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I've been thinking about my mother's tuna noodle salad. I have mentioned it here before, and I cop to its very-not-gourmet character; we are not a family of chefs. Well, except for my professional pastry chef brother, but I think that means he's adopted.
The salad is basically mayonnaise (Hellmann's or death!) and tomatoes and elbow noodles and a can of tuna and a lot of salt and pepper. Easy to replicate, sure. But it is not the exact right and correct salad when I make it, no matter what I do. What I am craving is very specific: my mother to make me a big bowl of tuna noodle salad, with leftovers for days in the fridge, to be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner until the gravy train runs low. Other things I crave: my best friend's mother used to make the most amazing beans and rice. It's beans and rice--how can it be difficult? But it was hours and hours and hours on the stove, bubbling and filling the house with an earthy smell that drove me crazy all day. Now? Now? How about now? The rice was perfect, fluffy, garlicky, and when we were in college, beans and rice was a gourmet meal, not something you ate because you were a poor student. Fettuccini carbonara--another specialty of my best friend's parents. The real kind, with thick and salty pancetta, real cream, an egg cracked and beaten in at the very end. Creamy, lush, salty, absolutely perfect for such a short time, because it never reheats well. But for that short dinnertime, with perfect fettuccini, lots of garlic bread, crisp white wine, you were absolutely in heaven. Cornmeal banana chocolate chip pancakes at Dottie's True Blue. Lox and cream cheese bagel at Barney Greengrass. Oysters at the ferry building. My aunt Cealy's amazing chocolate chip cookies, my brother's astonishing brownies. Tomato, mozzarella and basil at Cosi--of all places--but oh, the salty flatbread. A hot dog at Nathan's in Coney Island, and the spinach pizza at the place across the street from campus, which is gone now. The ribs at the place just down the road, when we lived in Pennsylvania. No other ribs have ever lived up to those, and probably I will never have them again. What are you craving? What foods do you miss, from your family, from your favorite restaurant? What needs to be Fed Exed to you right this second, stat, lest you perish of longing? 10 CommentsLeave a comment |
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FEED ME
-Fried Pickles (Frickles) Del Merei Grille
-Roast beef sandwich- florence italy
-Lamb Shank - Mama Zu
-my own mushroom risotto
-My aunt's apple pie
-Popeye's biscuts
-Tiramisu
Goodness I am hungry now!
i also have a comfort family food that involves tuna and noodles!
my mom makes tuna casserole with tuna, green peas, cream o mushroom soup, egg noodles...and crumbled (baked nowadays) chips on top...
somehow its a magical food.
Billy's BBQ in my hometown of Lexington, KY. Fried banana peppers with cocktail sauce for dipping. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Nothing like it here in South Louisiana.
However, I could hook you up with red beans and rice.
My grandma's chicken and mashed potatoes. No one could make mashed potatoes like her. Fluffy, smooth, and sooooo creamy. No lumps to be had. Ever. I have tried to so hard to replicate it and I cannot. I've got the chicken down pat though!
Brixx (Charlotte, NC) or Mellow Mushroom (Boone, NC) pizza - Yum. My mom's eggplant parmesan - often attempted to replicate, never succeeded. Fresh baked, homemade bread. My dad's T-Bones and fresh from the garden salads.
It would be an interesting project to map salad/sandwich dressing preferences according to geography. Hellman's, Kraft, or Miracle Whip according to geographical region.
But I'm craving real bagels, bagels that have been boiled before baking, the chewy dense ones. Not those fluffy advanced bagel substitutes that seem like they've been cut from the same loaf as Wonder Bread. And lox from wild salmon without any crap in it.
Anything and everything from my mom's garden. There's a pumpkin that's going to become a pie tomorrow that my mom grew.
Also, my dad's felafel with all the toppings.
Matjes or shmaltz herring and smoked whitefish salad.
I always start craving my comfort foods when the weather starts turning colder. My granny's mashed potatoes, stew full of delicious veggies made by my mom and her chocolate chip cookies. There are people out there who would say that my chocolate chip cookies are just as good as hers (and not to toot my own horn *beep beep* I would say I make the 2nd best chocolate chip cookie in the world, 2nd only to my mother of course) I was craving some chili also so my boyfriend made me some for supper the other night. And it was SO good...
I am a pizza-holic. There is a place in Adelphi, MD, a DC suburb, called Ledo's. It is THE ORIGINAL store and has nothing to do with the franchised Ledo's.
It is a hole-in-the-stripmall-1950's-decor mom and pop place that makes THE MOST AMAZING pizza with a crust that is almost like a pie crust. My late husband worked there back in the day and took me there a few years back. If they could FexEx me a pizza--I would be over the moon! :)
barbequed brisket - Packsaddle, San Angelo, TX
mom's tuna casserole
dad's chicken cacciatore
my own soup of sausage, collard greens and white beans - just made a big pot to eat and freeze :)
barbequed brisket - Packsaddle, San Angelo, TX
mom's tuna casserole
dad's chicken cacciatore
my own soup of sausage, collard greens and white beans - just made a big pot to eat and freeze :)