The food of our youth
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- March
- 4
Randi’s post about encouraging her children to relieve their boredom in the kitchen got me thinking about food memories from my own youth. I’m not saying my mom was a bad cook, it’s just that her meals never went beyond the basics. To be fair, food and cooking didn’t have the rock-star status they do these days. And I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a grandmother from the old county, wherever that may be, with a stash of family favorites passed down through the generations.
My husband Vinny & I were discussing childhood meals the other day and had to laugh since we both remembered being fed the infamous baked chicken, which is exactly what it sounds like. Take a bone-in chicken breast, dump it in a baking dish, pop it in the oven at 350 degrees and bake the heck out of it ‘til it’s dry.
To be fair, there were a couple dishes mom did well. Roast beef and roasted veggies was always a hit (especially the potatoes. My love for potatoes in any form is legend in my family—must be those Irish roots). And chicken divan, in all its mushroom soup glory, was a welcome diversion. I think all those bland family meals were what inspired both my brother and I to start experimenting in the kitchen. There had to be better food out there, we just weren’t sure what it was—but we were determined to find it.
I still love to cook and bake and eat, as does my husband, and I’m hoping to pass that joy along to JD. At 7 months old, he’s still a little young to be chowing down, but we’re hopeful it’s only a matter of time given how intently he watches us eat. Vinny and I agree on one thing, JD will never have to eat baked chicken!
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 1:25 pm by Tracey Princiotta.
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