Thank you to everyone who posted one of their favorite food memories so far for my FIRST GIVEAWAY!!

It ends tomorrow, so you still have a chance to enter!

I thought I’d share one of my many favorite food memories with you while we are on the subject! Over a month ago, I was in my grandmother’s kitchen learning how to make pasta from scratch. She was moving back to New York, so I had to quickly make plans to see her before she left. I had such a wonderful time and learned A LOT in the process. If I hadn’t come up with my 31 comes before 32 list, it might not have happened. So, hooray for motivating lists!

When I walked into my grandmother’s kitchen, she had everything set up for us to make pasta!  I could tell that she was a bit stressed by the move, but our time together was a welcome relief for her. In the back of my mind, I knew it could be the last time we cooked together (at least for awhile) so I soaked it all in and appreciated every second of the experience. I also snapped as many pictures as I could! She went to use her hand mixer, and I pushed it aside and told her that I wanted to use my own hands. I wanted to feel the dough and see what it took to make it. She looked up at me proudly and patted me on the back. That was my favorite moment.

I left her house with two trays full of big fat scrumptious cheese raviolis, a few stories of her younger days, as well as THEE pasta/polenta board her father made her over 30 years ago. I am truly blessed. It’s a big deal that I have it now.

What I have taken away from the experience is that putting in the effort to make things from scratch REALLY makes a difference.  When you make something by hand– with love, it shows.  My grandmother has always inspired me to grow my arsenal of cooking techniques. She taught me to pay attention to what I eat and figure out what’s in it and how I can replicate it at home. She has always made things from scratch, even when her hands began to fail her and for that I am thankful.

When I talk to my dad about his favorite food memories, he beams. He always goes back to the time when my grandma made a ridiculously HUGE batch of potato gnocchi. There were soo many of them that she had to use every available surface in the house to set them.  Their beds were covered! I love that story just as much as I love seeing his face when he tells it.

Food memories are sacred; especially when they reference the love that someone put forth to create them. So if you keep that in mind when you are cooking for others, I’m pretty sure it will help your cooking! You are not just making food, you are making a memory. Even if you burn the chicken, it’s a memory!!

I’ll post our “pasta recipe” soon! I just need to figure out what my handwriting says!

Oh and btw, we can cross these two things off the list now!

26. Learn a recipe from my grandma.

27. Make pasta from scratch. (maybe with my grandma?)