When I was young, I used to live in a house in Brooklyn. My grandpa had been a chef and he would always cook the most delicious foods.
Eventually due to certain circumstances, I moved away, but since some of my family members continued to live there, I occasionally visited.
So one day, it began to pour - imagine God dumping buckets and buckets of water - and I remember just sitting on a brick wall - under the awning - between my house and my neighbor's. The air was cool and the streets were empty, just me and the world in front of me being purged.
My grandpa, being the best, came out onto the porch and handed me a bowl of egg and tuna salad. I don't remember him making it that frequent, but, at that moment, it felt like he had always been making it. It was simple tuna with mayo and egg, but I couldn't help but savor each taste.
And I realized, as I was eating my tuna egg salad, that this place was the only place I ever really knew, this was where I grew up. I practically knew everyone on my block, the old lady with her chihuahua that I used to feed, the other neighbor's kids who I used to play with on one end of the block, and, on the other end, other families that I used to visit and speak with. This was the block where I used to run around to scream and where I used to imagine that dinosaurs were chasing after me. This was the block where I caught fireflies at dusk and where I could eat a bowl of rice in 2 minutes.
This was once my life.
Hence, I miss tuna and egg salad because I really miss my grandpa, because I really miss where I grew up, and because I really miss that day where the world was ethereal, silent and lonely.
What foods remind you of memories like this?
Recommend
Comments (19)
Eating baliadas makes me nostalgic because I remember eating them at home with my mom and in Honduras.
Most Hispanic foods make me feel that way I guess.
most cantonese foods make me feel that way... also english breakfasts make me feel that way. my grandpa was educated in britain and he would make an english style breakfast every morning
Pho. My boyfriend and I LOVE to go out to eat pho. MMMM good!
bearing in mind that i don't eat most of these stuffs anymore..
1) congee with you-tiao
2) beebee and kaka snacks
3) ding dang and tora chocolate balls with their little surprise toys
4) fake m&ms, 20cents each
5) wang wang man-tou snacks
6) A&W
7) old-skool KFC that already ceased to exist
8) eating fried carrot cake with toothpicks
9) Mcdonalds happy meal
10) Nissin cup noodles
mac and cheese with kielbasa, good eatin'!
My grandma's homemade Mac & Cheese or her Oven BBQ chicken with teh homemade BBQ sauce. Oh, both were divine!
Ham and Scalloped Potatoes. My dad's secret recipe was amazing and took several hours to prepare and cook. I remember as a little girl getting to help my dad get everything ready to put into the dish. My father has since passed away and every time I make it, I remember sitting on his lap and helping him chop onion.
I remember everything that my grandmother ever made for me but there was this one dish; macaroni noodles, tomato sauce and ham baked together and then topped with cheese. I have NO idea what this is supposed to be called but I miss it!
Dunkaroos <3
And elephant ears, those fried pastry things. When I lived with my grandma, my older cousin would visit and it was the only thing she knew how to cook, so she'd make it every time haha.
Homemade peach ice cream...my granny used to make it on their farm when I was little, and it made me feel safe, loved and part of something.
@daeshii@xanga - that sounds really delicious (especially during the humid weather). Safe and loved? Isn't that the best.
@munchmunch - Absolutely!!
My grandma used to make something called Grandma Green Cake. She clipped the recipe out of a newspaper years and years ago, probably in the 1970's before I was born. It was a moist bundt cake made with pistachio pudding mix that gave it a lovely brown crust and subtle green interior. Mmmmm...
@thepurpleporpoise@xanga - Awww. Good to have memories huh?
any meal/seafood cuz im a vegetarian and have never eaten that stuff. other than that, papaya. The smell alone just gets me nostalgic.
For me, sinigang, and adobo.
Pomegranates, definitely. And this really good egg pudding my Mum makes. Mmmmm.
But it's not just always the food itself that gets me nostalgic, but more of the textures and the tastes...
I was thinking of the same food when I saw your title - tuna egg mayo sandwiches after my swimming lessons.
I think it is b/c you are chinese.. or even cantonese. People in North America don't add egg and mayo in their tuna salad sandwiches.