Fond Food Memories...

It is nice when you cook something, and the smell gives off a waft of nostalgia that forces you to stop and cast your mind back to years past...  What you were doing?... Were you a young kid playing out in the backyard with your Mum calling you inside for some Ox tail Soup?  Or Corned Beef with white sauce, mashed potato and cabbage?  Steak and Kidney Pie?  Do you eat foods today to re-capture food memories of the past?

My Dad makes the most wonderful Apple Pie.  The apples are so tender, juicy and plentiful, and I love the top of the pastry and how it is crunchy and sprinkled with sugar.  I also love eating stewed rhubarb and apples because the stringy texture and sour twang of the rhubarb reminds me of when I was a kid and how Dad used to grow it in a tub in the backyard.  (What I remember most is my parents telling me to never feed the leaves to rabbits.)  Now and then I might get a slice of my Dad's wonderful pie, and I can't help but feel like a kid again.

Mum makes the best Lemon Chicken.  It has been years since she has made it, but I remember as a kid, whenever she would get her Elizabeth Chong "First Happiness" cook book out, we knew we were in for a feast, and that meant, part of the banquet would be Lemon Chicken. 

My brother is a wonderful cook.  He would be an even bigger food aficionado than I even claim to be.  He has the Midas touch when it comes to food.  He has cooked so many wonderful things for me and my family it is hard to decide what I have enjoyed the most.  He does the most spectacular Christmas dinner (I joke and say we eat every animal that came off the Ark on Christmas Day).  His partner makes a wicked plum pudding as well.  If I had to choose one of my brother's dishes though, it would have to be his French Onion Soup.  It is just so good... and that cheesy crouton... Oh... my... goodness!

I enjoy cooking Chinese Steamboats.  I invite friends over and we talk and laugh and eat for hours.  It is a lot of preparation, but I find that is part of the fun.  I get to express myself with all my cute little bowls, plates and baskets to present my ingredients.  I feel so flattered when my friends talk about what a great time they have when we have steamboat nights, and how they keep asking me to do more.  That tells me that I have created fond food memories for them, and it means the world.

Until next time...

Kitty xx