Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Family Foods

I know I have spoken on this subject before, but it's my blog, so humor me...

I have had this conversation several times in the past few months/days with numerous people and I'm wondering what's the deal?

I have found that there are certain foods that families just seem to like, but it is only THAT family. It doesn't seem to leave the immediate family. For whatever reason, you just can't seem to initiate the in-laws into believing how wonderful and how much of a delicacy that meal is.

For example, (and I have brought this up before) our family enjoys a thing called rice custard. We just about had either that or mac n cheese with pigs in a blanket everytime my parents went out for a date. However, I don't think ANY of the in-laws in my family like it.

Then there is the Choc -o- mint that we (the family I grew up in) have for Christmas each year. Some, who will remain nameless {read Brett} can't get past the fact that it is made with lime jello. Now I will admit that there are a few in-laws who actually like it, but not many and not all.

Then there is the fact that every family has it's own lasagne. Everyone seems to like it the way they had it when they were growing up. However, why is it my kids don't like the lasagne I had when growing up? Why do they like Steve's Mom's better? And why is it that as a whole my kids like the kind of food that Steve grew up on better than the food I grew up on? When in reality (no offense to Steve's mom) the food I grew up on was {I need to say it carefully} more flavorful? A little side note on the lasagne: Steve's Mom's lasagne literally made me puke everytime I had it, but as the dutiful wife, I continued to eat/choke it down everytime, AND made it for my husband and have as a result produced an acquired taste for it.

In my defense though, Steve's family does have it's share of weird things. For example, they always mix eggnog with orange juice and Sprite. And being the typical in-law, I hate it. Then there's the fact that ALL home-made ice cream revolves around some flavor of jello {there are some I actually like}. Then there is the Spam and Cheese that they all seem to like or Creamed Tuna on Toast. And like all "family-type" foods, I think those will die with his immediate family. I'm just sayin'.

So, what kind of "family foods" do you have/like?

6 comments:

Judy said...

I thought this post was funny... because, it's so true. I hate the jello flavored ice cream (thanks for the yummy chocolate by the way... ) but that's ok, they can have it.

My SIL had her feelings hurt because she swears that when we've had family get togethers she's heard people say "who made this?" before it was tried... even though I don't think it's intentional, I do think that families have a certain taste for certain things.

Another funny story is, as you know, jello is not something I like, well, neither does any of my family. My dad's girlfriend used to supply him with 2 HUGE pans of jello salad whenever we'd have a get together. And MAYBE a piece or two would get eaten (usually by an in-law)... but I'm pretty sure that particular jello must be a hit at her house. But eventually she finally stopped making it for him.

I could go on... because food is a favorite topic of mine ;)

Sher said...

My family just likes chocolate covered chocolate. We're all bonafide chocoholics.

Heather - said...

I like rice custard. I make it with whole milk and half and half and add a little more lemon extract...what can I say? I like it rich. The problem I have with rice custard is that it doesn't fill me up. I find myself making muffins and sausage to go with it just so I can get full. But as far as flavor goes, I think it's good.

One of the things that my family likes that James doesn't is corn fritters. We only have them once a year, on New Year's for breakfast. They're deep-fried fritters with pieces of whole corn in them that we eat with syrup and big slices of ham - warmed/browned in a skillet(left over from Christmas dinner). We all love it...James, not so much.

Elisa said...

BAH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!

*snort*

(only because I've had Steve's Mom's food! It's not good.)

I grew up on Rice pudding and Wassil when your sick. The first time I made it for Jefe when he was sick, he made a face I have never seen duplicated.

Jerk.

My families Christmas Casserol has been adopted into my family.

Whew

There would have been MAJOR problems if we had to adopt Jefe's Mom's frozen TV dinners.

Gross.

Brett said...

The dissapointing thing about choco-mint is that I want to like it. Chocolate and mint are two of my very most favorite flavors. Mix it with chocolate crumb crust and whipped cream and you have a great dessert. But then when I put it in my mouth, all that it tastes like is lime jello. Every year I try it thinking that it will be so good. And every year I am reminded that it is still just lime jello in disguise. Oh, and don't get me started on the lemon homemade ice cream that your family calls vanilla.

Lhone said...

WHAT????? Brett doesn't like our vanilla? Well, I'm totally offended. I'll admit, the worst part of chocomint is the lime jello layer, but I want to try the recipe sometime WITHOUT the foamy lime layer. I think it would be AWESOME! Maybe Brett and I will eat that instead... since he isn't going to be eating the ice cream apparently.

Blaine's family does cheeze whiz on celery, but for the most part, Blaine prefers how I do the meals more than how his mom does them, which is NICE.