When I sat down to think about my food story, I realized that much of what I’ve learned about food can also apply to life. The lives we live often mirror the foods we eat—adventurous or bland, simple or complicated, fun or by-the-book. The following foods have influenced me in ways that go beyond the culinary. I’m looking forward to more eating—and learning—in the years to come!
Great Aunt Gertie’s Peanut Butter Easter Eggs
One of my earliest and fondest family memories is of Easter time, probably because of the days I’d spend with my Great Aunt Gertie making chocolate-covered peanut butter Easter eggs. I’m not sure where Aunt Gertie got the recipe, or even if she came up with it on her own, but these chocolate-drenched ovals of peanutty goodness remain my favorite confection to this day. I’ve made these eggs over the years for family, friends and co-workers, and they’re always a hit. Everyone always thinks it’s a complicated recipe, but it’s not; in fact, there are just four ingredients. (I’m not willing to give up the secret just yet.) Why fuss in the kitchen if you don’t have to?
Life Lesson: Keep it simple.
Grated Parmesan Cheese and Butter
I credit my best friend, a North Jersey Italian girl, with opening up whole new food vistas to me. Her best advice: “Never eat cheese from a can.” Yes, I’ll admit it—when she and I became roommates after college I was still drowning my pasta in cheese from a green can and slathering margarine on my bread. Imagine, margarine! I followed her lead and forked out the extra few dollars for real grated Parmesan cheese and real whipped butter and started cooking with them more thoughtfully, and I couldn’t believe the difference. From her I learned the value of quality ingredients used sparingly, as well as how to make homemade gravy (just don’t call it sauce, OK?).
Life Lesson: Always choose quality over quantity.
Cosmopolitan
I am 100% convinced that I would not have met my husband were it not for a cosmopolitan. It was the 1990s, you see, when Sex and the City was at its height of popularity and bartenders were trying to impress drinkers with brightly colored cocktails. One night in New Brunswick, NJ, I allowed the bartender to talk me into a newfangled drink he was experimenting with: the cosmopolitan. I don’t normally go for girlie drinks like that, but I took his advice and gave it a try. Having never seen the drink before, my future husband—a former bartender—approached me to ask what it was. Would he have talked to me if I was sipping a beer? I honestly don’t think so. Four years later we toasted at our wedding, not with champagne but with cosmopolitans!
Life Lesson: Be open to the advice of others, and try something new!
Eggplant Parmesan
Once I started dating my future husband, I had to keep him interested, right? What better way to impress him than with a home-cooked meal! The first time we celebrated his birthday together, I baked him up a platter of homemade eggplant parmesan from scratch. In his teeny tiny kitchen. In the sweltering heat of summer. I slathered those 10+ pounds of crispy fried eggplant rounds, layered with ricotta cheese, with homemade gravy (thanks again to my North Jersey roommate!) and cooked my way straight into his heart. Nineteen years later, I am still making him this meal on his birthday, and I know I’ll be making it for many, many more years to come.
Life Lesson: Go all out for those you love.
Hummus, Guacamole & Salsa
Fast-forward to my life as a mom. Now that I have a son, I’m always looking for ways to keep meal and snack time healthy. It’s certainly not easy when the grocery store is packed to the gills with prepackaged nonsense that I won’t even call food. One of the best ways I’ve found to dose my son with healthy vitamins is with dips. They’re quick, easy and fun! Try to give the boy a chickpea or a slice of avocado and he balks; whip them up in the food processor with some spices and provide whole-grain tortillas for dipping and—voila—what fun! (When you’re a parent, you have to be tricky like that.) What I’ve found is that a meal doesn’t have to be formal or fancy to be good. What matters is a sense of joy.
Life Lesson: Keep it fun.
- Wedding Photography: Impressions Photographic Studio & Gallery
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