Food Friday

This week was pretty busy for us, so there weren’t any spectacular dishes. We had some pork chops with a peach glaze, but Becca and I both agreed that it’s so hard to get pork chops moist (pork loin works a little better) and the combination of mustard with the peaches gave our tongues a little bit of a weird feeling. Becca made a nice Cannelloni that was good but I didn’t get pictures. If you are interested, I think that it was a Rachel Ray recipe so you could find it online. I don’t think that Wendy’s or conference food really qualify either. Actually, I had a Wendy’s double cheeseburger to continue my review of fast food chain $1 double cheeseburgers. It was two patties with one slice of cheese, ketchup, and mayo. Definitely sub-par compared to McDonalds. I still have Burger King to go. Anyway, I thought I would diverge from dishes or recipes and just talk about a general food topic today.

Think of a food that you like. Now close your eyes and take a deep breath through your nose. Can’t you almost taste it? They say that we remember smells better than any other sense. There are just some smells that bring back memories, make our mouths water, or just are nice to smell over and over. I submit some of my favorite smells.

Garlic. I love garlic. I guess the career path of Vampire wouldn’t work out for me. Darn. We have a garlic press but never use it. I like to smash the garlic with the side of a knife and mince it or slice it to infuse flavors into various dishes. The thing I like is that some gets on my fingers (oils in the garlic?) and stay for at least a couple of hours, if not a day or two. Maybe it’s weird, but it’s nice to smell that garlicky finger just to get a whiff of the garlic.

Claude’s Brisket Sauce. If any of you have had my brisket, you might remember the smell. It’s an old family recipe, but here it is in the public domain (TIC) … ready? Brisket, Claude’s Brisket Sauce, cook slowly in the crock pot or oven and then shred or slice and let it cook in the juices for another 30 minutes. The best is when you set it to go and then leave (for church or for the day) and come home and the whole house smells like it. Divine. I once told Becca that for my birthday she should just dab a little Claude’s Brisket Sauce on instead of perfume and I would be perfectly happy..

Pumpkin Bread. I once read that the scent of pumpkin gets your man in the mood more than any other scent (hey, I grew up with 4 sisters and there was always some chick magazine laying around). I don’t love pumpkin pie, but pumpkin bread is pretty good.

Fresh bread. Oh man, think of a hot loaf of bread coming out of the oven and breaking it open and the steam rises as you smell the cooked flour and yeast. There’s not much better.

I could go on, but I’m a little hungry now and I don’t think that a granola bar is going to cut it. Time to find a brisket sandwich on fresh garlic bread and a slice of pumpkin bread for dessert. Ok, that doesn’t sound as good put all together.