Driving down Center Street with the wife and boy one Saturday afternoon, the spouse observed that nearly all my childhood and adolescent reminiscences tend to orbit around one prominent aspect of my life. She ascerbically cited my Grandma's fried chicken and vinegar pie (Grandma received a major lifetime achievement award from the good folks at Crisco); Mom's round steak with thick gravy and bread (now used as a coagulant by Mayo Clinic physicians treating the thin-blooded); the post-midnight hours spent at the Pizza Inn with coworkers from the Towne South Cinemas, snarfing sausage and mozzarella and bribing the jukebox to dispense Doobie Bros. and bad disco (urggh). So pardon me if I'm sentimental. I noted that individual memory often is associated with one of the human senses, and that Texas A&M researchers have linked the predominance of olfactory and taste orientation to increased left brain-right brain equilibrium, more acute motor skills and hnad-to-eyee coordination (parody intended), and rampant sensuality. I actually had fabricated the Texas A&M stuff, but she didn't know that, and I would think such an academic validation might have impressed her. We rode in silence, and that made me recall the delightful Italian beef my sister-in-law brought to my wife's family reunion.
In truth, home cooking is a deeply ingrained part of the American psyche and our social tradition. It is our link to our Old World heritage, the nexus for familial celebration and communication, and a linchpin of both our culture and our pop culture. Recall the Waltons
of Walton Mountain fame, gathered about the simple farmhouse table, sharing their dreams and struggles over plates of poultry, buttery potatoes, stewed vegetables, and plump lard-fried biscuits. Many scholars believe the well-known "Goodnight, John-Boy," Goodnight, Mama" (et al) conclusion of each episode was not a reaffirmation of the Waltons' mutual love and regard, but rather a routine check for nightly survivors of the family meal.
Download homecook.zip, and then go wash your hands, sweetie.