comfort food commentary

.......... certain foods evoke certain emotions. If that emotion is pivotal enough, that emotion never changes. Why am I bringing this up? I made an amazing bread pudding last night. Just smelling it gave me the warm fuzzies. Only problem is, I don't remember where those warm fuzzies are from. I think my mom used to make it, but I'm not sure. Mom- a darn good cook I might add. Her knack (or habit?) of making the same dish without it ever tasting the same way twice, may have come from using instinct to add a dash or a smidge or "about" this much .... rather than following a recipe line for line. That's rubbed off on me& drives my Caption nuts. "how do you do that?" he will ask. I just do. I just ....do. EVEN when I follow a recipe- I rarely manage to do EXACTLY as it dictates. Either I don't have a specific ingredient & need to substitute, or I'm in a hurry so I shortcut. Never had a disaster but, as with my mom, it usually doesn't taste the same twice! oilwell. but I seem to have digressed a bit here so ...... back to those emotional food triggers. Not only does it trigger good feelings, but sometimes not-so-good ones as well. SO- just as the mere thought of apricot cobbler brings me back to sitting on the warm linoleum in front of the wall heater in my granny's kitchen .... equally as strong, is the sour taste in the back of my throat when I think about the lime jello with cottage cheese in it that made me sick more than once. Slapping fresh cold cuts onto a piece of sourdough without any extra fixings- brings back quality time with my mom ... she would bring them home from work and sit with us at the kitchen table. Sloppy hamburgers late at night from the bowling alley grill that mom & dad would bring my brother & I after an evening of babysitting .... I would watch the clock for their arrival in excited anticipation (sometimes falling asleep while waiting). While the Captain remembers the TASTE of his emotionally triggered food- I remember the EMOTIONS I felt at the time. Not sure what that means .... although it seems like he builds up his expectations based on how he remembers things tasting as a youngster and it's hard to imagine anything could meet those expectations?! Of course now that I think about THAT- maybe it is what justifies why he KEEPS EATING. &TRYING, SEARCHING .... I thought he was just hungry! HA-HA. So, I suppose I'm wondering if there are any comfort foods that my kids will (or can) identify for themselves. I'll have to ask sometime! And with all this talk about food .... I think I'll have another dish of bread pudding!! as the song goes ...."thanks for the memories"