Food and friends, a perfect combination.  There are very few foods that I don’t enjoy.  I will freely admit that apricots would be at the bottom of my list.  My dad always called “tonsil-dusters,”  I love cooking, baking, tasting, savoring, restaurants, picnics….  When I recall a happy event, there nearly always is food associated with it in some way.   Now, many of my favorites taste bland.   I am thrilled when I find a favorite food that still has the same luscious taste that I remember.  I am grateful for all the delicious food I have ever eaten, and for the friends and family with whom I shared a meal.

Growing up in the Little Switzerland of Ohio, there is nothing like the taste of real Swiss cheese.  A grilled cheese sandwich made with real Swiss cheese, with all it’s stretchy deliciousness, makes me want to take tiny bites, so that I can make it last just a little longer.

A meal of mashed potatoes, noodles, creamed corn and pan-fried chicken.  I grew up surrounded by the Amish, and everyone ate this meal frequently.  My sister makes the best creamed corn I’ve ever tasted.  I loved Thanksgiving at her house.  My family always teased me because I would pile noodles on my mashed potatoes, top it with creamed corn, and maybe a little gravy.  Mix and eat!  Sometimes, I didn’t even heat it.  It tasted just as good cold.  Heavenly!

Coccia House pizza!!  A local pizza shop that makes amazing pizza.  When I left the area for about 25 years, I longed for their pizza.  It’s always so busy that you may have to wait for an hour or two to get your pizza, but none of the locals mind doing that.  It’s so much fun to go there for an evening with our family.

Fresh strawberries – Why does strawberry season pass so quickly?   When I was a little girl, there were always several times during strawberry season, when our entire meal would be a slice of angel food cake, topped with ice cream,  and a heaping scoop of strawberries.  A meal of dessert.  My mouth is watering thinking about it

Pickled beets and “red beet eggs” – I grew red beets in my first garden when I was about 5.  I’ve loved them ever since.  Each month, a group of about 10-12 of my cousins meets at a local restaurant for what we call “Cousin Lunch.”  The time together is filled with laughter and good food, including my favorite beets and pickled eggs!

Sweet corn roasted, in the husk, in a pile of hot coals.  I remember so many summer and fall evenings standing by the fire chomping on the most sweet, buttery, corn on the cob you can imagine.  The butter dish was usually covered with black pieces of burnt corn husk, but no one minded.

Morel mushrooms.  My mom and dad and I would go mushroom hunting every spring.  My favorite outing.  When my mom fried the mushrooms we found, their flavor was indescribably delicious.   It’s hard to find places to hunt mushrooms today, but I am so happy that I had so many years to do that.

I taught at a homeschool co-op for many years, and enjoyed every second of it.  At the end of each co-op day, many of the families would head to the local Schlotzky’s Deli to relax and chat and eat.  The food was great, the company was even better.  We would get to the deli at 3:30 and sometimes didn’t leave until they closed at 9:00.  I loved their potato bacon soup, until one of my students told me that he liked that soup, but he preferred to get half potato bacon and half chicken noodle in the same bowl.  I tried it and it became my new favorite.  Thanks, Jon!

We always had asparagus growing just outside the kitchen door.  My mom would ask me to cut some for dinner, but only  the stalks that were super skinny.  My mom said those were the only ones worth eating.   She was right.  And I’ve discovered that the super skinny ones I find in the grocery stores these days are lacking much of the flavor of the homegrown ones.  I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to enjoy the richness fresh from the earth.

I was always excited for the month of May to arrive.  My sister would call and invite my daughters and I to go to her “Mother-Daughter-Sister-Friend” banquet.  All the women and girls in our family would sit together.  The banquet was held in a large dining room in one of the local Amish restaurants.  The room buzzed with chatter and laughter.  Fresh, crispy salads at each place, family style main dishes passed from person to person, down the long table, and a basket of homemade bread.  The most exciting part of the meal was dessert.  A piece of pie was set at each place.  There were many different kinds, and everyone wanted to get their favorite, so there was a flurry of pie-trading that began before we even ate our salads.   Oh, how we loved that evening!

This list could go on and on.  My friends tease me that no matter what I’m eating, it’s my “favorite.”  And at that moment, it is.