Yum!

There will be knitting updates as soon as I can rouse myself to take pictures. But until then, how about a meme? I got this one from Dr. Wende.

Favorite food to crunch: Popcorn. With salt, but butter's optional.

Favorite comfort food: Mashed potatoes and gravy. No contest, hands down, my favorite comfort food, and a definite contender for favorite food ever.

Favorite picnic lunch: When we used to take family road trips when I was a kid, my parents would pack a cooler so we could eat at rest stops along the way. Our big treat was Underwood meat spreads, a canned food that we rarely got at home. It also came in deviled ham and roast beef varieties, but the deviled chicken was our (my brother and me) favorite. Spread on bread with Miracle Whip, mustard, and a slice of cheese, the sandwich meant that vacation was underway. Half the fun was eating it at a rest stop picnic table, with paper towels for napkins and chips or cold pork n' beans as a side. Somehow I don't think it would taste as good eaten at home. I'm also not so sure it would taste good now that I'm an adult. But at least I have the memory.

Favorite food scene in movie: The sequence in the first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the "Chocolate Room" (this is the part where Gene Wilder sings "Pure Imagination"). I'm not a big fan of the movie as an adult, but I used to dream about being set loose in that room when I was a little kid. All that candy! That river of chocolate! Those little edible buttercup teacups....

Favorite food lyrics: "And when I promised my hand / He promised me back / Snow Cherries from France." I don't know what French Snow Cherries are, but don't they sound wonderful? This is one of my favorite Tori Amos songs, all about love and wandering boys, and promises kept and broken. It sounds like the beginnings of a fairy tale, or a grand adventure story.

Best food smell memory: The smell of my grandma's caramel pecan rolls. She used to make a pan every time she came to visit. The smell of the yeasty dough, of the caramelized sugar, of the melty butter you spread on before you eat them -- they remind me of her, and how much she loved sweets and baking and sharing food with her family. I attempted them by myself for the first time last Christmas. They smelled just right.

Favorite summer snack: Strawberries. Sure you can get them all year now, but they're best (and cheapest) in the summer, and I try to eat as many as I can before they're gone.

Food that reminds me of the ocean: Fried soft-shell crabs on a roll, preferably eaten at the West Haven beaches.

Favorite winter snack: Eggnog. I've had some killer homemade versions, but I like my dad's the best. He gets Pennsylvania Dutch brand and doctors it up a bit.

Most likely to eat for lunch: Last year it was soup from the Soup Stop. This year it will probably be burritos from the Burrito Box (what is it with lunch places and alliteration?). Or whatever else is near school and relatively inexpensive.

Least likely to eat for lunch: Something I brought from home. Despite my best intentions, I am terrible at packing lunches. I always mean to do it the night before but then I forget and don't have time in the morning and run off to work with a bottle of water and some crackers or something.

Makes me gag: Raw cucumber. (but not pickles!)

Food tradition I love: My mom's Christmas morning egg sandwiches. They're a homemade version of Egg McMuffins and it wouldn't be Christmas without them.

Food tradition I loathe: I hate black-eyed peas and I don't care if it's good luck to eat them on New Year's. They're terrible.

Favorite wild foods: I'm a child of the suburbs. Food comes from the grocery store.

Favorite medicinal food: Chicken soup, especially Vietnamese chicken soup. It's good for what ails you.

Food that reflects my heritage: I'd love to name some classic German dishes, but they really aren't foods that got eaten much in my family (with the exception of German potato salad). My culinary heritage is good old Midwestern-type casserole food, preferably incorporating a can of Campbell's cream of something-or-other soup.

Food most like me: Burritos. They're packed with interesting stuff. ;)

Favorite raw food smell: Limes. They smell fresh and clean and like summer and the beach and refreshing drinks and maybe even key lime pie.