Amy Artisan

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A Winning Menu…

In keeping with the metaphor of life being a full plate, my plate has been rather full the last few weeks – I’ve mentally written many blog entries – hopefully they will make their way to the site in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone who submitted your favorite comfort foods and associated stories – it was fun to read through each memory. Collectively you created quite a comfort food menu – with more than enough macaroni and cheese for everyone to enjoy a big serving!

The following gals will be receiving a copy of Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs:

  • Deborah – Poppyseed chicken! It’s a yummy, not-very-good-for-you chicken casserole that my mom used to bring to church potluck suppers. It makes me think of my family and the church that I grew up in. I always serve it with sweet tea and southern style green beans on the side. It makes me feel like I’m back in small town Mississippi – life slows down and we can have a nice visit at the dinner table. Ooh, and my summer comfort food is lemon icebox pie. It’s really easy to make, but I still only make it once or twice a summer. It’s cool and refreshing, and reminds me of hot, humid summer days back home. Lemon icebox pie just looks pretty, too, and it makes me think of Southern women.
  • Casey – I love apple pie! My grandma made the best pie from scratch and whenever I was sick, she’d send my grandpa over with a pie for me! Some kids got popsicles, I got pies. I still love apple pie but I can’t eat the frozen kind from the supermarket. Sometimes I get those but I’m always disappointed. It has to have the taste of homemade. My aunt’s pies are second best only to my grandma’s but she lives a state away. I guess I should start making them myself!
  • Kris – My comfort food is “Grammy’s Bread” which is similar to babka. It is my paternal grandmother’s recipe. Over the last couple of years, I have become the one in my family to carry on her tradition of baking it. It is my favorite comfort food because tasting it brings a flood of memories of my dear Grammy each time. The act of making it, though I never made it with Grammy, reminds me of my connections to my roots and brings more memories.
  • Cynthia – I do love tea; there is something comforting on a cold and rainy day about a good cuppa tea. I also love brown rice with a bit of oil and some frozen green peas (my husband and son would say green peas are my comfort food – they always seem to soothe my nausea) when I am feeling nauseated or under the weather, which happens a lot. My other favourite comfort food is popcorn. Not too much butter but just a big bowl of traditionally made on the stove popcorn. Love the crunch and the taste.
  • Marilyn – In all seasons, my favorite comfort food is homemade soup. It can be a very fancy recipe or just a “clean out the refrigerator” kind…doesn’t matter…just warms me all over…body and soul.

 

Earlier in May, Kate was in town for Comfort Food book events on two evenings. The first evening a portion of my bookclub joined me for the reading & signing – at that gathering it seemed like everyone came with at least one other member of their bookclub. After the event, Kate & I hung out in the bookstore cafe for a bit catching up on life. The second evening, I met up with a friend for dinner and then we joined in the event at an independent bookstore. Both evenings were filled with great questions and conversations.

In the last month I’ve been cooking a bit more (something that I enjoy doing) and now that I’ve got the grill in rotation again I’m having a lot of fun. In the next couple of months I hope to share some of my kitchen & grillin’ adventures with you. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with my plate from a few weeks ago – the first grill meal of the summer that was definitely a comfort food plate…

Santa Maria Tri-Tip

6 Comments

  1. YUM to the tri-tip and Santa Maria beans…doesn’t get much tastier than that and what a picture of California eating! Wish we were sharing this menu with you today.

  2. Comfort foods rule! Congrats to the winners…and i also agree with the soup!

  3. With all the medical stuff going on around here, we have not had a chance to fire up the grill yet. But I’m hoping for next weekend and I’ve been looking for marinade recipes from people who grill. If you have anything that you love and would like to share with me, I’d love to know! That dish sure does look delish!

  4. I’d love to see your grill recipes! We need some new ideas. It’s usually burgers or steak.

  5. Those are wonderful memories, indeed. I have an old Martha Stewart cookbook that has all manner of American comfort foods. My favorite is a plum sheet cake that you find in Germany during the summer. Growing up in an ethnic household presented me with very different comfort foods from those here in the States. Thanks for posting those wonderful stories.

  6. Thanks, Amy! We love grilling here too but haven’t done any yet since it’s June-uary around here. I hope the sunshine comes out to stay soon!

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