Monday, June 27, 2011

Food For Thought

I have many found memories as a little girl at my grandparents' farm up north. I can recall chasing down the barn cats for a snuggle, parading through many acres of fields, itchy bug bites, streaking my hair while sitting on the porch, pretending to be an explorer, fairy princess or x-men with my cousins outside, and my grandmother's garden. I had never seen such a huge, beautiful garden.. and I still haven't. She had trees everywhere, with lavender, tulips, poppies, chives and big, round hydrangeas. Off on the very edge of the lot, she had planted vegetables and berries. The nine of us (my brother and I, and our seven cousins) would always make a point of moseying over there anytime we became a little peckish. My grandparents are good cooks and so are the rest of the adults that would have been up with us, so it is not like we were going hungry and were forced to eat some strange things outside, we chose to. I have a distinct memory of me and a few of my cousins shoving Gooseberries in our mouths. We would purposely look for the green, unripened ones because they were, and still are, the best tasting.
As my grandparents became older, they realized that it really was time to let go of their beautiful farm and down grade into a town house. We all miss it, and there are some moments where I feel as if I would do close to anything to go back to those warm, sunny, summer days.
My father went grocery shopping a few days ago and brought back some summer goodies; strawberries, nectarines and gooseberries! When I laid eyes on those bitter, green gems I knew I could not wait for him to put them away in the refrigerator. I was taken back to those wonderful lazy days; when I learned how to ride my bike and got gravel in my knee, when we would go to the beach religiously and collect beach glass, when we would spend our mornings building things with Lego blocks and our afternoons reading outside or playing scrabble, when I had all of the time in the world with my family and nothing honestly mattered that much. All of this came rushing back as soon as the green berry exploded the bitter taste in my mouth. Its amazing what something as simple as a berry can remind you of.
Is there a certain food that reminds you of your childhood, or of a strong memory (good/bad)? Let me know in a comment, I would love to hear (or should I say read?) about it.
Some food for thought:



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