November 7, 2005

• ezmrlda invited us to share our memories of favorite foods.
  I will try. Food has always been important to me.
  The first time I ever had pizza was when I was 12 years old. My Dad has never liked foreign food of any kind, and that included anything Italian. He hated spaghetti. Pizza was out of the question because while he was in the Navy during WWII he ate pizza in Italy. It was, according to him, made with tomato paste and stale flat bread. It was awful!
  Well, my mother was always adventurous when it came to food. And after years of cooking for a family of ten, she welcomed the thought of getting out of the kitchen as often as possible. So many Friday nights, we ordered pizza. Luckily, the closest pizza parlor was in Canton and it was Pizza Oven. They have, for as long as I have known, made rectangular pizzas. Our first pizza had everything on it except anchovies, which Mom knew she did not like. It had the sauce, then pepperoni, then sausage that is ground so fine that the flavor of it is infused in every bite instead of chunks here and there. on top of this is green peppers, black olives, onions and cheese. The crust is the best. I suppose it would be considered a pan type. It is not flat but not overly fluffy and it has the best flavor.
  My Dad wouldn’t eat it when we had it and Mom would make him a special dinner. This went on for years, until finally Mom told him we were having pizza, and if he didn’t want any he could find something else to eat. Well, he ate two pieces, pronouncing it inedible.
  But he continued to join us in our bi-weekly treat, under the cover that he didn’t want to go hungry.
  I was thirty-four when they moved to NM. After their first year there, they had only one request- Pizza Oven Pizza. And DAD was the one that missed it the most! Luckily, there are many other pizza connoiseuers out there. Pizza Oven can ship all over the US and even though it cost us, Mom and Dad got their Christmas wish. Every time they came home to visit they were sure to stop at Pizza oven at least twice every trip and stopped on their way out of town for some travelling food.
  To this day, I like other pizzas, but none tastes as good.
  It didn’t take Dad as long to get over his spaghetti hatred. Mom always made good homemade spaghetti and he preferred it until he tasted the spaghetti made with homemade noodles at the Italian-American Club at Waynesburg. We would take a Dutch oven over there and order three takeout dinners and get enough spaghetti to feed six of us with leftovers! It was SO GOOD! When I graduated from high school and nursing school we ordered their spaghetti for the parties. I don’t know if they still do the spaghetti dinners on Saturdays or not. I still smile when I think of the great spaghetti though.
  By now you realize Dad likes foreign food now.
  There is a restaraunt in Lincoln, NM that serves a really great hamburger topped with green chilis. It was one of the best I ever had.
  My brother introduced me to gyros when I was in college. One evening he showed up at my dorm with a bunch of gyros he had bought at the Athens restaurant in Canton. It was great! I love to stop there any time I have tests at Aultman Hospital.
  When my brother was living in New London, CT, we were introduced to grinders. The bread seems to be the secret to this sub sandwich. Love it!
  One of my favorite things is when my sister makes french onion soup. She is a great cook and her soup is the best I have ever tasted. She needs some work on duplicating Mom’s prowess for making the “dressing” for the Thanksgiving turkey. When it comes down to it, That is my favorite food. Even when Mom swears she has screwed it up, it is the greatest. I remember helping her mix it every Thanksgiving morning and I was always the taste tester because she knew it was my favorite and I enjoyed it the most. I have watched her so many times but can never make it taste as good as hers, but I think mine is better than my sister’s.
  Hmmm…after writing and reading this, I can understand why gastric bypass was necessary!
  Have a good day!

  • 12:28 pm
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