Thursday 31 March 2016

BLAST from the PAST

It's good having my husband back with me, for many reasons. I do hate cooking for one. Let me correct that statement, I hate eating alone. There is no fun sitting down to a plate of food with no one to share it with, to ask if it's ok and how I could better it. I know many people do this everyday, and it must be so hard.
For one there is no one to discuss what to have for supper, to ask what they fancy or don't fancy. So left with the decision I would find myself living on a diet of sandwiches I'm sure. But then again on the positive side you can eat whatever you like without any pressure of producing food at a particular time. You can eat when, what and where you eat. When alone this is usually from a tray on my lap.
Last week I started off pretty well. I made a Nasi Goreng, minestrone soup, a mushroom omelette and then I ran out of enthusiasm for cooking for one.
Then a friend arrived with 2 thick slices of cooked ham which she had cooked. She thought I might fancy them for one of my solo sandwiches. However I decided to take a trip down memory lane and cook something I rarely eat, have rarely eaten since I left home. I would cook ham, egg and chips! Healthy, no, tasty very. I knew I was going to enjoy this.


With the yolk just right, the addition of baked beans I sat down to enjoy my retro tea. I did have it on a tray, in front of the TV and I enjoyed every bite. I knew I wouldn't be enjoying this again for a while which I think made it even more delicious.

So as much as I love all kinds of foods, Indian, Chinese (luckily), Sushi, Thai etc it's still good to take a trip back to my early childhood food and remember how much things have changed, how our food tastes have moved on. But it confirms that foods like music, have the ability to take you back to a time and a place. This time back to a yellow formica covered kitchen table enjoying the meal with my mum dad and brother. Sadly no longer able to sit round a table with my parents and with my brother being far away, and really not to sure they would have the same taste for "foreign" foods as I have but with these memories it keeps times like those alive. For this I am thankful.


3 comments:

Phil in the Kitchen said...

I think that ham, egg and chips is probably my ultimate comfort food and I can remember many fine examples eaten in pubs and cafés up and down the UK. I can also remember a yellow formica table, although ours had some sort of black flecks in it as well. I don't like to eat alone but the one consolation when I have to is that I can eat the things that nobody I know likes, such as kidneys in a mustard sauce.

Snowy said...

Sadly, I now have to eat alone, but I will definitely put ham, egg and chips on my menu, as it's one of my comfort foods too. Our formica table was red, with black flecks in it.

thecelticcookinshanghai said...

So many of my friends have been saying they have had it on the menu since reading this post. Sometimes we forget the simpler things Snowy. Even Jamie Oliver had a ham egg and chips in a piece this week.