Seriously...About Ice Cream

[Jonezie]

You can get Old Bay in Ohio. I hate fish and seafood so I've never tried Old Bay, but my DH loves it!

When I think of home I think of my mom and grandma and all the homemade Italian food! I haven't had what I consider a real pizza since my grandma died. She baked bread one day every week and always made pizza with the leftover dough. We lived down the street from her and she would walk to our house with a fresh loaf of homemade bread and pizza still warm out of the oven. I have never been able to duplicate her bread or pizza. It was wonderful! Both mom and grandma were wonderful cooks, and I'm old enough that there wasn't much available in the way of fast food or frozen TV dinners when I was a kid, so mom cooked 3 meals a day from scratch, and most everything my grandma made came from her own garden. I would give anything to have one more day with them.

Miss Lee...what a great story! I was raised in the same home with my grandparents and mother and it sounds like you were really close to yours, too. All the best foods I learned from my grandmother. She's been gone seven years but I still sometimes pick up the phone to call her. Do you ever do that?

In any event, I loved your story. Thanks for posting!

Jonezie

 

[measuredoak]

Hey Jonezie, what about the smell of Big Red soda. I don't drink it anymore, but the smell sure sends me back to my younger days; that and the smell of fresh baked bread. Yummmmmmm. My mom used to bake bread & then sell it at our elementary school for some extra cash so there were days we'd come home from school & could tell she had been baking all day.

 

[Jonezie]

Hey Jonezie, what about the smell of Big Red soda. I don't drink it anymore, but the smell sure sends me back to my younger days; that and the smell of fresh baked bread. Yummmmmmm. My mom used to bake bread & then sell it at our elementary school for some extra cash so there were days we'd come home from school & could tell she had been baking all day.

Measuredoak...LOL about the Big Red soda! It's funny that you mention it. I hadn't thought about it in YEARS until last week when I was having dinner with a family whose son just LOVES Big Red soda. And then you brought it up, too.

I so love all these posts that talk about memories with their moms and grandmothers. It's funny how all our best memories are tied to foods and smells.

Jonezie

PS...Did anyone watch Roger Ebert on Oprah? It was so sweet. He talked about having root beer with his father (if I remember correctly)...and that it was such a wonderful memory for him. Now, of course, he cannot drink it...but still cherishes the memory (and smell) of root beer.

 

[sparrow13]

Sparrow...WHAT is a quahog?!? You can't just hit and run with that one. Inquiring minds wanna know.

It's some kind of hideous shellfish like a clam or oyster. I find them repugnant but they are definitely something Rhode Islanders pride themselves on. 99 percent of what happens in the state is an embarrassment, so pride in one's quahogs is understandable I guess.

Know what else I miss...shwarmas. When I was 12 my folks packed up and moved us all to the Middle East. There was this great, tiny open air booth selling shwarmas not far from where we lived. We'd leave the compound, run down across the a tiny piece of undeveloped desert in the city and cross a highway like we were starring in Frogger just to get them. Spit-roasted lamb with spices, onion and french fries all wrapped up in home-made pita bread. A little piece of heaven.

The flies and dirt were free of charge.

 

[banslug]

It's a seasoning that must be an east coast thing because my DH had never heard of it until moving to MD from WA. I can't imagine shrimp or crabs without Old Bay seasoning. It is seriously a MUST for seafood! There's nothing like the smell of shrimp steamed with Old Bay on top...

http://www.oldbay.com/Products/Old-Bay-Seasoning.aspx

mmmmmmmmmm......Old BAY!!!!!!!!!! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

A local sports bar makes Old Bay WINGS!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............

 

[Shirluvs2bfit]

My favorite childhood thing....the scent of my mother. She smelled so sweet to me. I loved sitting next to her on the couch.

Cynthia,

I think this is the sweetest thing ever! I hope my children think of me so lovingly when they are grown.

ETA: When I think of home I think of my mom's homemade spaghetti & meatballs, yummy!!!

 

[lainiefig]

Well, you already mentioned the Blue Bell (my favorite flavor is Natural Vanilla Bean) and the TexMex. A lot of what we ate when I was a kid was fried fried fried--even the veggies--fried okra, fried squash, fried taters (not quite the same as french fries). So I don't eat much fried food anymore. Once in a while I make a banana pudding (with Nilla wafers!) and that takes me back.

When I lived in Europe what I really missed from the U.S. was American peanut butter and our HUGE selection of breakfast cereals. Especially when we were in Holland for a couple years--they would have only 5 kinds of cereal at the store--that was really hard on me. I also REALLY missed Target.

 

[Jonezie]

We'd leave the compound, run down across the a tiny piece of undeveloped desert in the city and cross a highway like we were starring in Frogger just to get them.

The flies and dirt were free of charge.

L.O.L.!!! There's another great memory! FROGGER!

Cynthia,

I think this is the sweetest thing ever! I hope my children think of me so lovingly when they are grown.

Cynthia...I know I already told you this once today, but I couldn't agree more with Shirl. I even called my mom today to tell her about you!

PS...Hi Shirl!!!

fried okra, fried squash, fried taters (not quite the same as french fries). So I don't eat much fried food anymore. Once in a while I make a banana pudding (with Nilla wafers!) and that takes me back.

Lainie...people are not familiar with the frying of okra out here. They make faces at me when, on occasion, I go into my "ode to fried okra." And you've gone TOO FAR with the banana/Nilla wafer pudding! Now I will be thinking of nothing else the rest of the day. PS...Have you encountered some of the other things they're fryin' up in Texas? Like Snicker bars? Eeeee-yuck!!!

Jonezie

 

[morningstar]

For me it's music. My mom wasn't a great mom, but she has great taste in music, very eclectic, very whatever's happening now too. So whenever I hear music that we had in the house when I was a kid, like Blondie, Simon and Garfunkel, the London cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, the original Evita, etc., I am instantly transported to being a kid at home.

Also, the smell of fireplaces burning wood in the fall reminds me of the home I lived in in northern Canada when I was very small.

 

[LoDo]

You are so right...

When I lived in Europe what I really missed from the U.S. was American peanut butter and our HUGE selection of breakfast cereals. Especially when we were in Holland for a couple years--they would have only 5 kinds of cereal at the store--that was really hard on me. I also REALLY missed Target.

I'm in Belgium now and I can't agree with you more on the peanut butter. Nutella is sold in hugh containers (not that there is anything wrong with that) but pb (especially natural pb) is hard to find and expensive. Unfortunately, they have a spread alternative to pb and nutella that is absolutely sinful....speculoos spread. I can't buy it. If I do, I will eat the whole jar in 1 sitting.

From my childhood, I love Big Red Ice Cream floats, my grandma's angel food cake, my mom's 4 layer chocolate cake and my mom's meatloaf.