The Tastes and Smells of Home
Backing up a bit, my eldest has started Kindergarten. As we should have expected, she then met a Boy. *sigh*
The Boy lives in our development, one bus stop away. On Wednesday, we walked down to his stop so I could say hi and meet his mom. They recently moved into the neighborhood, which is why we hadn't seen them before now. Thursday, I'd already had a playdate scheduled with Elderly Neighbor and her grandson to go to the local farmer's market, so I invited Boy and his mom along. The kids had a great time at the playground beside the market. We let them play, had a little lunch, and then went looking for veggies.
In the very last stall, they had Concord grapes. The lady behind the table told me to sample one before I bought any, because some people don't like the flavor. One bite, and I was a kid again.
When I was young, my grandmother had grape vines. (My dad tried, but he never got them to grow well.) In the fall, she'd make jelly on the stove, and store jars and jars of the stuff in her basement. It's been years since I've been around grapes that had any kind of real smell; the problem with a lot of produce, at least in the markets where we shop, is that it's lost the fresh smells from the garden. (The reason we originally set the playdate for the farmer's market was because EN's roommate had picked me up some lovely, fragrant tomatoes there last week.) I forget how good food is actually suppose to smell.
Today at dinner, I had a salad with the grapes in it, and while it took a long time to eat (it's also been a long time since I had anything other than seedless grapes) it was delicious.
Lunch was spent with ladyknyght at a local restaurant, with yummy onion soup. It wasn't quite as good as what taraljc makes, but it was quite nice. We topped up our lunch with a shared brownie from a basket sent by a dear friend.
I love how food can set a moment in time.
The Boy lives in our development, one bus stop away. On Wednesday, we walked down to his stop so I could say hi and meet his mom. They recently moved into the neighborhood, which is why we hadn't seen them before now. Thursday, I'd already had a playdate scheduled with Elderly Neighbor and her grandson to go to the local farmer's market, so I invited Boy and his mom along. The kids had a great time at the playground beside the market. We let them play, had a little lunch, and then went looking for veggies.
In the very last stall, they had Concord grapes. The lady behind the table told me to sample one before I bought any, because some people don't like the flavor. One bite, and I was a kid again.
When I was young, my grandmother had grape vines. (My dad tried, but he never got them to grow well.) In the fall, she'd make jelly on the stove, and store jars and jars of the stuff in her basement. It's been years since I've been around grapes that had any kind of real smell; the problem with a lot of produce, at least in the markets where we shop, is that it's lost the fresh smells from the garden. (The reason we originally set the playdate for the farmer's market was because EN's roommate had picked me up some lovely, fragrant tomatoes there last week.) I forget how good food is actually suppose to smell.
Today at dinner, I had a salad with the grapes in it, and while it took a long time to eat (it's also been a long time since I had anything other than seedless grapes) it was delicious.
Lunch was spent with ladyknyght at a local restaurant, with yummy onion soup. It wasn't quite as good as what taraljc makes, but it was quite nice. We topped up our lunch with a shared brownie from a basket sent by a dear friend.
I love how food can set a moment in time.