Day 90 -- food memories

I attended an annual seminar today honouring a dietitian-chef. The speaker this year addressed food memories and their role in developing the foodies among us -- and likely many who don't consider themselves foodies. Her memories led me to think of the foods that are integral to celebrations based on family traditions. Our family always had ham and scalloped potatoes for Easter. There was a green vegetable and some form of salad. The dessert was often a hand-decorated cake that my mother made -- in the shape of an egg or a bunny. Christmas needed to have fruit cake -- mom made a medium or light cake and my grandmother made a deep, dark version. I loved them all. Mom's shortbread melted in your mouth and were spritz cookies -- extruded in fancy shapes from a cookie press. My friend's mother made thumb print cookies, another mother made pink and white shortbread in the shape of candy canes, and my mom and grandmother made fantastic plum puddings. All were part of the expectations of celebration foods.Luckily I have many of these recipes and have made several of them in past years. I have yet to tackle the fruit cake, but I think it is well past time for me to attempt this delight.

Looking at my usual recipes, I know I have developed flavours and traditions of my own. I love a lemon-lime pie or cake for Easter -- it seems very fresh and spring-like. For Christmas, I have made vinatarta from a recipe shared by a student in a foods lab I instructed in Manitoba. I have a passion for curry of all types and have developed a taste for Louisiana gumbo and red beans and rice. I feel I've mastered the latter, but gumbo is a challenge. I've liked what I've made but it still isn't quite 'there'. I feel happy with my dark dry 'roux' -- which is actually dextrinized flour without added fat. It adds an amazing colour and flavour to gumbo.  I love to sample new foods and I enjoy cooking new recipes. So, as I've said many times, Food is my life [tm].

So -- the selection today does reflect food to some extent. This is a newer cover by a Canadian singer from just down the road. Enjoy!

Jambalaya on the Bayou -- George Canyon