Comments on: Share Your Food Memories, Give Back to Family Farms

By: FoodieTots.com » Kitchen Memories Winner!

FoodieTots.com » Kitchen Memories Winner! — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:10:39 +0000

[...] the original post to read the other stories. Thanks [...]

By: foodietots

foodietots — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:13:20 +0000

Thanks everyone for participating! The winner will be announced tomorrow, so stay tuned…

@ Tiffany - My mom used to make applesauce too. I wish I had paid more attention - the canning process is so intimidating.

@ Kerri - Of course Mt. Tam counts. You’re so lucky to have Cowgirl in your backyard! And I’d love to hear the story about your dad’s lefse obsession.

@ Janette - I just recently heard about date shakes. Will definitely have to hunt one down next time I’m in SoCal.

@ Sarah - We used to go blackberry picking every summer too, along the driveway of an elderly lady from our church. She let us pick what she couldn’t get too, and my mom would take her homemade jam. Nothing like dusty berries fresh from the side of the road.

@ Shana - I’ve still never been north of the city, but will try to get upstate during apple season some year! We have pretty good apples here, but I’m sure they’re better in a slightly cooler climate.

By: Shana

Shana — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:28:12 +0000

California produces some amazing fruits and veggies, but I’ve yet to taste anything better than an upstate NY-grown Macintosh right off the tree. It’s one of the things I miss most about home — you just can’t get a good Macintosh here in the Bay Area. Every fall growing up, we would go apple picking at the local orchard, and I was lucky enough to share that experience with Eric a few years ago during one of our few trips back. Not only was I finally able to share one of my favorite childhood experiences with him, but I also finally got to show that California boy something that NY definitely does better

By: sarah gilbert

sarah gilbert — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:51:15 +0000

it’s hard to find a *favorite* local food memory but i think it would have to be eating peas and cherry tomatoes (in different seasons obviously!) out of my mom’s garden.

… no wait. picking blackberries at the back fence of a local cemetery. blackberries are an invasive species here in portland, oregon, but they grew riotously wild in the 70s and 80s and the family would don long-sleeved shirts and go blackberry picking. we’d bring them home and mom would make pies and jam and freeze some for thanksgiving. my mom still makes fantastic pies (and now *i* go blackberry picking with my own kids)

By: Janette

Janette — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:26:38 +0000

I grew up in the Palm Springs area, so my fond childhood local food memories include dates, which are grown extensively there. Date shakes are amazing! We were also close friends with a family who farmed commercially. Eating dinner at their house always meant super fresh lettuce and tomatoes… I usually resisted veggies unless we were eating there!

By: Jill

Jill — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:13:54 +0000

Nope, it was when we lived in Rochester, Minn. I remember buying the corn from the back of a pick-up truck at a Spur gas station. I never spent much time in Indy when my parents lived there, so I don’t have many food memories from there.

@Kerri - Mt. Tam cheese counts! I loooooooove Mt. Tam. I try to buy it here in Minneapolis as much as I can, but it’s not always in stock at my cheese shop.

By: Kerri

Kerri — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:24:01 +0000

I’m totally blanking on any local food related memories! I was going to talk about the lefse that my dad would have sent in bulk from MN to us in CA, but then remembered your focus is local and that was far from it! Argh, you’d think this wouldn’t be so hard. Oooh, oooh, oooh, does noshing on Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese count? Not only are they very local, but my dad, who was a ranger on Mt. Tam, worked with Sue Conley’s life partner. Delicious cheese that pays homage to the beautiful state park where I grew up. What could be better?

Well, I just wanted to drop by and give you some support. Great blog!

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:57:44 +0000

Definitely apple picking. We did it every year. When we got home my mom would spend hours making large batches of delicious homemade applesauce and rolling out the dough for apple pies.
Foodie Tots- I applaud you on your efforts to help out farmers. One of my best friends grew up on an Iowa farm, though thankfully her parent’s farm was unaffected by the flooding.

By: foodietots

foodietots — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:25:32 +0000

Jean, Lelo, Jill, Stacye - Thanks for sharing these great stories! So far we have two Californians and two Midwesterners … although all of you live different places now. (Isn’t that funny?)

@ Jill - were those corn trucks in Indiana? We just bought some “Popcorn, Indiana” popcorn at Whole Foods, although the bag said something about being “infused with the flavor of Indiana” not that the corn was really from there…

By: Stacye Ray

Stacye Ray — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:42:05 +0000

I grew up in California’s central valley (San Joaquin), where produce is king. A couple times each summer, my mom and Nana would serve us all a meal of fresh corn and watermelon (and maybe some home-grown tomatoes). The corn would be boiled and eaten with butter and garlic salt. Nothing is as good as sweet corn the day it was picked!