Food, nostalgia, and more food

[judecorp]

I bought a jar of cacciatore sauce at Trader Joe's last week. I put it in the crock pot with one of those small roasting chickens about an hour and a half ago and it smells really good (even though it still needs a couple more hours of cooking). My grandfather makes a kick-ass pseudo-cacciatore and this is not even close, but still smells delicious. Also, my grandfather tends to use the cacciatore-ness when he makes rabbit which I'm sure adds something as well. I have never tried cooking rabbit but at some point in my life I'm going to have to give it a try. It's quite an Easter dinner tradition in my family (I know how awful that sounds, yes) and at some point I'd like to do it myself.

It's hard for me to believe that at some point in my life I am going to have big family dinners without my grandparents. Things have already changed quite a bit, since my uncle does most of the cooking instead of my grandparents and the menus have changed as well. For Christmas my uncle made this big beef thing - some sort of cut of beef (I'm sorry, I don't eat beef so I don't know beef) stuffed with lobster. I'm sure it was amazingly delicious but I had to ask for a chicken breast so I could have protein. As long as they don't take away baked ham and rabbit on Easter I will deal with Christmas changes. And we all need to figure out how to make my grandmother's stuffing and some of her desserts. It's just hard for me to ask for the recipes or try them myself; it's almost like an admission that they won't be around forever, which is an admission I am not ready to make.

We'll have one more big family dinner day (this coming Easter) without the baby, and that is pretty massive. To think that next Thanksgiving we will be eating a big turkey dinner with a new member of the family... and we've already had our last childfree Christmas (God willing). Next year will bring Valentines from the baby, pictures of babies in snowsuits, and we will no longer be the youngest people in our immediate families. So interesting.

It's funny how what you usually eat as a kid is kind of what you think everyone eats. I grew up with my grandparents' cooking and am just used to how things taste, what the options are, etc. I wonder if someday my kid will come home from college or somewhere and ask for something I've managed to get a handle on between now and then. That would be nice.

Right now the kid really seems to like raisin bran and chocolate chip cookies. Yeah, I can deal with that. ;)

Comments

[artjax.livejournal.com]

Wait. You EAT the Easter bunny on Easter???

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yes. And he is quite tasty! (Tastey?)

[communista.livejournal.com]

((((((HUGS))))))

Chicken cacciatore sounds good. I found a great recipe for chicken recently, but I don't know if you can have it :( It has white wine, but it's cooked down. If you're interested, I'll email it :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Things cooked in booze are fine because the alcohol cooks off as far as I know. Send it my way if you'd like, although we don't have any wine in the house right now (because I'm pretty much the only one that drinks it.)

[kjames.livejournal.com]

have you tried any of the trader joes indian simmer sauces? YUM.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

We like the masala sauce (the orange one) but neither of us is particularly crazy about most indian food so we haven't tried the others.

I am a huge fan of the TJ sauces in general, though.

[kjames.livejournal.com]

but neither of us is particularly crazy about most indian food

blasphemy!


:D

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

My ex went through a phase in his life when he was really into curry powder. I mean /really/ into curry powder. He was in college, mind, so his palate was really 20-year-old boy but with curry added. I had to draw the line when he would buy those frozen pizza pocket things, pop the top off, pour curry powder in, and stick the top back on.

I was scarred for life.

[kjames.livejournal.com]

hm, maybe i should pray for healing from that. :P

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha ha!

You know, my ex lives in Columbus - I can give you his address in Clintonville and you can go yell at him. :)

[kjames.livejournal.com]

but that won't help YOU!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Oh but it would make me laugh!

[laserkitty.livejournal.com]

I totally reverted to childhood foods when I was pregnant. Two of my favorites were pb & j and cherry jello. I don't think I've touched either of them since she was born.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I tend to go through long cereal phases. I have always loved raisin bran but I hadn't had it in a while. Before I was pregnant I was only eating cheerios because there is almost no sugar in them (like 1g). There is a lot more sugar in raisin bran, largely from the raisins themselves unless you buy the kinds where the raisins are coated in sugar (I don't). But I switched back to raisin bran a while ago (although I still have a full box of cheerios) and I have been hooked.

The pooping helps, too. :)

I've always been pretty lame with my cereal choices though. When I was a kid, my dad would buy a lot of sugary cereals but my favorite cereal was my grandmother's corn flakes.

[hoo.livejournal.com]

Rabbit stew was a regular meal at my house for ages. I think it was one of the things mum used to cook specifically for my dad (the other being liver & onions).

I used to dread it, as I always wound up biting into the rabbit liver. It's usually included in with the meat, and I never got the hang of recognizing it. Chew, stew, chew, stew, chew, NASTY.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Ha!

My grandfather is quite the gizzard man, so he would always scout out all of the offal and keep it for himself. (That is quite fine by me, thanks.) I have no idea what rabbit liver tastes like but I definitely take your word for it that it is nasty. I have no desire to find out for myself. :)

My father was a huge fan of liver and onions. He would order it in restaurants sometimes and it would drive me bonkers. Being a hater of the smells of both liver AND onions, it was enough to make me wish for a shallow grave.

Aah, the fun of food memories.