. Seriously.
I could have eaten two whole chickens if I also hadn't "had" to have some country ham and roast beef along with some mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, soup beans, macaroni & cheese, fried apples, cole slaw, cooked cabbage, and cornbread salad (yuck).
The meal also included soft slightly sweet yeast rolls, Southern corn bread (white cornmeal and slightly salty versus yellow corn meal slightly sweet Northern corn bread), and buttermilk biscuits. The mac and cheese was runny and I'm not a big fan of cornbread salad but the soup beans (i.e. cranberry beans) were out of the world and the cooked cabbage was very good too. The fact that both of them were seasoned with bits of country ham probably had no bearing on my liking those two dishes best of all the sides.
Finally, it has only taken ten years, but I am convinced that iced tea should be served sweet with three slices of lemon and a sprig of mint and I have in my suitcase about forty hand written family recipes from Wren's mom, his aunts, and grandmothers including the family recipe for angel biscuits.
Tonight, I caught myself saying "Y'all" while standing in the deli line at ShopRite. Can deep frying a block of butter be that far off?!
It is the peak of the strawberry season and this morning, before departing Bristol. TN to head back home to Connecticut and LB, I stopped off the local farm stand down from the family homestead for some strawberries and tomatoes. The strawberries didn't even make it to the Pennsylvania border. Scratch that, didn't make it to Lexington, VA.
Somewhere outside of Blacksburg, I started just eating one because they were smelling so sweet, it was just too tempting. The next thing I knew, I was rummaging around the bottom of the brown bag like I was looking for that last french fry. I also had red fingers and strawberry juice stained lips; real attractive to the drive through guy at the Roanoke Starbucks, I'm sure.
Did you know that some of the best tomatoes come from Tennessee? I didn't until this trip down South. After munching on slices of the early tomatoes out on Wren's mother's back porch while we had our afternoon adult libation, I was a convert. It was late summer in my mouth. Sweet and crisp, I could have eaten one just like an apple. I liked them so much, that I had to also pick up a tomato plant yesterday to bring home and plant out back. I can't wait until August.
My trip down south also included a trip out to Hampton, TN on the North Carolina border to Shirley's Home Cooking, a family style restaurant where we feasted on just about the best fried chicken I've ever had. Seriously.
I could have eaten two whole chickens if I also hadn't "had" to have some country ham and roast beef along with some mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, soup beans, macaroni & cheese, fried apples, cole slaw, cooked cabbage, and cornbread salad (yuck).
The meal also included soft slightly sweet yeast rolls, Southern corn bread (white cornmeal and slightly salty versus yellow corn meal slightly sweet Northern corn bread), and buttermilk biscuits. The mac and cheese was runny and I'm not a big fan of cornbread salad but the soup beans (i.e. cranberry beans) were out of the world and the cooked cabbage was very good too. The fact that both of them were seasoned with bits of country ham probably had no bearing on my liking those two dishes best of all the sides.
Finally, it has only taken ten years, but I am convinced that iced tea should be served sweet with three slices of lemon and a sprig of mint and I have in my suitcase about forty hand written family recipes from Wren's mom, his aunts, and grandmothers including the family recipe for angel biscuits.
Tonight, I caught myself saying "Y'all" while standing in the deli line at ShopRite. Can deep frying a block of butter be that far off?!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Pretty Pasta
Over the weekend, the temperatures reached into the low 90s. I hate when that happens in April because it normally means that New England will segue right from winter to mid summer. I hope not...
One good thing the hot weather ushered in was sun tea and pasta salad season. I made my first gallon of sun tea on Sunday afternoon and then to go with the salmon I had marinating for the grill, I decided to make a quick pasta salad that is a family favorite.
The salad couldn't be easier to make. You need five ingredients, pasta, a package of Good Seasonings Italian dressing, sugar, vegetable oil and white vinegar. You can add green, red, orange, yellow pepper, black olives, pepperoni, chicken, tomatoes, onions, cheese, or just about anything else you want to the base.
I like to use tri-color pasta for this salad because it looks so pretty,
even in the colander.
The perfect side for anything you throw on the grill during the summer or for a stand alone lunch with a glass of sun tea with lemon.
Basic Pasta Salad
1 16oz box of pasta of your choice
1 package Good Seasonings Salad Dressing Mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Cook pasta to al dente,drain and rinse with cold water. In large plastic container with lid, combine remaining ingredients. Add in pasta and stir until pasta is completely combined with the other ingredients. Put in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
Optional Adds: green, red, orange, yellow pepper, sliced black olives, pepperoni, chicken, tomatoes, onions, cheese
One good thing the hot weather ushered in was sun tea and pasta salad season. I made my first gallon of sun tea on Sunday afternoon and then to go with the salmon I had marinating for the grill, I decided to make a quick pasta salad that is a family favorite.
The salad couldn't be easier to make. You need five ingredients, pasta, a package of Good Seasonings Italian dressing, sugar, vegetable oil and white vinegar. You can add green, red, orange, yellow pepper, black olives, pepperoni, chicken, tomatoes, onions, cheese, or just about anything else you want to the base.
I like to use tri-color pasta for this salad because it looks so pretty,
even in the colander.
The perfect side for anything you throw on the grill during the summer or for a stand alone lunch with a glass of sun tea with lemon.
Basic Pasta Salad
1 16oz box of pasta of your choice
1 package Good Seasonings Salad Dressing Mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Cook pasta to al dente,drain and rinse with cold water. In large plastic container with lid, combine remaining ingredients. Add in pasta and stir until pasta is completely combined with the other ingredients. Put in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
Optional Adds: green, red, orange, yellow pepper, sliced black olives, pepperoni, chicken, tomatoes, onions, cheese
Subscribe to:
Comment Feed (RSS)
