The Smells and Tastes of Childhood

     Certain smells and tastes linger in my head from childhood.  All of them influenced me on my journey.
My earliest positive memories of food are visiting my grandma in Connecticut and waking up to cinnamon French toast.  She would make as much as I wanted.  The warm syrup, butter and cinnamon smells mixed with the searing of the egg batter and is one of the moments I reflect on to soothe my inner soul.
     My mom on the other hand had a knack for burning the tuna noodle casserole. Whether this happened a lot or just once it has stuck in my head as one of the main reason that I learned to cook for myself. To this day I detest the smell and taste of this classical American casserole.

     As a child of divorce I grew up the proverbial "latchkey" child.  One of the simplest tastes that I acquired was cereal and milk.  It was fast and easy.  Being a hyperactive child my cereals were sugar-free or low sugar in type so I came to love the natural nutty grain flavors.  "Uncle Sam", "Cheerios", "Shredded Wheat" were just a few.  If I was lucky I had "Raisin Bran" or "Granola".
     Although this is neither taste or smell I remember as a child living on Oaklawn in Bryan, Texas.  We had a round kitchen table.  On this table we had painted plates, knife, fork and spoon for each setting along with glass rings.  This was my initial education to setting a proper table.  The more I reflect the more I can see that cooking, restaurants, hospitality are in my blood and a deep seated part of my life.

The Journey Begins.

     Even before I knew I loved cooking and before I became a chef, I was cooking.  At the early age of ten I had  purchased a used "Easy Bake Oven" from a garage sale down the block.  It was the dull green variety and came equipped with the recipe book and three mini cake pans.  Once I got it home I plugged it in in my room and began to create.  Mixing the water, oil, flour and eggs.  Adding leaveners and vinegar to the mix and pushing it into the little slot.  I was amazed that a light bulb could cook anything. Who knew?  Most of the cakes were ok, except for the "vinegar cake" it was horrible I remember.
     I vividly remember the time I had a math assignment in fifth grade.  Mrs, Chow was my teacher and I had to come up with some sort of math project to take to class.  I convinced my mom to let me make egg rolls.  This of course would show my teacher that I could count the number of students in the class and that I had an appreciation for her culture.   I prepared all of the ingredients for the fabulous delicacies and even went as far to clean the oven with the "old school" oven cleaner to ensure a perfect feast.  I worked all weekend to make sure that they would be fantastic.  I cooked them the night before because getting up at 5am to deep fry egg rolls just did not compute to my young elementary school mind.  I arranged them beautifully on a platter and wrapped them for the trip to school.  When my turn arrived I showed the egg rolls and everyone was excited.  I talked about the recipe and the measurements of the ingredients.  Then I passed them out.  Everyone loved there authentic flavors.  I however knew what my secret ingredient was.  I had not cleaned out the oven thoroughly enough and the oven cleaner residue had influenced the flavor of the  egg rolls.  While I knew I must improve next time and not repeat that horrible mistake, my teacher and class were so happy.  I got an A on the assignment.

     10th grade Honors Biology, Dulles High School, I think 1983.  I had to come up with a project that reflected molecular biology on one of the subjects we had been covering for the first quarter of the year.  Hmm Krebs cycle, mitosis, I think not!  I decided since I had been researching my ancestry to make a trifle.  I had been reading about it in Encyclopedia Britannica and they sounded scrumptious.  So I picked up some cake mix, heavy cream, fruit and my mom lent me the rum (although she did not know it at the time).  It was for cooking not drinking and for school.  I needed to get a good grade in the class for college.  I baked the cakes made the whipped cream filling and soaked the fruit in rum.  I soaked the cakes in rum and spiked the whipped cream with rum.  I layered them in my mom's biggest Tupperware cake transporter, only I built it upside down.  It worked fantastically well.  It marinated as it were, overnight and survived the first four classes of the day.  Finally I broke it out in class and talked about food and how it is processed by our bodies for fuel and energy.  I talked about Scottish and English heritage and how wonderful they are.  I passed out the trifle and the room was permeated with the smell of rum.  My teacher commented on how the rum was a bit strong although that was on the second piece.  The trifle was a success.  Several other science teachers were asked to come and experience this assignment and they agreed that it was indeed a good one, trifle that is.  I think I only got a B for that assignment as we had not yet covered how the body uses fuel to make energy for the body so I had missed the mark.  Oh well, I can still remember everyone excited and slightly buzzed laughter.