Food for Comfort

[moi621 (imported)]

Just glumped a few slices of a fresh heavy caraway rye bread and raspberry preserves. Ever since I was a kid, this has been a "comfort food" for me.

I have other old stand-bys but, tonight it was rye bread and raspberry preserves.

Any Comfort Foods to share?

Moi

chocolate calling,,, later

kasha (buckwheat) with potent meat or chicken juices :hearthrob :p

[Riverwind (imported)]

OH yes, lets see, hmmmmmmm, well just about anything that's hot to cold, from one of the 5 food groups, and sushi.

River

[moi621 (imported)]

Usually I have trouble falling asleep. I can take pills until I stagger but the sleep switch does not switch. Once switched I can wake up and go back to sleep with no problem.

Last night, I slept!

The value of comfort foods.

Moi

[Riverwind (imported)]

It never takes me more then a couple minutes from the time I go to bed until I am fast asleep, there is a reason for this, I use a C-Pap machine, so I concentrate on breathing which clears the mind of other thoughts and then sleep. Food has never been a factor for night time sleep, day naps yes, night sleeping no.

River

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

Mmmm... comfort foods.

- My mom's recipe for baked spagetti. When I was a teen, I hated it, because it's terribly bland and simple; I was a (crappy) budding chef at the time. Nowadays though, I crave this comfort food at times, especially in the winter.

- Brownies, with icing spread not quite to the edges. I'm a chocoholic and about once every couple months I just plain NEED this treat.

- Baguette with good cheeses and fresh butter with good olives on the side. Makes me feel like I'm on a picnick even in the dead of winter.

- Tacos. ALways reminds me of happy Saturday family meals, except now, I can eat all I want!

[Dave (imported)]

Fried chicken with crispy breading.

Spaghetti with tomato sauce.

Leftover spaghetti with tomato sauce.

Lipton's chicken soup.

[moi621 (imported)]

Fried chicken with crispy breading.

Spaghetti with tomato sauce.

Leftover spaghetti with tomato sauce.

Lipton's chicken soup.

Who is/are your favorite fried chicken sources? Please.



KFC use to be good when the Colonel was alive.

Moi

[bobover3 (imported)]

I used to love Chinese-style fried chicken. No breading. Just deep-fried quickly in very hot oil, so that the skin gets crispy. Delicious. Great with hot sauce.

I stopped a few years ago because all that grease made me feel sick after. I still get Chinese roast chicken, which is almost as good.

[bobover3 (imported)]

Another great comfort food is kasha, also called buckwheat groats. This is a grain. It's one of the staple foods of eastern Europe. Everyone eats it in Poland, Russia, etc., and it was a big part of my childhood. It cooks up fluffy and chewy, with a rich dark grainy flavor. Very satisfying! It's served plain, added to soup, in knishes (kasha knishes are wonderful, and just as popular as potato knishes in NYC), and as part of kasha varnishkes (a mixture of kasha, bowtie macaroni, and onions - served as a side dish). If you're eating corned beef on rye with hot mustard, you need a dish of kasha varnishkes to help it down.

The main brand is Wolff's, and it comes in fine, medium, coarse, and whole granulations. I love the whole. It has all the flavor, with a full bodied texture. Good eatin'!

[bobover3 (imported)]

The first taste of plain food well made can also be a thrill.

My father was the only non-Italian member of an Italian "social club" in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx - don't ask me why or how. (If you've ever seen the movie "A Bronx Tale," that was Belmont.) The front sold coffee beans, soda, and cigars, including Di Nobili "guinea stinkers." This was just a lobby. The real action was in the big back room, where men (only) sat around tables playing pinochle for money. There were wood benches in the front of the club where old men sunned themselves and talked on good days.

When I was 9-10 years old, my father sometimes brought me with him. This was always a thrill for me. The men were all gruff and tough (a few were low-level Mafiosi), dressed in old fashioned suits with short broad ties, chomping on cigars and drinking espresso (sometimes spiked with anisette). Unlike modern middle-class America, where children are consulted, these men all assumed that someone my age should be seen and not heard. On one of my first visits, I made the mistake of saying something. The shocked club members immediately told my father to "get me under control," and he whispered that if I wanted anything, I should ask him. I loved being there.

Anyway, a club member was in a good mood one day, so he said "Hey kid! Ya wan somthin'a eat?" I already knew that "kid" was my name, and that my father would answer, even though the man was speaking to me. My father said "Yeah. Give the kid somethin'a eat." And that was how I got one of the best meals of my life. You've got to understand that in my home I had reached the age of 10 without once tasting ham, mustard, Swiss cheese, or Italian bread. So when a fat guy in a sleeveless T-shirt with suspenders and slicked-back hair brought me a hero sandwich of ham, Swiss, and hot mustard on a small Italian loaf with a thick crackling crust, it was literally a *revelation.* My mouth exploded in joy! I can still remember the ecstatic pleasure all these years later. I'd never eaten anything like it, and the shock mixed with the simple but good ingredients, and my happiness at being admitted to the society of men made it a unique experience. I always hoped to get another, but nobody was in such a good mood again.

This was simple food, but it was so special to me.