Skip to main content

Try it!



Today on my commute to work, my favorite radio station was asking listeners the “question of the day”.  I have to admit; the question of the day is one of the reasons why I like this station.  I tuned in to hear.  Today’s question was, “what strange food item did you love growing up that others just didn’t understand.”  My reaction was immediate.  I chuckle as I type this knowing the face of disgust my husband will make when he reads this.  Growing up my parents used to make us peanut butter and sweet pickle sandwiches.  My Dad loved it. I loved it.  I can’t explain it. It must be the blend of the salty peanut butter and the balance of the sweet pickle combined with the satisfying pickle crunch. Together, it is just perfect.  Seriously, don’t knock it until you try it!

Oddly, however, when I remembered my favorite sandwich, I was immediately taken back to my childhood home on Brooke Drive.  I was in the extremely small kitchen of my childhood home.  I could see the yellow chairs around the metal table and the window over the sink.  Not a moment later, I was transported to my junior high school cafeteria to the ill-fated day that my friends discovered my secret favorite sandwich.  Somehow, I had made it through elementary school without anyone discovering that my peanut butter sandwich combination had nothing to do with jelly.  This particular day, the mean spirited pre-teenage mind couldn’t help but question my food choices.  I don’t remember much more about the confrontation, but I remember deciding it would be the last time I would take my peanut butter pickle sandwich to school.  Instead, I would only enjoy it at home with my family

Much older now, I wish I could tell my younger self not care so much about what others think. Food has a powerful way to evoke emotions and memories.  Taste, smell, and texture are powerful.  For me, peanut butter and sweet pickles will always take me home.  Even if others believe it to be “strange”.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gloria

Hoy quiero escribir sobre Gloria Anzaldúa.   Un poeta, una feminista y un erudito. Hoy leí una cita de ella que nunca antes había notado escrita en una pared en mi trabajo. Esta noche encontré una poema que toca mi alma. Gloria escribió que el lenguaje es una frontera para todos. Una frontera que todos debemos cruzar para definir quiénes somos. Los libros salvaron mi cordura, el conocimiento me abrió lugares que había cerrado y me enseñó primero a sobrevivir y luego a cómo volar.
2 comments
Read more

Alma

Today I read a charming children’s book written and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal called Alma and How She Got Her Name. It is a 2019 Caldecott Honor Book.   It is a sweet story about how Alma doesn’t like her name because it is too long.   Her name, to be exact is Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela.   Six names!   Six very long names she tells her father.   As her father tells her the story behind each of her names she realizes that her name is perfect for her.   She learns that her special name will one day provide her with the opportunity to share her story with the world. This story made me think about how as a child I too did not like my name.   My name was different, there was never anyone else with my name and at times I wished for a more traditional name.   So tonight I decided to call my parents, both of whom are now in their 80’s and ask about my name.  I had heard stories about why the named me but honestly, I ne...
2 comments
Read more

Slice of Life #1 - Orthography Conference

The Slice of Life blog challenge starts today, March 1, 2019, and the fact that I am spending the day at an Orthography Conference with Dr. Pete Bowers, Gina Cooke, and Doug Harper, is not lost on me.  The most passionate slice of my life is word investigation, whether in English or in Spanish.  Today Michel Mira-Rameau was our guest host from Cluis, France via Zoom.  Michel reminded us why we are here today and that “language isn’t primarily for communication but instead exists to make sense of what we are thinking”.  We must remember that the written word is not a spoken language written down.  I am passionate about spending time with words because as I am reminded today, “with words, as with people, you don’t know them until you know where they have been.”  Where will my next word take me?  I can’t wait to see!
3 comments
Read more