Memories

As some of you may remember, I join a local CSA each summer. We had our final pickup 2 weeks ago and I will have to wait until next spring when I can start picking up my share again. The first year was the most adventurous for me since I was introduced to many vegetables I had never tried. This past summer was my third year and I really look forward to seeing what I will get each week. Some people don't get the idea of the CSA and ask me why I can't pick out something else instead. As my daughter learned in preschool - "You get what you get and you don't get upset." And that is what makes it an adventure each week.



A few weeks in a row we got cabbage and I had a great idea to make something I had never made before - a boiled dinner. Specifically corned beef and cabbage since I remembered that my daughter, who can sometimes be a picky eater, had tried it when a friend made it and enjoyed eating the corned beef. So, let me present to you my first ever (and definitely not my last) boiled dinner:

Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. Not only did it taste awesome, but the most amazing thing happened - the smell and the taste brought back memories I hadn't even remembered I had. Memories of being a little girl and going to my grandparents for Sunday dinner or having dinner at my aunt's house. I could remember my grandmother's kitchen and sitting at her table - things I haven't thought about in a very long time. It amazed me how vividly the smells and tastes of my dinner could bring back things I had long forgotten. The ties that bind us to past generations are always there in some form, coming back to us when we least expect it and maybe when we need it the most.