Tagged

I have been tagged for the oh so popular Five Things to Eat Before You Die project by Melissa at The Traveler's Lunchbox. Thanks to VeuveClicquot at Sugar Delirium for tagging me! This is making me really think about the foods that I love and/or am grateful that I have tasted. These come in no particular order.

1. Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich with HOMEGROWN tomatoes! - This is one of those summer lunches that is built in to my genetics, I think. My grandfather had a garden, so during the summer we always had fresh veggies. If you don't know, there is NOTHING like a homegrown tomato. Even "farm grown" tomatoes don't measure up! To make this sandwich get two pieces of wheat bread, put some mayo on it (I don't usually use mayo, but it is NECESSARY for a good BLT), add 1.5-2 pieces of bacon, a piece of lettuce, and at least two slices of tomato! Sit down and enjoy!

2. Homemade Raspberry Preserves - This is something that I was blessed to live with for one year. I lived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 1993-1994. During the first month we were there, my family and I went with two local ladies to the market to purchase tomatoes to can and freshfruits to make preserves with. The strawberry was good but the raspberry...oh my goodness...DELICOUS! They stayed at our apartment ALL day canning and making jams. They never stopped until they were finished. Maybe that is part of the reason that it tasted so good. If you ever get the chance to taste homemade raspberry preserves, do it!

3. My Daddy's Homemade Pizza - I may be a little bit biased, but this is the best pizza. Daddy makes his own dough, which I have learned how to make. As long as I can remember, he has been making pizza. We started with rectangular pizza because he made it on cookie sheets. Then, after months of trying to get him to try a Pampered Chef baking stone (he wouldn't do it because "my pizzas are rectangular!"), we transformed to circular. Apparently the stone was far superior to the cookie sheet. The toppings used to consist of cheese and pepperoni. Now we usually do supreme (which MUST include mushrooms) or a chicken, tomato, and mushroom pizza. No matter what, this is the best pizza!

4. Sharpe Cookies - These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted. The recipe is from my mom's best friend, Joanie. She has several secrets that she has shared with us that make these cookies great! I've compared the recipe to other chocolate chip recipes trying to figure out why they are so much better than the others. The recipe is very similar to most I've seen. I guess the secret is the shape, they are squished! That's all I'll say right now. I just can't bring myself to post the recipe yet!

5. Vegetable Dinner - As mentioned earlier, my grandfather had a garden. One of my memories from his house is having vegetable dinners. I think this may be a Southern thing, but it should be done by everyone! You really could have an combination of vegetables...corn, black eyed peas, fried (or boiled) okra, fried eggplant, squash and zucchini, TOMATOES!, green beans, you name it. My favorites are squash, green beans, and tomatoes. I might have a few okra but try to stay away from fried food, although they taste great! To round off the meal, serve freshly made corn bread (or corn bread sticks as I posted about earlier!)

I hope that this makes your taste buds tingle! I tag Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane, Gail at Hambones, Jennifer of Weekly Dish, and LizzyAnne at Domestic Amour. Back tomorrow with a report from the Jackson, TN farmer's market (I can't get away from them!)!