Foot-Long Memories?

Me: I have brown rice.

My mother: I grew up eating white rice. You have a taste for what you grew up with...

What my mother said got me thinking. I really don't have anything that I crave from childhood probably because the kitchen table was the site where I tapped into my stubbornness when people tried to make me eat things that I did not want to eat.

I still have temperature, texture and visual issues to this day. Maybe I just have issues; I feel like that deserves and LOL and, yet, I'm hesitant to insert one.

I do have McDonald's memories and macaroni and cheese (my aunt's) memories. Candy corn, without fail, makes me think of my paternal grandfather which is funny because he used to grow greens and watermelons and whatnot but I associate him with a Halloween treat that he often purchased for the occasion...


This billboard has been up forever in my neighborhood. When I see it, I think, finally, truth in advertising.



Did you catch this Nightline segment about foot-long hamburgers?





Is there something food that you crave from childhood?

The Striker's Guide to Dinner

After weeks of not cooking, I finally got into the kitchen, chopped a few vegetables and made something happen.

In all honesty, I haven't felt like cooking.

In my old life, I had a lot of go-to recipes but I've been too lazy uninspired to adjust the recipes and, frankly, I find looking through cookbooks exhausting and, if it's a cookbook without pictures, spare me...

Did I tell you all that I was a picky eater as child? Big visual, temperature and texture issues. Big drama. Like, you're not leaving the table until you eat drama. I sat with my legs dangling until I was excused. My 'rents had long caught onto me slipping the dog my undesirables. Did my parents ever once consider that it might have been their cooking? Nooooooooooo.

To this day, if something tastes good but is mushy, I'll taste it but won't hang with the dish for long.

When I do find a recipe that calls my name, it usually involves a lot of chopping. For some reason, the labor intensive recipes beckon me.

I was flipping through the March Prevention when I saw a recipe, More-Vegetable-Than-Egg Frittata that I instantly liked. The recipe was a contribution by the one and only Mark Bittman.



I used a red bell pepper, spinach and squash for my frittata. And my verdict -- not bad at all and quite clean tasting. I wasn't doing that Al Green moaning thing but I liked the frittata and will make it again. The frittata doesn't stand alone and it doesn't make a lot. If you have more than three folks to feed, double up on the ingredients.

What I ate while on strike:












Steamfresh Veggies with Trader Joe's Marinated Chicken Breasts

Ironically, that same Prevention featuring Mark Bittman also had an article, 50 Healthiest Everday Foods, which had a very nice chart for folks, like me, who need visual cues.

For example:

Natural State, 1st Choice: apple
Somewhat Processed, 2nd Choice: strawberry preserves
Highly processed, limit: strawberry gelatin dessert

What is one of your favorite go-to recipes and what food do you resort to when the cooking comes to a halt? If you don't halt, kudos, and may I come over?

P.S. Another promising Bittman recipe in that Prevention was Chicken Not Pie.

Bon appétit, you all...

A Bike And Bonus Anecdote

When I was a shorty, I had a yellow ten speed bike; it took me awhile to get the hang of it but, once I did, it was off to the races.

One day, I encountered what the Jamaicans call a sleeping policeman and went airborne (sans helmet) over my handlebars. See that vague oval shape above my eyebrow? It was quite nasty and oozing lots of pus at one point. I never saw the inside of a hospital which makes me think about Natasha Richardson. She fell on snow. I bounced off concrete. To borrow a Langston Hughes title -- my soul looks back in wonder.

I suffered another head injury when I was even shorter. My mother was trying to get me to put on pajamas and I ran away, hopped on the bed and bounced off onto a radiator. I went to the hospital instead of to bed and I have a small spot on my head that will never grow hair again.

Maybe I thought I was a gymnast -- trying to do a back handspring or something...

Any memorable injuries?

Happy Friday and a good weekend to all...