childhood favorites that I still love as an adult
brought to you by my Siti (for the most part)
Nostalgia is one of the best, if not the best tastes someone can experience. It’s personal, intimate, and gives life to food in a way depth and complex flavor profiles can’t provide.
I always think about foods that made me have an “Anton Ego” moment. You know the one…
Frozen Chocolate chip cookies
Listen, I love a “fresh out of the oven” warm chocolate chip as much as the next guy, but frozen chocolate chip cookies are where it’s at, especially in the summertime.
As a kid, my Siti always kept cookies in the freezer (I may have already written about this, but let’s pretend this is the first time I told you). She always made sure to have some kind of cookie in the freezer for guests to have with coffee; a real hospitality QUEEN. I strive to be this way.
Kousa
I’ve talked about Kousa in previous blogs, but this dish truly is my “Anton Ego” dish, to a T.
It’s traditionally a homestyle, stuffed squash cooked in a tomato sauce. My family always made it in a casserole-style; not nearly as elegant but still just as tasty. It sticks to your ribs, it’s comforting, and checked all the boxes nutritionally? I think so.
My family would always make a BIG batch of it for leftovers, which I then would take to school and would have my “microaggressive, ethnic food” moment.
If you don’t know what that is, it’s when you bring something other than a Lunchable or a PB&J that was adjacent to your culture, and kids call it “gross” or pick on you in some fashion.
I never took what kids said to heart, in fact, I reveled in it.
I wasn’t like other girls and I had no intention to be so.
I would proudly explain what kousa was! I knew I was the only kid that had that for lunch in my entire school, and was too big of a confidence boost to try to be cool about it.
Strawberry cake
For much of my adolescence, my Siti would always make a strawberry cake for my birthday. She’d make a super-Barbie-approved-pink cake, homemade strawberry preserves in between the layers, and a stiff cream cheese frosting to tie up all loose ends.
With my birthday coming up in a week, it’s a bittersweet memory.
I’m no longer a big cake person (we have so many other dessert options, I’m sorry), but I will always be a big Strawberry Cake girl.
Bonus: Carrot Cake as well. Siti made a mean carrot cake, and I think I make one meaner…
Meat Pies
Again, been there, written (about) that. Will probably write about again.
But I have vivid memories of Siti picking me up from school then saying in the car or in the garage, “Guess what I made today?” and getting smacked in the face with the aroma of meat pies.
The excitement as a kid versus now is just the same.
They're perfectly crisp, rich, and too good to have a bad wrap (thank you, Sondheim).
Bonus: Sweet Stuff
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had a sweet tooth.
Not in the “I’m gonna eat candy till I puke my brains out” kinda way, but more so the “I need something sweet at the end of every meal or else it’s just not a good day” kinda way.
Especially chocolate. My favorite candy growing up (and still to this day) are chocolate-covered raisins.
I love dark-chocolate covered raisins.
My mom (bless her soul) would buy the Hill Country Fare two-pound bag of raisins on a weekly basis. I ate so many, it’s a wonder I never got sick.
I was the same way with Smores Poptarts. The most I ever ate in a day was six. SIX. Now I can’t even finish one!
Along with Creamy Creations’ Intense Chocolate Icecream: a staple in the freezer at Siti and Gidos, and one I still love today.
Honestly, if it’s got good balance and chocolate, I’m a happy camper.
With love,
Cara