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Love Notes

The Dinners With Love Blog

"I Remember..." Stories of Food II

12/15/2016

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Much of our enjoyment of certain foods comes from our memories of experiencing them. Whether the dish is elaborate or simple, gourmet or comforting, we remember it best by preparing and sharing it with others we love. And that is the basis for Dinners with Love: to spread food and love in our communities, and to offer hospice patients and their families just a few more opportunities to make fond memories together.

We at Dinners with Love recently thought about our favorite food memories, either from our childhoods or our recent adult years. We hope our stories inspire you to recall your favorite meals, places, and loved ones. If you have a fond food memory you would like to share, we invite you to contact us. You might see your story on the blog.

This is our second installment of stories. Read the first set here.

Jenn Brown, Board Member

I've always had a bit of a sweet tooth, and somewhere during middle school I encountered chocolate cheesecake for the first time. It was incredible! It became my go-to birthday cake for many years, and the extra special part was that it was made by my dad. Famous Chocolate Wafers for the crust, Philadelphia Cream Cheese for the cake. It was the best. Now, a couple of decades later, I don't get to see my dad most birthdays, but for my 40th I asked a friend who is a baker to make me one and it was better than I'd even remembered.

One of my favorite food memories involves Paris. I planned a trip a few years ago based around a French food blogger I followed. She wrote a book called Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris, and I used it to plan a walking/food tour through the city. We walked from one gelato place to another, stopping to see spots I'd not seen before, like the Tuileries. We went to the Botanic Garden and had Moroccan mint tea and cookies at the tea room at the mosque next door. And we found the place with the best hot chocolate and ordered pots of 3 different kinds. It was as thick as molasses but much more delicious. It was an amazing trip, and a good thing we did lots of walking!

Linda Bryant, Board Member
I moved to Rutland in 2007, and met my best friends shortly thereafter. We started a tradition in 2009 that each time one of us has a birthday, the other two take that person to dinner at the restaurant of her choice. This means that three times every year, we go to a nice restaurant to have dinner. We almost always go to Applebee’s, Seward’s, or Ginger China in Rutland.

In 2013, I wanted to try something different. I chose the Inn at Long Trail for dinner and McGrath’s for great Irish music afterward. Given that my birthday is at Christmastime, it started to snow on the way up the mountain. We had a most amazing dinner at the Inn. I had a lamb dish, something I had not had in a long time; I had forgotten how wonderful it is. As planned, we went to the pub after dinner, where we listened to great music and drank ginger ale.

But the fun part came when it was time to leave! There was at least two feet of snow on the ground, with more coming down steadily. The trip down the mountain was harrowing, but we all made it home safe that night. We still often speak of and laugh about that evening.

Frank Finnerty, Board Member
My wife, Jeanne, who has been deceased for eight years now, was an amazing, self-taught executive chef for a large Boston-based financial firm. She would sometimes bring home the leftovers from the meals she served to the eight top executives. Every time I eat leftovers from a great meal now, it reminds me of her. Rest in peace, Jeanne.

Sheri Sullivan, President & Founder
It is difficult to pick just one favorite meal from childhood because I was luck enough to have a mom who was a great cook. Two of my favorites both involved seafood. One was macaroni with shrimp (the large, good kind that was readily available when I was a kid). The other was Campbell’s cream of mushroom. Simple, but delicious. We always had it with an iceburg lettuce wedge with homemade Russian dressing. I can still taste it. Another favorite meal was creamed salmon and peas on toast. I made it not too long ago, and it was wonderful.



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"I Remember..." Stories of Food

12/8/2016

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Much of our enjoyment of certain foods comes from our memories of experiencing them. Whether the dish is elaborate or simple, gourmet or comforting, we remember it best by preparing and sharing it with others we love. And that is the basis for Dinners with Love: to spread food and love in our communities, and to offer hospice patients and their families just a few more opportunities to make fond memories together.

We at Dinners with Love recently thought about our favorite food memories, either from our childhoods or our recent adult years. We hope our stories inspire you to recall your favorite meals, places, and loved ones. If you have a fond food memory you would like to share, we invite you to contact us. You might see your story on the blog.

All of today's stories feature grandmothers.

Sarah Audet, Program Manager
When I was little, I generally ate whatever my mother prepared. I was not much into “kid food." In fact, I absolutely detested the staple of kid food: hot dogs. But when I visited my grandmother for sleepovers, I always asked her to make me chicken nuggets with sweet-and-sour sauce, mashed potatoes with an obscene amount of butter, and steamed carrots. For dessert, a heaping helping of Gifford’s strawberry ice cream. The following day for lunch, she would make me “
girl cheese sandwiches." You see, I did not understand that it was grilled cheese, and often wondered if grandmothers made their grandsons “boy cheese sandwiches.” The best part was when she cut my girl cheese sandwich into four triangles. This was not how we cut our sandwiches at home, so I regarded the triangles as an extra special touch.

Robert Barral

When I was a child, my parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins would gather at one of our houses and spend most of the day eating. Uncle Joe would bring oysters. We had a lot fun opening the oysters, trying not to stab ourselves with the knives. My grandmother Marie would bring a platter full of stuffed cannoli, while my mother would have made one of her specialties, like rice with zucchini. One of my other uncles would have brought grilled lamb chops with potato gratin. My godmother Hughette would have purchased a beautiful cake from our favorite pastry shop in town.

The meal would start around noon and end somewhere around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. At that point, one of the mothers would always ask the most important question of the day, “So, what do we eat tonight?”

As you might imagine, the kids would eventually lose interest in the food, so we would go to play in the garden or in the bedroom. But the prospect of a magnificent dessert would always keep us close by. We did not want to miss it.

Carol Bertrand, Vice President
My grandmother’s spaghetti sauce and meatballs is one of my favorite foods. When I was about 20-years-old, I asked my grandmother if she would share her recipe with me. She did not have it written down, but took the time to make it with me so I could write it. Today, I not only have the memory of making her spaghetti sauce and meatballs with her, I have the recipe to share with other family members. I always lovingly think of her when I make this very delicious dish.

Catherine Wall

When I was a child, I always looked forward to Christmas morning because my grandmother would make bannocks. She would prepare the bread dough early in the morning, and I would watch her work it: let it rise, punch it down, flour it, and repeat the process. When it was ready, she would roll it out, fold it in half, cut it into strips, and then fry it. She served the bannocks with fried eggs--mine with a runny yolk--and bacon.
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  • About
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    • Press & Other Media
    • Contact
  • Hospice Agencies
    • Participating Agencies
    • Partner with Us
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    • Participating Restaurants
    • Donate Meals
  • Get Involved
    • Hospice Agencies
    • Donate Meals
    • Volunteer
    • Join the Board
  • Blog
  • Events
    • Comfort Food for a Cause 2020
    • Comfort Food for a Cause 2019
    • Dinners with EXTRA Love 2019
    • Comfort Food for a Cause 2018
    • Comfort Food for a Cause 2017
    • Comfort Food for a Cause 2016
  • Donate