Do you ever get nostalgic about food?  

Does it ever feel like its slapping you in the face and saying HEY YOU'RE GOING TO REMEMBER ME FOREVER, MUAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.

Just me?  nevermind.

I think the reason I love to cook and be in the kitchen so much is because a lot of my memories revolve around food.  The other day, I re-read my Anchorage post because I was checking out the blog stats and saw that some of you were looking at it.  As I scanned through the list of things I did and places I went, I was so grateful that I thought to notate what dishes I ate while I was there.  I would read a dish and then think to myself “OH YEAH I REMEMBER NOW.”

It's like the food conjures up the memory.

Just like how I'll ALWAYS remember making mini apple crisps in the toaster oven in Florence (because we didn't have a real oven) or eating [literally] FOUR nutella crepes in one day in Paris.  OH OH OR the donut that Frankie and I split at the top of the Eiffel tower because we were starving after climbing the stairs… omgggg.  Or the fresh orange juice we had outside of the Louve.  Or the 4 euro focaccia I bought at the cinque terre (and refused to share) that I still have dreams about because the perfect balance of oil and rosemary and salt blew my mind.

When I think about places I've been or things that I've done, most of my memories come back to food.  

That's why I really want the first thing I make in my new apartment in New York to be something epic, something I'll remember forever.  

This bean salad is in the running…. because color.  and flavor.  and… COLOR.

Are you saying something?  Sorry, I can't hear you, the pictures are screaming SUPERBOWL SNACK at me….

Ahem.  This was actually my friend Taryn's recipe that I tweaked a little bit to make it a little bit healthier and lighter.  (really I just adjusted the dressing so that there is less sugar – but you don't even notice I promise and you can proceed to call it a health food now… um hello “SALAD”).  This is the recipe that made me realize that I don't hate beans.  Who knew?!

This reminds me of summer and friends and laying on the off-white carpet at THE Second and Pine and chatting about boys and life and friends.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, as I have movers currently packing up all of my belongings to ship to New York City, this snack reminds me of the home I'm about to leave behind.

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I feel like things got real sappy real quick there.  FYI not all of my food memories are sappy.  I'll FOREVER be haunted by the inaugural batch of cookies I made with my kitchen aid mixer…. I'll never get over how awful they were.  It was an epic recipe fail for nutella cookies.  

So. Bad.

Anyyyywho… if ya make it? Lemme see it! Hashtag it: #thepikeplacekitchen

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