Food that has a special place in your heart...

[rayinpenn]

Our first house was a tiny cape code in a neighborhood of tiny cape cods. The kitchen wasn’t big enough for a table so we had a breakfast bar. The dining room table and hutch that I bought the Mrs. was too big for the room. The tiny room in the back often referred to as the nursery had a enough space for a love seat and a TV. I can tell you many a Giants game was viewed there by yours truly. The second floor was a mess, cheap paneling in one giant space. I remember sitting on the floor in middle of the of everything i had ripped down. A huge mess. Over the years two bedrooms, skylights, a new bathroom and a remodeled bath were added/remodeled including every door and every window. I loved that sturdy little house. We were snug as bugs in a rug. I learned some things - one: very good people can come from a modest home. Two; a modest home with good windows and insulation can be run inexpensively.

A couple minute walk around the corner was a vegetable shop/ seafood store. Every Saturday they made and offered a Tuna California roll combo for $6.25. I considered it a special treat. I’d pick one up come home have that and a beer. When i think to ask for them the master sushi chef Mrs. makes me California rolls. It takes me back in time to our snug little home.

My other favorite is German Rouladen (Meat rolls filled with bacon, onions and pickles.) except my mother-in-law skipped the pickles.
I know she made it because i loved it. The family and I miss that strong lady...IMG_0348.jpg

[CardsFan]

As a kid/teen:
- Leg of lamb. back then it was cheap, and I loved it with roasted potatoes, rosemary and garlic. A common Sunday dinner in the winter
- Lobster!. Grew up near Boston. Again, not expensive back then.
- Baked stuffed (whole) Haddock. Almost as good as lobster, and it was cheap back then.
- Baked, stuffed quahogs. Usually we would dig these our selves in the muddy waters on some cape cod bays. (so Free!) Grandma would cook them, chop them, mix them, and put them back in the shells to bake.

In case you missed it, my early food memories are things that are expensive today, but really inexpensive back then, and common food for working class folks.

[Midpack]

• Älplermagronen
• Eggs Benedict
• Filet Mignon (med rare)
• DW’s Chicken-a-la-King
• Scratch limeade
• Fresh bread
• Fresh corn on the cob (Elotes even better)

just the things that came to mind without thinking it over.

[mountainsoft]

It's not really a food, but one of my childhood favorites was Sassafras Tea. I remember digging up the roots with my grandfather, and making the tea with my grandmother. The last time I visited family back home (as a teenager) my dad helped me dig up some roots, and I bagged them to bring home. I'm surprised airline security didn't stop me, but those were pre 9-11 days. Unfortunately, I left the bags sealed and the roots all molded rendering them useless before I made a single cup of tea. I found sassafras in a health food store once, but it was chipped up like bark dust. Dried out, no smell or flavor. It just wasn't the same.

Of course, my favorite childhood drink is now considered toxic and a cancer risk. Figures. I guess you can't go back.

I also remember picking morel mushrooms with my grandfather. I really used to love those but they are a lot harder to find here in Washington state than they were back in Illinois. Dried mushrooms in the store just aren't the same.

I also really enjoyed fried catfish growing up. The farmed catfish I can get locally just doesn't compare. Not to mention, we really don't eat fried foods that much anymore.

When my wife and I were first married we had a lot of favorite recipes we made frequently. Most revolved around hamburger, potatoes, or pasta as we didn't have much money starting out. We still have most of those recipes, but I guess our tastes have changed. Every now and then we'll try one of those early recipes for the nostalgia and wonder what we were thinking. Yuck.

[Scuba]

My BFF makes the most delicious shrimp enchiladas. She also makes amazing stuffed shells with meat sauce as well as blue cheese stuffed chicken. And her chocolate soufflé is to die for.

Other favorite special occasion foods include stuffed lobster, homemade mac & cheese, homemade brownies, and filet mignon.

Other than the steak, I rarely eat any of these foods any more. Too fattening.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Oh, my grandmother made fresh chopped liver with hard boiled egg, and golabki (cabbage roll stuffed with ground meat, served in tomato sauce/soup). I miss those, and of course nothing I get now tastes quite the same.

[ponyboy]

Any food that clogs my arteries has a special place in my heart.

[Mr._Graybeard]

DM made a variation on pepper steak, adding pineapple. It was a favorite in our house growing up. I make it now from time to time when family comes over.

[Rianne]

Fiber is a big part of every meal to offset my addiction to ice cream, whipped cream and dark chocolate.

-Recipes that have components of fiber/protein. Baked potatoes, I eat the skin
Fruit always the skin and vegetables I include the skin and stalk.
-My niece makes a garbage salad that I adore. It has everything from beans to fruit to nuts/seeds to greens and many vegetables.
One dish that I could eat everyday is my DH bean soup. Filled with vegetables and spices (very little salt).

[kcowan]

Every Sunday, mom made a pan roast of beef with browned potatoes. It was the best meal of the week.

[Nemo2]

Can we juxtapose this with the Your weight now versus at age 20 thread?

[joeea]

Pasta e Piselli has a special place in my heart.

Growing up, we had no money. We ate what was cheap and/or on sale.

Pasta e Piselli is cheap, quick, and satisfying. I make it a bit differently than my late mother did (she would use water, where I use chicken broth). But I still enjoy it.

[folivier]

Mom made me chicken livers wrapped in bacon. And for Easter stuffed artichokes, with plenty ground meat, cheese, and plenty of garlic! My DW makes artichokes each spring for me but won't touch livers.

[jollystomper]

My parents did not have much, and raising 7 kids we never went hungry but did not have many choices of things to eat:
- When we ate out as a family, it was always at Chinese restaurants, as it was affordable.
- We ate so much liver that I vowed that once I started working and earning money I would never eat liver again, so far so good.
- The first steak I ever had was age 10, when an older brother went off to college (the first in the family to do so). We went to move him in and see him off, and a college official invited our family to a campus cookout before we left, and I got my first taste of grilled steak. Almost heaven...

[LRDave]

Home-grown tomatoes. It's a banner year for tomatoes here in NE AL and I am eating a 'mater sammich as I type......

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ponyboy Any food that clogs my arteries has a special place in my heart.

Don't you mean arteries NEAR your heart?

[RobbieB]

Coney dogs - A taste of Detroit

Bean Sprout egg rolls - also from Detroit

Wagyu, Lobster and King crab - You know

[pacergal]

Grandma's homemade cinnamon rolls
Moms pot pie
Cinnamon apples at Christmas
Moms special sugar cookies recipe
Beef stroganoff
Sauerkraut and brats
Fresh from the garden tomatoes for BLT--made with pork belly bacon

[Marita40]

Pineapple upside down cake! I baked a lot of sweet things growing up at home, but this was my first dinner party as a young adult and it (to my extreme surprise) came out great! It brings back good memories.

[RAE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger golabki (cabbage roll stuffed with ground meat, served in tomato sauce/soup).

Yep, we had golabki quite a bit when I was a young kid.........grandma made it, and my aunts made it. I still make it now, usually during the winter months. Wonderful stuff. And here's another old Polish/Ukranian dish my grandma made once in a while.........sorrel soup (she called it "chow chow" soup). She chopped sorrel leaves from her garden and simmered them for quite a while in a broth, with chunks of pork fatback or bacon in there. I'm not sure if she added anything else or not while it was simmering (?). Then we added a big scoop of sour cream to each bowl of soup at the table, and mixed it in. Great stuff.........I haven't had it for many decades, yet I still remember exactly how it tastes.