{pictures are unrelated, just recents from the last month or so}
This morning as I was eating fresh pears and cottage cheese
I was immediately taken back to my childhood. It’s a comfort food for me. And
since I am lucky enough to have many, many cherished childhood memories, I
thought that I would record and share them here in various installments. A
family history of sorts – but all the fuzzy, warm-feeling, hazy-pictured
history moments. Delicious and comforting, funny and endearing.
Fruit. My childhood memory today is of fruit. Every night,
or at least 98% of nights of my childhood I seem to remember eating fruit. My
Dad would cut up apples and oranges usually and we’d eat. Sometime grapes now,
but my memory is leaning heavily towards just oranges and apples. If I was
doing homework or watching a movie, with friends over or already in my bed
reading a book, invariably my Dad (usually) or my Mom would come in with a
plate of fruit and encourage a few slices. Or right before family prayer time. It’s
just what happened every night. And they still do it! Even when we come to Utah
to visit now, all grown up… it still happens. I like it. I love that this fruit
ritual is their nightcap.
In addition, I remember Family Home Evening (FHE) nights
where we would get what I considered a special treat: canned pears with cottage
cheese. My mother canned her own pears and peaches (and grape juice) when I was
a kid and my brother or I would go down to the basement food storage room,
where some of the bottles seemed new and some had dust on top, and bring up one
bottle which we’d share. Some pear halves plus a little bottled juice and a
giant dollop or two of cottage cheese. Love it! It’s funny that it took me
until college to learn that people eat pineapple with cottage cheese. It’s one
of my new favorites and trumps even pears when I can get it.
So at least I know I was laid a healthy and happy tradition
of good eating when I was a kid. Delicious memory! Thanks, Mom and Dad!
And to establish a tradition for my children… here’s some memories that I have of their childhood! Naked or rain-coated, barefoot or booted, they LOVE rain! And they are out in it! I’m pretty lax in letting the girls run out and splash in the puddles during or after a rainshower. And since we get some pretty serious rainshowers here in the Mid-Atlantic, there is a lot to enjoy! They splash and run and float leaves down the street gutters. They look for worms and shake branches. We’re big fans of Singin’ In the Rain so the girls reenact as much of those scenes as possible both with voice and splashing around. Anyways… that’s MY memory. They love rain and I love watching them in it!
my mom loves the fruit + cottage cheese equation, but i've never been able to convert. but what a happy thing to remember!
ReplyDeletelove kids in rain. did they get out this morning?
What a fun memory! And what good parents you had to have you eat fruit every night. My mom canned peaches, pears and grape juice every summer too. Although I could never get on board with cottage cheese.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the naked bathtime picture of the girls! Too cute!