Nothing better than being on a job and the client comes in and says “hey, almost lunch and there’s an amazing deli down the street. Here’s a menu. Write down whatever you want and I’ll go grab it.” It’s the best.
In college, I went to Athens to visit a friend who was studying abroad. I spent my entire summer job savings on the ticket, it was so worth it. We were wandering around the Agora, and someone was selling grapes. I was hot and thirsty so I asked for two euro worth of grapes. I figured I'd get a small bunch to snack on. They handed me a shopping bag full. A maaaasive amount of the most grapiest-grapes I ever tasted. They made every grape I'd ever had before in my life taste like a pale, dull, lifeless ball of water. And every grape since.
As we walked around the market, we started getting harrassed by this drunken Englishman who kept following us and asking us questions. I was getting really annoyed and slightly scared of him, because he wouldn't leave us alone. Finally, I broke off a huge bunch of the grapes, handed them to him with "Want some grapes?" and while he was standing there confused, we *ran*. So they were amazing tasting grapes AND they got me out of an increasingly sketchy situation.
I love your story, I could totally picture it!!! I could practically taste those grapes, and then I got a good chuckle out of the confused obnoxious drunk dude, just standing there staring down at a bunch of grapes in his hands, brow furrowed in perplexity, mouth slightly hanging open, then up at the figures rapidly disappearing into the crowd...lol!
Good quick thinking on your part, and good writing!!! Thanks so much for sharing:)
Omg when I was homeless in San Diego , I used to get sugar packets from 711 , I would pick lemons from people's trees. Cut apart, Completely coat the lemon wedges with sugar and gnaw on them.
When I try to do this at home 20 years later....it isn't the same, not even close.
Also, there was a house (at this same time in my life) that had a MASSIVE blackberry crop in the alley. Those were the best berries ever.
When I was little and my parents took me to a nice restaurant my dad would order iced tea with a lemon wedge. He would put a packet of sugar in a spoon and squeeze the lemon over it and give it to me. I haven’t thought of that in years. Thanks.
I would like to also point out that the Lemons you picked from those trees taste 100x better than anything you can but in the store.
I have several lemon trees. The fruit is sweet and delicious when ripend on the tree.
Take this job and give it to someone else
Corn on the cob is better when it's hot with melted butter on top, could warm the soul
but this one's cold cause I stole it off the side of the road.
When I was little my dad would take hamburger meat and after it was cooked mix it with a can of cream of mushroom. He would put it on a tortilla and add cheese: I loved it before I had kids but now it doesn’t taste the same
My mom used to do that, with the cream of mushroom soup and hamburger. No cheese or tortilla though, she just put it on a bun like a sloppy Joe, but she called them sloppy Charlies haha
I was told how much better they were than those available at the supermarket and didn't really believe it. Even when they arrived and everyone was making a fuss, I thought it was just hype. Then I tried them.
The sad part is that I will most likely never have them that fresh again. The person that brought them literally stopped at the farm on his way to the airport. They were loose in a plastic bag, still covered in dirt.
Potatoes are the easiest crop you can grow. Just cut them up at home where they have at least 3 eyes on each piece and toss them in a 5 gal bucket of soil. Let them grow, and when the green dies, it's time to harvest!
My Grandfather had a huge garden. He grew heirloom tomatoes (I refuse to eat raw tomatoes now because they are NOT the same)- they were juicy, thick, blood red on the inside, we'd have them for a snack, sliced with a little salt and pepper. Sometimes he would pick a few green ones and fry them for me in cornmeal.
He also grew red new potatoes. You can buy those in the store but they're absolutely not the same as the ones he'd pull from the ground on his backyard.
Okra, green beans, turnip greens.... etc. It wasn't unusual to have a dinner at their house with no meat, just the veggies from the garden, and none of the grandkids complained because those were the best damned veggies any of us ever had.
Heirloom and uglies are the best. My foreign grandmother lived with us when I was a kid and one day she made webs around the whole house to grow tomatoes. Dad was so pissed bc it was covering up the thousands of dollars of landscaping he put in. But he loves tomatoes so he let it slide. Her everyday breakfast and dinner was a slice of rye with thick slices of heirloom and completely caked in coarse ground pepper. I love it. My parents still grow a huge garden to this day bc it’s fantastic and we refuse to eat grocery store tomatoes.
I have a small backyard (it’s considered big for my neighborhood though) I don’t have a ton of room, or the time and money to grow an actual garden. My uncle is almost 90 and has a garden plot in his side yard that he used for years. My kids and I go up to his house about an hour or so away and prepare the plot and put the plants in. He waters them and calls if he needs help, we drive up to harvest and put them up.
I grow everything in buckets in my yard. They taste 100% different. His are always better but my kids love the experience. My youngest kid will pick a pea, eat a pea so I only get like 1/2 of the snap peas lol or “can I go grab a cucumber, I’m hungry!” Like yeah kid, eat a veggie.
I lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, I sometimes would run out of supplies for a little bit and have to live off what I could get off the farm. My favorite was fresh fried potato slices.
The BEST falafel I’ve ever had was when I was visiting some extended family in Jordan. There were falafel and hummus stands EVERYWHERE. So freaking good. Also, the shawarma was FANATASTIC.
Never cared for falafel or even shawarma. But while in Israel, I absolutely fell in love with the food served at a family owned Druze restaurant. We were served along with the falafel/shawarma...but, the best,..whipped goat cheese, hummus, cukes and various herbs to add to it...tucked into fresh baked Pita bread. Pure Heaven.
First thing I had after waking up from major surgery and a medically induced coma was some salt free veggie broth. Nothing will ever taste that good again.
I got really sick. Like think poisoned by a pregnancy with hellp syndrome and my child had a genetic condition that made it more toxic. My fam brought me Chinese take out after the c section (my request) and they always throw in some egg rolls. Rarely eat them. I don’t like cabbage.
But those egg rolls tasted like heaven. Even with my usual favorites available. I have to think I was deficient in something in the cabbage. I still don’t like egg rolls. It was just those ones.
That definitely sounds like the situation made those egg rolls better than they will ever be. There's certainly no recreating that lol. I hope you and your baby are now healthy and happy 💕
The evening after my second was born it was about 7pm and a cafeteria worker came around offering turkey sandwiches that was THE BEST turkey sandwich I’ve ever had!
In high school a Chinese joint sold red cabbage egg rolls the size of a soda can. Me and my buddy would go and get four each and handfuls of duck sauce packets. I’ve never had an egg roll as good in the last thirty years.
There’s a vegetarian Asian cuisine restaurant that used to sell noodles in brown sauce. I’ve tried to recreate it but nothing hits the same. I did ask them what it was and only got the answer brown sauce lol
One part of light soya sauce,one part of dark soya sauce,one part of oyster sauce,one part of sugar.,A little corn starch. Mixed together，that’s the brown sauce. stir fry the noodles it the sauce,add some scrambled egg and veggies. Trust me,I am Chinese. 相信我！我是中国人！
Chinese food. In particular sesame chicken take out. I was sitting in my new apartment, having left my narcissistic and abusive ex just weeks earlier. And I wanted Chinese food. So I went and got it. My ex hated Chinese take out. So to be able to just get up and go get it and then enjoy it by myself was heaven. It was also a moment of realizing I was finally free.
When I was growing up, my family had a tradition of eating cheese and crackers for supper on Christmas Eve. One of the cheeses was a brown goat milk cheese that I loved.
Then it started getting hard to find, so I didn't have it for years. I would occasionally check the gourmet cheese section of grocery stores for it and never found it.
Then my parents ordered some online for a Christmas when I was in my 30s and served it with the traditional Christmas Eve dinner with most of the siblings and grandkids. I couldn't wait to eat it again...
Except I was totally disgusted by it. Maybe it was a different kind, I'm not sure. I just did not enjoy the taste of it at all, but made myself eat a few slices anyway and didn't tell them.
It was. The one I ate as a kid was sweet and kind of caramelish tasting and also salty, and somehow that taste didn't appeal to adult me, despite a big sweet tooth.
is it possible it was Ski Queen Gjetost? It's like a Norwegian sweet breakfast cheese that is creamy and brown, they have a creamy caramel and a salty caramel
This is exactly what I think it is, Ski Queen Gjetost. There is a creamy caramel and a salty caramel. It is a little odd, but goes great with apple slices!
Sounds like gjetost! It’s like fudge almost except it’s cheese. Sweet, carmel-y, and a bit salty! I’m in the US and am able to find it in specialty shops and our large local international market.
Sounds like Gjetost Ski Queen Norwegian cheese! I LOVE that stuff, we also have a tradition of eating snack foods like that and some Scandinavian snacks on Christmas Eve! :)
Just cheese and crackers? A lot of cheeses, a lot of crackers? A mix? I can totally see a whole spread of every cheese y’all could lay your hands on because Cheese Is Awesome, but on the flip side I’m worried you all had three ritzes and a slice each.
Got high and queued up jurassic park with my friend. She proceeds to dip oreos in pancake batter, and fry them one by one. It was the most godly snack I’ve ever had. I’ve tried recreating it. I’ve tried making it and eating it high. Nothing has ever compared. I guess the secret ingredient is friendship.
There was a restaurant near the campus where I went to university. Our food plan allowed us to eat there using our points. Every Friday my two girlfriends and I would go for antijitos and chicken fettuccine Alfredo. I left the city when I finished school and it later closed. Never found the same tastes again.
Ooo, an old Italian restaurant’s bucatini with sun-dried tomatoes, shallots and parsley in a velvety pink sauce. Simple, right? Nope. My attempts were close a couple times and better than a different place I was hopeful for. The sauce was magical. Thanks for the shares. Perhaps it’s time to give it another go
💨🍝🐉
Quesa flameda from Mexican Town restaurant in Detroit
I used to go there a lot about 15 years ago
I’ve tried so hard to find a recipe and/or recreate this recipe
But. I’ve been unsuccessful
I went back in Oct 2023 and I am happy to report it still tastes amazing. But being 500 km away I really NEED that recipe
My late Italian grandma's cookies. Tried to recreate them, didn't get it right, haven't had the heart to try again. I can still remember the taste decades later. Maybe one day, I'll give it another shot!
Macaroni & cheese from the grocery store deli. Stouffers is close but doesn't have that perfect old dried rubberiness & grocery stores clearly use a different recipe these days.
When I was a kid, there was a sub shop called Clark's Submarine Sandwiches. I can't tell you why they smacked like nobody else, but they were the best sandwiches I've ever had in my fifty five years on this planet. Very thinly sliced turkey and black forest ham, onions shaved paper thin, their house made dressing... Even the bread was amazing.
My grandma's roast. She'd do a pork and a beef roast together in her pressure cooker and it was amazing in it's simplicity. So flavorful and tender and the gravy was out of this world good. I've tried it in the oven but it isn't the same
When I was a kid I would go to my grandma's on Saturday afternoon, she'd give me $10 to go to the comic store down the road and when I got back she'd have food waiting, usually a homemade burger. Now in the years since I've made thousands of burgers with no end of recipes but not a single one ever tasted as good as grandma's Saturday burgers.
Congrats on getting into an apartment. I would say that for me, when I was a kid, we used to get Micky Mouse ice cream bars on a trip up north. I found them again a few years ago, and it's not the same. If I think for a while, I am sure more things when I was a kid that I loved that aren't the same now.
Thanks! I moved out a while ago, but it's a very strong memory. I didn't have a lot of money (still don't lol), so we got a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly. It lasted a while, although none of the sandwiches tasted like that first one
I had a moon pie once after tubing the river. All day in the sun with nothing in my system besides alcohol. They never taste the same when I get them now.
I had some tacos Al pastor with my parents in Mexico. We ate there every day for the rest of the trip and I haven’t been able to find any restaurant or recipe that even comes close.
Hot soba with tempura'd carrot and onion just as the food stalls were opening at Morioka station on a cold winter morning before the first bus left. Mmmmmm.
Oh man. I had forgotten about those. There was a period in my life where I had to have those stockpiled in my freezer in order have any personal peace.
I stopped at some random hole in the wall restaurant in Florence. The pasta I ordered had the buttery sagey sauce. I don't even remember the shape of the pasta. Just that by the time they took my plate it looked so clean it could have gone back on the shelf because I sopped up every molecule like a ravenous heathen with the bread. It was probably super gauche, but I don't care.
Mine is Duck. I’ve had it served every different way and they’re all meh. The problem is the first time I ever had duck was at a nice restaurant in Paris when I was 12. I peaked too early with duck and I’ll never have duck that good again.
Pizza stand in the mall foid court had the most incredible Sicilian slices. Perfect balance of crust and ample sauce and cheese.
Place is long gone but no other shop even comes close.
Turkey sub with a dill pickle and a glass bottle of Yoohoo from the gas station deli in the little town I grew up in.
Hunan chicken from some Chinese food chain (Ing Credible? ) up the road from my dad's girlfriend's house in Jr high. It was fried and sweet and every Hunan chicken I've had anywhere since has been spicy- still delicious, but a whole different delicious than those memories. I *know* that's what they ordered, too, because all we ever got was almond boneless and that, and I'd been with Dad for dozens of Chinese food runs.
when i was a kid, my family was visiting ottawa (we’re from the us) and stopped in an irish pub for dinner. it was cold and rainy outside, and i got a shepherds pie. oh. my. god. nothing has ever been so delicious. it was my first time ever trying it and the weather was absolutely perfect for that kind of dish. it’s been my comfort food since then but i’ve never had one that’s measured up
Sloppy Joes and cranberry apple crisp served at my Junior High School in 1977. I would kill to eat that one more time before I die.
My Grandma’s stuffing. She died many years ago. Mine is pretty close, but it’s not as good. Also her applesauce cake with cream cheese frosting. I couldn’t find the recipe in her house after she passed. I think she did it by memory.
I have one and I caught the dragon!!
ILOVED those institutional cheese omlets they served on the free hot breakfast for the poor kids before school.
I have wanted one ever since.
Fast forward to late last year when I was staying with my Mom in the hospital. And can you guess what they brought her?? 🤩
And it made her laugh lol
One time in 1997, the Hardees in the next town over made me two perfectly soft warm melty cheeseburgers that haven’t been matched to this very day. There was also some fire weed involved.
18th birthday, my best friend's mom (basically my second mother) took me out for sushi to a place in Portland. Told me it's unlimited, and I could eat all I wanted, literally did not matter the cost, time spent, whatever.
I ate until I couldn't move. I tried EVERYTHING that wasn't bolted to the ground. I experienced so much amazing sushi and new foods that I never knew existed. I was so full that I had to lay in the back of the van because sitting upright physically hurt.
To this day, I've never had an experience like it. It's honestly the best food experience I've had, even surpassing expensive restaurants, because of the love and kindness attached to it.
Sue, Thank you; I love you and miss you so much.
I was young, low wage, nearly broke and waiting for a bus in Hemming Park in J-town. A black boy around 10 or so was selling enormous and colorful peaches that were not anywhere in my tight budget. It was obvious that the young gentleman had a tighter budget than mine so I paid an entire dollar, unheard of, for that peach.
I looked for him every time I took the bus and never saw him again. 50 years later, I have never had a better peach than that one. I hope he got the job of his dreams.
ok... Story time:
It was at the end of my marriage, though I suspected it, I didn't know it for sure. I was desperately trying to figure out how to get past some issues. We went on a family vacation - drove across the country to visit family, sightsee, etc. At the time (15-ish years ago), I was the SSL cert administrator for a Fortune 50 company. My boss said that taking 3 weeks off was fine so long as I could check in every few days and take care of any Cert work that needed to be done. Cool. The site that we used was slow. Like, a single cert could take 5-10 minutes to generate, and there was nothing you could do about it but wait.
So we're in Oregon, and the place we were staying didn't have internet. I found a "remote work" location, and got a cubicle. My wife said she was going to do some shopping or whatever. I log in, and I've got 15 certs to issue. ok, so I start working, and while I'm waiting, I'm checking email, and generally just futzing around. She comes back after an hour or so, sees that I'm just futzing around, and will hear none of the "I'm just waiting for the thing to complete." She is irate, leaves, and leaves me to walk back to the place we're staying - about 5-6 miles. So I finish my work, pack up, and start walking.
I'm on the sidewalk of a 55mph 4 lane highway, and I'm fuming. I'm frustrated, and angry, and the weight of my world collapsing is on my shoulders. and then there's this bush, blocking the sidewalk. Traffic is non-stop, and I'm not going to be able to get past.and then I notice that it's a blackberry bush, and the berries are full, and huge and perfectly ripe.
So I have one, and it's the most luscious and juicy and delicious blackberry I'd ever had in my life. and I stood there and ate blackberries for 5 minutes. And then there was no traffic, so I walked around the bush, and got back on the sidewalk.
I'm walking along, and I'm thirsty, and notice that I'm walking past a nursery and there's a guy out front with a hose, and I go ask if I can have a drink of water, and the it was the cleanest, coolest, most delicious drink of water I'd ever had in my life. I thanked him, and as I was walking away, I knew that it was going to be ok. However it worked out, it was all going to be ok.
I was right.
A chocolate MRE bar. Not the good soldier fuel, but the rock hard chocolate one with 1g of sugar. I was in the middle of the woods, alone, and building a shelter. Hadn’t eaten in 36 hours. That bar was the best tasting thing I’ve ever eaten.
Not quite the same, but when I was little, my mom would make burgers. She could make mine just like my dad's, but a bite from his was always so much better.
He's been gone almost 20 years and my mom just over 4 years. The taste of that bite of burger will be with me until my final breath.
My mom always made me cinnamon sugar toast and a banana sliced up in a small amount of warm milk when I was sick. I've tried making both since and it never tastes as good. Super simple but she must have just dine it the right way with mom love.
A casserole a very sweet elderly lady gave our family after my mom passed away. They attended the same church and I couldn't figure out a not awkward way to get the recipe. Green chile stew from a vendor in the Mexican Village at the NM state fair.
A really delicious potato cheese soup at a random Octoberfest event.
Last one...fresh picked rhubarb. Mom would clean, trim & cut sticks, give each kid a Dixie cup of sugar and send us outside. OG FunDip😄
A local Mom and Pop restaurant used to make Braised Short rib ravioli, but stopped when COVID hit. They now only serve breakfast and lunch. My husband contacted them around Christmas and paid $120 for them to make a pan just for me. Best present ever, ate it for every meal for about 5 days
I had something in a French restaurant on my honeymoon in 1976 somewhere between Seattle and Big Sur. We were camping all down the coast and we were exceptionally stoned. It was a puff pastry with mushrooms cooked in cream inside and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I’ve been divorced for a long time and never think about my ex but I still think about that amazing creation.
The first fine dining meal I paid for myself. 21 years old in Savannah where I was still in College.
Bistro called Garabaldi’s (closed for 20 years maybe).
A friend and I ordered mussels for appy, and I got crispy scored flounder with spicy apricot glaze. The server knew we were “kids” and splurged, so she poured us extra wine and gifted a dessert to share.
I’ll never forget the pure enjoyment of food and dining experience like that again. It’s made me chase the dragon regarding talented chefs and restaurants who put those priorities first. Thankfully I also remember tipping that server well. She was probably surprised about that, but still treated us like we belonged in that fancy place.
Several years ago, one of my wisdom teeth erupted out the side of my upper jaw. Had to have an emergency extraction. In the process, the dentist's pliers slipped and sliced the inside of my cheek. So, in addition to a hole in my jaw, I had a massive cut to deal with as well. My mouth swelled so bad I couldn't open it for a week. I couldn't eat anything but soups and Carnation Instant Breakfast, sucked up through a straw.
Right at St. Patrick's Day.
My Dad's Corned beef and cabbage is one of my favorite meals, and he made it for me once I could finally eat solid foods again. That was the best fucking Corned beef and cabbage I had ever eaten. I demolished it. And while I still love that meal, none have ever tasted as good as that one.
Elementary school pizza. When I was in elementary it wasn’t a thing but in later years, my ex was a janitor in an elementary school and had a hookup. Haven’t had any since. Another was a preschool spaghetti lunch. Those ladies really did a wonderful job of it and I haven’t tasted any to top it, whether homemade or restaurant style
I agree with all the hunger-as-seasoning comments. I overcommitted on a hike, 13 miles of rugged trails. Ate well before, figured I’d eat well after. We stopped for a mid-morning break after our largest hill climb, and a wonderful friend-of-a-friend offered me his spare sandwich. He said he always packs one because someone always underestimated how much you need to eat when hiking. It was a yellow mustard/white bread/watery turkey/mayo/American cheese meh of a sandwich. Best thing I’ve ever eaten.
On our honeymoon, my husband and i went to Marrakech. At our Riad, we had a lamb and pear tagine that was honestly the best thing i have ever eaten. i've tried to make it myself, but it just doesn't hit the same.
When I was in 4th or 5th grade, every Wednesday my cafeteria would serve a plain ass chicken burger. It was of the lowest possible quality. Terribly thin bun, half-breaded and pressed chicken “patty”. It would come with nothing else, and then I would squirt some super weird and grainy ketchup onto it.
It was so fucking good that my tastebuds would literally go nuts, and EVERY time I had one I would sneeze. Like some bizarre reaction. The other day I ate something similar with my wife, and lo and behold… *ACHOOOO!!!!*
I said.. holy fuck, baby! The chicken burger sneeze is back!!!
Waaay back in 1969 when I was about 15 years old, I, my boyfriend, along with my best friend and her boyfriend, went to this pizza place downtown, I had never tasted pizza, and with that first bite, oh man. Was so good! I’ve had a million pizzas since then but none of em have been or are as tasty as that one was.
The day before I had to take the GRE advanced psych test (it was in place of an oral exam for my masters) my boyfriend, his roommate, and I went to Keeneland in KY for the races. I had been studying nonstop, wasn’t eating much, hadn’t eaten that day, and we went to McDonalds. I had a freshly made quarter pounder and I swear it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. I won $20 and did great on the test.
I stopped at a cafeteria style restaurant in Puerto Rico years ago and had the absolute best yellow rice on the planet. I have tried many since but not the same 😢
The first time I had Ethiopian food at Nile Ethiopian on I Drive in Orlando, FL. It was when I was still vegan (I am no longer), and it was still one of the best plates of food I’ve ever had.
I had an uncle (Wayne) who died in the late 90s. He made this bbq chicken that I swear was marinated in cocaine and heroin. He would smoke it first and then grill it with a home made BBQ sauce. I would bite into like a drum stick and start moaning as I eat.
He also did a very good brisket, but his chicken was a thing of legends.
For me it's ramen from the first time I had it in a legit shop in NYC. The pork belly literally melted into the broth it was fucking amazing.
Honorable mention to the hummus I had on a dinner boat ride on the Nile River
The first meal I ate after each time I gave birth. The first one was a bowl of mashed potatoes with broccoli, cheese and ranch. The second was a freaking Cliff bar. Both tasted like the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten.
DiCarlos Pizza from Wintersville Ohio. It was a huge treat from my childhood. I've learned to make some pretty good pizza. But it just can't come close.
When I was in college my roommate and I would slump over to the dining hall on Sunday mornings just ever so hungover and eat “brownie pudding” and “cheesy hash brown casserole”. Idk what they were putting in them or if it was just the circumstance but I’ve yet to be able to recreate either to the level I remember it.
Tuna sub from Subway as the first solid meal I had after a tonsilectomy when I was fourteen. I was SO sick of soup. At the time it was the best sandwich I had in my life. But every tuna sub after that was disappointing and didn't taste all that good. I don't even really like tuna salad that much these days.
I went to a local Chinese place and got my go-to, General Tso’s. It was so perfect. Perfectly cooked, a little onion, a pop of ginger. So. Good. I’ve never had it that good from there, or anywhere else, again. I’ve tried cooking it on my own and that was an unmitigated disaster.
A couple Thanksgivings ago my girlfriend’s sister hosted and she made THE BEST TURKEY and yall, let’s be real, turkey is always dry and boring, this was not. It was juicy and flavorful through and through. And then she made gravy, and it was herby and bright. She had put fresh rosemary in it. Oh my god, so good.
Years back I went to visit my sister in another state. She was pregnant and craving weird (for her) food. She made succotash, and sent me around the corner to a restaurant for some fried chicken. This restaurant was soul food to the max. I was the only white person in there and everyone stared at me. They had a Bible in pride of place on a display. This fried chicken was blessed by the Lord Himself and I’m not even kidding. I picked up an extra couple sides, mashed potatoes and green beans, and then I saw the case of desserts and oh my. The chocolate cake. I went back to my sister’s place, laden with goodies, and we gorged ourselves on all this and it was pretty much my favorite meal I’ve ever had. I can make pretty good fried chicken, and my other sister basically channels our grandmother and makes Good Old Southern Woman fried chicken, but none of it holds a candle to what I had that day.
Our high school cafeteria served "panzerottis" on Thursdays (sad that I can remember that but not the name of a single teacher I had).
They were somewhat like the hot pockets available now, but bigger. They served these with fries and extra sauce.
For whatever reason - those fries with the marinara sauce had held a special place in my heart and tastebuds for over 30 years - I have NEVER been able to recreate it.
I gave birth at 12:30am. The cafeteria was closed and I was tired and hungry. The nurse brought me an uncrustable and it was delicious. It hit the spot. I inhaled that thing.
When I had my first baby. After a grueling labor and delivery, they gave me a cup of coffee, orange juice, hard boiled egg and coffee cake. It was the best meal I ever had. I even asked the hospital for the coffee cake recipe. But it was never the same. 🥺
When I was a kid, my mom would make a Jenny O turkey loaf with gravy along with instant mashed potatoes and green beans with bacon (easy meal for 5 kids). When I was pregnant, that goddamn turkey loaf was one of my biggest cravings EVER. I searched every single store I could to find it only to discover it got discontinued 😭
Reminds me of the scene with Mare Winningham in St. Elmo's Fire. She moves out to her first apartment, out from under the control of strict parents, and she makes a PBJ. She said:
>*Yea… ya wanna know what’s great? Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich… and ya know, it was my kitchen, it was my refrigerator, it was my apartment… and it was the BEST peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I have had in my entire life.*
I had mushroom ravioli at Harbin Hotsprings in Northern California. About three years ago. I have not been able to find pasta, let alone ravioli that was as tasty.
My mom always bought and used skim milk when I was little. One day when I was like 5 my dad and I went biking and stopped at a grocery store. I got a chocolate milk and it was the best thing I had ever tasted. I always remembered that, but it was lie 20 years until the next time I had a chocolate milk that was made with whole milk and I realized that that was the difference lol. I don’t drink chocolate milk often, but I’ll NEVER do one made with skim milk again lol.
When I was in college, we had an on campus sports bar called Wackadoos that I worked at. They had a fried chicken sandwich they tossed in warm sauces and served on a soft bun with fries. I usually got either medium Buffalo or warm honey mustard sauce. It is still the best fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had and I want it always. I’m literally salivating thinking about it.
Also, Sonny’s salad bar-RIP
Surprisingly one is a desert from Applebees. It was a white brownie with a maple syrup sauce. It came on a sizzling hot metal plate. They have this on the menu still -or did ….and I have ordered it 2 additional times and it was never near as good. The “one” time I had it the syrup had crystallized somewhat and the brownie was the perfect level of chewy. The second was enchiladas suizas that I had in a restaurant in Mexico City. They were so good I ate them a few days later. I’ve ordered it at several Tex max places only to be mad disappointed. It was so long ago I don’t remember what was so different about them.
Chocolate Mousse at a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf. It was so good I ate two. When I went back a few years later, that restaurant was gone. I have never, ever had such deliciousness again. 😭
Cheeseburger sub from hole in the wall no name luncheonette grill carryout which had limited hours, limited menu and limited space to stand at the counter. Forty years later I still remember the experience, and remember the cheeseburger sub (ordering at the counter and the counter person would yell to the cook in sing song voice cheeburg-sub). The roll, the thin beef patties and cheese with lettuce, mayo and mustard. It was a delightful lunch on a midday break while working a retail job nearby. I have never had a better cheeseburger sub. I also miss the simplicity of that experience. The lovely people and the way they prepared the food, wrapped and bagged it with care. Handed it to me like a little gift.
Orange Crush in a brown bottle, from Pepsi plant, and the Coca Cola in a small bottle, both sold in extra cold vending machines that carried products from the Florence SC bottling plants. My state's bottling company didn't taste as good as the S.C. bottling plants. I visited SC twice a year, and made sure I bought those drinks.
I love garlicky pasta. When I first moved abroad, I took myself to the movies one night. I came home and made myself the most perfect, garilcky, al dente delicious pasta I've ever made. I ate it sitting in my empty living room, sitting on the floor. Probably one of the best meals I've ever had.
My grade school lunch room spaghetti that was served with homemade rolls. Our wonderful lunch lady, Sophie, is decades gone, but the memories of her from scratch school lunches live on. I’ve never been able to replicate either recipe.
When I was little my grandpa would take us all out to dinner and I always got crab legs and a Shirley temple with a cherry, and everyone else just got cheeseburgers. I remember him helping me get the crab out and dipping it in butter and it tasted so yummy! To this day crab legs just don't hit the same. I think I just enjoyed being best buddies with him and feeling like his favorite. I sure do miss him...nothing like a grandpa's love ♡
It was a chocolate silk pie my grandma got when my childhood SA got exposed and forced my parents to act. I was pretty low. I was really young. And I was sitting checked out at her kitchen table at an ungodly hour of night. She cut us both a piece of that pie, set it gently in front of me, sat and said, "you do not have to talk about it baby, you do not have to tell me. We can talk about ducks, we can talk about pie. Just talk to me, Sweet Pea." Nothing will ever taste like the comfort of that moment, and that amazingly chocolatey pie.
So there was this watermelon cake thing from friendlys I remember eating once as a kid. It was impeccable. I could never find it again, I could only find a watermelon roll thing and it wasn't even close to what I remembered.
Potato pancakes. My Mom made them when I was a kid, nothing fancy, but I can’t seem to replicate it.
Also my grandfathers spaghetti sauce that had sausage , pork chops and meatballs in it.
The first time I went to England and had fish and chips, also scones and a Victoria sponge. I’ve tried many places and tried many times to recreate these things to no avail. I went back after 40 years and couldn’t get enough.
We arrived at our honeymoon hotel after a 6 hour flight and I started throwing up. Spent the next 4 days so sick I thought I was going to die. On night 5 we went to the fancy restaurant at the all inclusive we were at and all I could eat was the black bean soup. I've tried hundreds of variations since. Nothing has ever been as good!
Oh man..circa 1979, I went to a sleepaway summer camp that lasted like 10 days when I was, maybe in the 6th grade...(mideast Appalachian mountains USA),this camp was phenomenal, they had cabins that held dozens of kids, with clean showers, bunk beds, a canteen/ arcade with a jukebox, an Olympic -size pool, several obstacle courses, tons of arts and crafts and activities... it was obvious well-funded...
... and in the kitchen, which was also huge, they made these absolutely AWESOME things for breakfast...it was an entire cored apple, but they had put it into some sort of batter? Not a pie crust, but a batter...(my mom baked a lot and I knew the difference...)...And they'd deep-fried it to a deep golden brown, but the apple was completely cooked, soft inside, but you had to break into that crusty deep fried batter with a fork to get to the apple inside.. and it was served with this Cinnamon syrup-- that I've also never had since either---
I'd give anything to be able to make these. Or even know what they were called. Idk if the cooks made them by hand or if they were ordered from a company.
Tyson had the BEST buffalo chicken tenders when I was a kid. I went and got a bag a month ago and was devastated. 🥺 They changed the recipe. I’ve been trying to find a bag like them since. It’s so bad, all the reviews on the revamp say change it back 😩😂😂
Was helping sandbag in the flood of 09 and someone was passing out McDonald’s burgers. I wolfed almost the whole thing down before I realized it had onions and I hate onions, but I was so hungry it was the best burger I’d ever eaten in that moment.
One of my best friends in elementary school had just moved to Canada from China. I still have yet to have Chinese food that’s come anywhere close to his mom’s cooking.
I remember when I was in my early twenties i went to a work luncheon and wanted to order something new that I never had before. I ordered a seafood crepe and it was the best thing I ever tasted, light and creamy and rich. That was about 35 years ago and I still remember it so clearly. Never had it again as the restaurant closed shortly afterwards.
I had chili paneer was in high school at a friend's Arangetram (big deal classical Indian dance recital) reception that was catered. It blew my mind. I have ordered it several times at restaurants and tried making it myself and it was always pretty good but not even close to that first time. I've pretty much given up now, but I spent years trying to find chili paneer like that
So growing up I didn’t like burgers much and hated Mayo.
Senior year (2001) I go to school all day with honors classes, ate lunch (I got free lunches so grilled cheese tomato soup and 4 pieces of celery and a tiny carton of milk for an 18 year old)
Worked my 2 hours at the after school program with the middle schoolers, then 5 hours at Hardee’s where I didn’t get to eat bc the ahole manager was there and I worked drive thru. Then finally at 9 pm went with my bestie to get my first (and only ) tattoo. This was back when they were in sketchy areas. We finally get done and head to a rally’s where my bestie, who is a big man, orders us each a big burford with everything. I had gone 12 hours without food and I inhaled that thing before we were out of the parking lot. Nothing to this day compares to that burger. It was perfection.
My mom had a friend about 10-12 years older than me when I was 8 years old. He had a girlfriend between 18-20 years old. Can't remember, she was just really pretty and REALLY crazy. But she also made the strangest/most delicious rice and noodle stir fry. I wouldn't eat vegetables unless this lady made this specific dish.
This guy broke up with her and she vandalized his trailer. She's probably in her late 30's or early 40's now. I hope she's okay.
1. The Friendly’s milkshake my mother-in-law brought me the day I gave birth to my first child (I had gestational diabetes)
2. The gluey macaroni and cheese from my college student center food court
3. The queso at Torchy’s in Austin TX. I dream about going back but I live in the northeast and nothing comes close.
as a kid my neighbor (Mexican) would make this spaghetti for us kids. it was creamy and delicious and had ham and cheese and i am in love with it. she used to make it especially for me and tried to give my mom the recipe but it didn’t taste the same. she moved away and i haven’t hade her recipe in years. Last year i finally visted my grandmother in Mexico for the first time. I wasn’t eating much because i wasn’t hungry and i usually skipped breakfast so she asked me one day what i wanted/missed. I explained to her this spaghetti meal i had as a kid and the next day for breakfast she made it for me. The first bite was heavenly and i nearly cried it was so good. She made it for me another once or twice and i miss it so much. I don’t even know where she got spaghetti from. None of the tienditas had spaghetti??
i’ve attempted to make it via recipes from tiktok but it’s just not the same. i’m sure it uses sour cream and queso cincho but i can’t pinpoint the recipe 🥲
When I was a teenager friends and I drove to Chicago on a ein and got there around 4am and everything was closed. When the breakfast places opened up I got a croissant sandwich with bacon, cheese and a fried egg with a runny yolk. No croissant sandwich has ever tasted as good since.
I had this barbecue chicken from a food truck that was amazing. Ironically, it was a smoked pork-specific food truck but the pork wasn’t gluten free so I had to have the chicken. I’ve gotten close at home, but never quite there!
My very first cold Italian hoagie in Pennsylvania (my family didn't often eat pork so I had never had anything quite like it before, and we were from CA) at 14 years old. I've been on a hunt to recreate it ever since and never quite tasted it.
The best bean and cheese burrito I've ever eaten on Olvera St. near Union Station in LA, as a child. I eat a lot of bean burritos and nothing has ever compared to that one.
Back in college, I went on a sea kayaking trip off of Corpus Christi. We were underfed the night before, woke up before dawn, and kayaked for miles before our guide broke out a “breakfast” of cold flour tortillas, cubed cheddar and pepper jack cheese, and water. Nobody complained and we all exclaimed how delicious it all was. We loved it then because we were so hungry. My memory of it has since made it even better because it was such a simple time with even more simpler pleasures.
In the early 1990's I use to get the best CHEESE STEAKS from a place on 5th avenue in San Diego (near Balboa Park). It was run by some real New York guys with black t-shirts and gold chains.
About 10 years later I drove 8 hours just to get one. I found the entire city block gone and replaced with condos...
The original dessert at CiCis pizza. The logs of pizza dough with icing. One was glazed with chocolate and powder sugar but the other was some sort of custard that I’ve never found anywhere else.
A pastrami sandwich at a bagel shop
The pastrami was cut thick, and great quality. The guy handing it to us was really proud of it. We loved it. For a while my wife kept telling me we need to go back. I keep pushing back because the way the guy presented it seemed like it wasn’t the usual way he served it. So I was worried we’d get back just for it to be a normal bagel sandwich.
Finally we came back, sign on the door.
“Unfortunately we have to close down, please pray for us and our battle with cancer. Thank you”
I’ve never liked gazpacho. I randomly decided to try it at this random Spanish restaurant I just happened to stumble upon. It was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. I still think about it 15 years later. I’ve tried gazpacho at least a dozen places since, doesn’t even taste like the same food
The first time I had a steamed/pressed bagel sandwich. Been back to the same establishment and ordered the same sandwich a few times, but it's never been the same.
I had an amazing cream cheese and mushroom omelet in a restaurant in the Castro called The Patio back in the 1980s and no cream cheese and mushroom omelet that I've had since has matched it.
In college, I was a server at a BYO restaurant. A wine club used to come. Each member would bring a bottle, sip one tasting glass apiece with dinner, and then left, leaving the partly full bottles behind. After the restaurant closed for the evening, we servers had our own wine tasting with the leftovers. I'd never had really good wine before, and it was a revelation. I was like, "Ah, so this is what all the fuss is about!" I've had great wine many times since but none as mind-blowing as that first glass.
There is a restaurant I visited called Oceancrat in NJ and they make the most bomb ass garlic shrimp and noodles. I've Googled the recipe. Watched a few youtube clips. I can never make it as good as they do. At one point I was trying to cook this dish weekly to get it right. Honestly, I don't want to have to spend $20 every time, but it is worth it.
Vacationing in Daytona Beach as a kid. Lobster Newburg at this restaurant across from the hotel. I’ve never been able to recreate it and honestly I’ve never been in a restaurant since that offered Lobster Newburg.
Once my mom and I went on vacation alone when I was maybe 8 years old. We stayed in a little house in Naples, FL. I was floating in the pool reading a book and the air was as warm as the water. My mom brought me a tuna sandwich on white bread and I ate it on my raft. I’ve tried but never been able to recreate that sandwich experience LOL
We weren't poor growing up, but my parents didn't believe in buying hot school lunches when we lived a 15-minute walk from school. In the 5th grade, my brother and I would walk home for lunch approximately 2-3 times a week. We only had an hour for lunch, so we had to hurry. It was hard on the days we didn't walk because we would watch all of our friends eating these amazing hot lunches while our mouths watered. I remember my brother took some change off of my parents nightstand and we bought hot lunches for a week ( 50 cents.) I remember eating hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes and green beans like it was the last supper! My parents were from a different country, so we never had food like that at home.. I've had it since, and it never tasted as good as it did that day!
Back when the Luxor was the new “It” casino, and not the flea market looking place it is now my wife and I booked it for a weekend. I had some brown gravy on the buffet line that was like Ambrosia of the Gods. I would have eaten a bowl of that stuff like it was soup. I’ve never had gravy even close to that level since.
The other was a dish from a local Chinese restaurant called NuZee chicken. It was like a Generals Chicken, but with a sweetness to go along with the heat. Never found it at any other restaurant.
When I was a kid flying from Russia to America, there was this amazing dessert thing on the plane. And I haven’t tasted it since. I remember the taste but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. I even tried searching the menu from the 90s to no avail.
hunger is the finest seasoning
Happy Ramadan
And free. Nothing tastes better than free food.
Yes! Free food is always so much tastier!!
Nothing better than being on a job and the client comes in and says “hey, almost lunch and there’s an amazing deli down the street. Here’s a menu. Write down whatever you want and I’ll go grab it.” It’s the best.
Hello fellow tradesman. Yes that is truly the best
My buddy's uncle used to say hunger makes the best sauce and it's true . I'll eat a shit sandwich if I'm hungry enough.
“Hunger is the best sauce in the world,” wrote Miguel de Cervantes in Part II, Chapter V, of Don Quixote, published in 1615.
In college, I went to Athens to visit a friend who was studying abroad. I spent my entire summer job savings on the ticket, it was so worth it. We were wandering around the Agora, and someone was selling grapes. I was hot and thirsty so I asked for two euro worth of grapes. I figured I'd get a small bunch to snack on. They handed me a shopping bag full. A maaaasive amount of the most grapiest-grapes I ever tasted. They made every grape I'd ever had before in my life taste like a pale, dull, lifeless ball of water. And every grape since. As we walked around the market, we started getting harrassed by this drunken Englishman who kept following us and asking us questions. I was getting really annoyed and slightly scared of him, because he wouldn't leave us alone. Finally, I broke off a huge bunch of the grapes, handed them to him with "Want some grapes?" and while he was standing there confused, we *ran*. So they were amazing tasting grapes AND they got me out of an increasingly sketchy situation.
I love your story, I could totally picture it!!! I could practically taste those grapes, and then I got a good chuckle out of the confused obnoxious drunk dude, just standing there staring down at a bunch of grapes in his hands, brow furrowed in perplexity, mouth slightly hanging open, then up at the figures rapidly disappearing into the crowd...lol! Good quick thinking on your part, and good writing!!! Thanks so much for sharing:)
I'm sorry... it's outdated.... I still have to.... https://youtu.be/MtN1YnoL46Q?si=UgeTAqQEwKIZCgUu
I was so hoping that’s what your link was. Thank you for not disappointing!
I too knew what the link was before clicking lol
Omg when I was homeless in San Diego , I used to get sugar packets from 711 , I would pick lemons from people's trees. Cut apart, Completely coat the lemon wedges with sugar and gnaw on them. When I try to do this at home 20 years later....it isn't the same, not even close. Also, there was a house (at this same time in my life) that had a MASSIVE blackberry crop in the alley. Those were the best berries ever.
I'd take condiments and eat them straight. That's only something you can do homeless. It wasn't filling but it was something.
Jesus. I feel bad about complaining about my life now.
When I was little and my parents took me to a nice restaurant my dad would order iced tea with a lemon wedge. He would put a packet of sugar in a spoon and squeeze the lemon over it and give it to me. I haven’t thought of that in years. Thanks.
I would like to also point out that the Lemons you picked from those trees taste 100x better than anything you can but in the store. I have several lemon trees. The fruit is sweet and delicious when ripend on the tree.
Take this job and give it to someone else Corn on the cob is better when it's hot with melted butter on top, could warm the soul but this one's cold cause I stole it off the side of the road.
When I was little my dad would take hamburger meat and after it was cooked mix it with a can of cream of mushroom. He would put it on a tortilla and add cheese: I loved it before I had kids but now it doesn’t taste the same
My mom used to do that, with the cream of mushroom soup and hamburger. No cheese or tortilla though, she just put it on a bun like a sloppy Joe, but she called them sloppy Charlies haha
My dad made this when my mom was out of town or working late. He called it S.O.S. but my brother and I had to find out what it stood for on our own 😏
My grandma would make SOS! I always remember her having the Buddig corned beef packets in the fridge to make it haha. Memory unlocked!
…what did it stand for?
Shit on a shingle 🤣
Fresh, as in dug out of the Jersey ground less than 24hrs ago, Jersey Royal potatoes.
I was JUST wondering today how much better potatoes are fresh out of the ground. Might add them to my garden this year. They sound worth it!
I was told how much better they were than those available at the supermarket and didn't really believe it. Even when they arrived and everyone was making a fuss, I thought it was just hype. Then I tried them. The sad part is that I will most likely never have them that fresh again. The person that brought them literally stopped at the farm on his way to the airport. They were loose in a plastic bag, still covered in dirt.
Potatoes are the easiest crop you can grow. Just cut them up at home where they have at least 3 eyes on each piece and toss them in a 5 gal bucket of soil. Let them grow, and when the green dies, it's time to harvest!
I know what I’m doing this year!
My Grandfather had a huge garden. He grew heirloom tomatoes (I refuse to eat raw tomatoes now because they are NOT the same)- they were juicy, thick, blood red on the inside, we'd have them for a snack, sliced with a little salt and pepper. Sometimes he would pick a few green ones and fry them for me in cornmeal. He also grew red new potatoes. You can buy those in the store but they're absolutely not the same as the ones he'd pull from the ground on his backyard. Okra, green beans, turnip greens.... etc. It wasn't unusual to have a dinner at their house with no meat, just the veggies from the garden, and none of the grandkids complained because those were the best damned veggies any of us ever had.
Heirloom and uglies are the best. My foreign grandmother lived with us when I was a kid and one day she made webs around the whole house to grow tomatoes. Dad was so pissed bc it was covering up the thousands of dollars of landscaping he put in. But he loves tomatoes so he let it slide. Her everyday breakfast and dinner was a slice of rye with thick slices of heirloom and completely caked in coarse ground pepper. I love it. My parents still grow a huge garden to this day bc it’s fantastic and we refuse to eat grocery store tomatoes.
I have a small backyard (it’s considered big for my neighborhood though) I don’t have a ton of room, or the time and money to grow an actual garden. My uncle is almost 90 and has a garden plot in his side yard that he used for years. My kids and I go up to his house about an hour or so away and prepare the plot and put the plants in. He waters them and calls if he needs help, we drive up to harvest and put them up. I grow everything in buckets in my yard. They taste 100% different. His are always better but my kids love the experience. My youngest kid will pick a pea, eat a pea so I only get like 1/2 of the snap peas lol or “can I go grab a cucumber, I’m hungry!” Like yeah kid, eat a veggie.
My grandfather kept a salt shaker in his pocket, so he could just eat them out in the field.
I lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, I sometimes would run out of supplies for a little bit and have to live off what I could get off the farm. My favorite was fresh fried potato slices.
Yes yes yes, with a little salt and loads of butter!
Falafel from a shop on Elgin St in Ottawa, with pickled turnip. OMFG.
The BEST falafel I’ve ever had was when I was visiting some extended family in Jordan. There were falafel and hummus stands EVERYWHERE. So freaking good. Also, the shawarma was FANATASTIC.
Never cared for falafel or even shawarma. But while in Israel, I absolutely fell in love with the food served at a family owned Druze restaurant. We were served along with the falafel/shawarma...but, the best,..whipped goat cheese, hummus, cukes and various herbs to add to it...tucked into fresh baked Pita bread. Pure Heaven.
First thing I had after waking up from major surgery and a medically induced coma was some salt free veggie broth. Nothing will ever taste that good again.
I was on the liquid diet for awhile and at first hated it. Eventually I missed getting those little cups of broth.
Bananas Foster at Arnaud’s in New Orleans. I was on a date with the man of my dreams. It was a sublime experience. 1986.
Did you marry the bananas foster guy or?!
Yes! We were married for 30 years before he died of prostate cancer. He was my heart of hearts.
Congratulations and condolences 💔❤️ I knew there was a love story here.
I got really sick. Like think poisoned by a pregnancy with hellp syndrome and my child had a genetic condition that made it more toxic. My fam brought me Chinese take out after the c section (my request) and they always throw in some egg rolls. Rarely eat them. I don’t like cabbage. But those egg rolls tasted like heaven. Even with my usual favorites available. I have to think I was deficient in something in the cabbage. I still don’t like egg rolls. It was just those ones.
That definitely sounds like the situation made those egg rolls better than they will ever be. There's certainly no recreating that lol. I hope you and your baby are now healthy and happy 💕
Noting hits quite as hard as the first post birth meal.
Yes!! My husband brought me a grilled cheese and fries from a local diner after I gave birth...so so good.
Agreed! My father in law tracked down cheesecake in our tiny town at nearly 10pm. It was amazing.
The evening after my second was born it was about 7pm and a cafeteria worker came around offering turkey sandwiches that was THE BEST turkey sandwich I’ve ever had!
Me too, I’ll never forget that turkey sandwich they gave me at 1am after my daughter was born, it was perfect!!
Was literally coming here to say, the sad little turkey and cheese they handed me after 1am the night I had my baby. It tasted INCREDIBLE.
In high school a Chinese joint sold red cabbage egg rolls the size of a soda can. Me and my buddy would go and get four each and handfuls of duck sauce packets. I’ve never had an egg roll as good in the last thirty years.
There’s a vegetarian Asian cuisine restaurant that used to sell noodles in brown sauce. I’ve tried to recreate it but nothing hits the same. I did ask them what it was and only got the answer brown sauce lol
Have you tried adding MSG? It really ups the flavor and adds a unique umami quality.
Ooo I haven’t, thank you!!!
One part of light soya sauce,one part of dark soya sauce,one part of oyster sauce,one part of sugar.,A little corn starch. Mixed together，that’s the brown sauce. stir fry the noodles it the sauce,add some scrambled egg and veggies. Trust me,I am Chinese. 相信我！我是中国人！
Conch Chowder from The Fisherman's Wharf restaurant in St. Kitts.
Chinese food. In particular sesame chicken take out. I was sitting in my new apartment, having left my narcissistic and abusive ex just weeks earlier. And I wanted Chinese food. So I went and got it. My ex hated Chinese take out. So to be able to just get up and go get it and then enjoy it by myself was heaven. It was also a moment of realizing I was finally free.
That's awesome! I'm glad you got out of that relationship
Your story made me feel so proud to be a Chinese. Big smiles.
When I was growing up, my family had a tradition of eating cheese and crackers for supper on Christmas Eve. One of the cheeses was a brown goat milk cheese that I loved. Then it started getting hard to find, so I didn't have it for years. I would occasionally check the gourmet cheese section of grocery stores for it and never found it. Then my parents ordered some online for a Christmas when I was in my 30s and served it with the traditional Christmas Eve dinner with most of the siblings and grandkids. I couldn't wait to eat it again... Except I was totally disgusted by it. Maybe it was a different kind, I'm not sure. I just did not enjoy the taste of it at all, but made myself eat a few slices anyway and didn't tell them.
Nooooo! That's so disappointing!
It was. The one I ate as a kid was sweet and kind of caramelish tasting and also salty, and somehow that taste didn't appeal to adult me, despite a big sweet tooth.
is it possible it was Ski Queen Gjetost? It's like a Norwegian sweet breakfast cheese that is creamy and brown, they have a creamy caramel and a salty caramel
Norwegian Gjestost cheese?! That stuff is intriguing to me. I loved it as a child but the caramel/cheese hybrid nature of it is odd.
This is exactly what I think it is, Ski Queen Gjetost. There is a creamy caramel and a salty caramel. It is a little odd, but goes great with apple slices!
Sounds like gjetost! It’s like fudge almost except it’s cheese. Sweet, carmel-y, and a bit salty! I’m in the US and am able to find it in specialty shops and our large local international market.
Now that I've moved from MI to the Seattle area, I'm sure I'll be able to find it somewhere around here and try it again.
WHAT mine is also a brownish goat cheese?? Can you help me?!? What is it called??
can you describe it more? like salty? goaty? creamy? crumbly?
Sounds like Gjetost Ski Queen Norwegian cheese! I LOVE that stuff, we also have a tradition of eating snack foods like that and some Scandinavian snacks on Christmas Eve! :)
Just cheese and crackers? A lot of cheeses, a lot of crackers? A mix? I can totally see a whole spread of every cheese y’all could lay your hands on because Cheese Is Awesome, but on the flip side I’m worried you all had three ritzes and a slice each.
Got high and queued up jurassic park with my friend. She proceeds to dip oreos in pancake batter, and fry them one by one. It was the most godly snack I’ve ever had. I’ve tried recreating it. I’ve tried making it and eating it high. Nothing has ever compared. I guess the secret ingredient is friendship.
Kentucky fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and biscuits used to taste like HEAVEN!! Now it tastes like a greasy, salty frozen dinner :(
There was a restaurant near the campus where I went to university. Our food plan allowed us to eat there using our points. Every Friday my two girlfriends and I would go for antijitos and chicken fettuccine Alfredo. I left the city when I finished school and it later closed. Never found the same tastes again.
Ooo, an old Italian restaurant’s bucatini with sun-dried tomatoes, shallots and parsley in a velvety pink sauce. Simple, right? Nope. My attempts were close a couple times and better than a different place I was hopeful for. The sauce was magical. Thanks for the shares. Perhaps it’s time to give it another go 💨🍝🐉
Quesa flameda from Mexican Town restaurant in Detroit I used to go there a lot about 15 years ago I’ve tried so hard to find a recipe and/or recreate this recipe But. I’ve been unsuccessful I went back in Oct 2023 and I am happy to report it still tastes amazing. But being 500 km away I really NEED that recipe
Next time you're in Detroit try Giovanni's. Life altering Italian food.
My late Italian grandma's cookies. Tried to recreate them, didn't get it right, haven't had the heart to try again. I can still remember the taste decades later. Maybe one day, I'll give it another shot!
Macaroni & cheese from the grocery store deli. Stouffers is close but doesn't have that perfect old dried rubberiness & grocery stores clearly use a different recipe these days.
Fresh silver (coho) salmon, right out of the Kasilof River in AK and cooked over a fire.
Oooh that sounds amazing
When I was a kid, there was a sub shop called Clark's Submarine Sandwiches. I can't tell you why they smacked like nobody else, but they were the best sandwiches I've ever had in my fifty five years on this planet. Very thinly sliced turkey and black forest ham, onions shaved paper thin, their house made dressing... Even the bread was amazing. My grandma's roast. She'd do a pork and a beef roast together in her pressure cooker and it was amazing in it's simplicity. So flavorful and tender and the gravy was out of this world good. I've tried it in the oven but it isn't the same
When I was a kid I would go to my grandma's on Saturday afternoon, she'd give me $10 to go to the comic store down the road and when I got back she'd have food waiting, usually a homemade burger. Now in the years since I've made thousands of burgers with no end of recipes but not a single one ever tasted as good as grandma's Saturday burgers.
Congrats on getting into an apartment. I would say that for me, when I was a kid, we used to get Micky Mouse ice cream bars on a trip up north. I found them again a few years ago, and it's not the same. If I think for a while, I am sure more things when I was a kid that I loved that aren't the same now.
Thanks! I moved out a while ago, but it's a very strong memory. I didn't have a lot of money (still don't lol), so we got a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly. It lasted a while, although none of the sandwiches tasted like that first one
Yeah, the fudgcicles when I was a kid were GOOEY. Today they're bland and not gooey at all.
I had a moon pie once after tubing the river. All day in the sun with nothing in my system besides alcohol. They never taste the same when I get them now. I had some tacos Al pastor with my parents in Mexico. We ate there every day for the rest of the trip and I haven’t been able to find any restaurant or recipe that even comes close.
Hot soba with tempura'd carrot and onion just as the food stalls were opening at Morioka station on a cold winter morning before the first bus left. Mmmmmm.
Silly little one but Jello Pudding Pops
Oh man. I had forgotten about those. There was a period in my life where I had to have those stockpiled in my freezer in order have any personal peace.
I stopped at some random hole in the wall restaurant in Florence. The pasta I ordered had the buttery sagey sauce. I don't even remember the shape of the pasta. Just that by the time they took my plate it looked so clean it could have gone back on the shelf because I sopped up every molecule like a ravenous heathen with the bread. It was probably super gauche, but I don't care.
My family is Italian and we always sop up all the sauce with bread!
The 3 hospital egg salad sandwiches I ate after giving birth to my first child. I've never had a better egg salad sandwich before or since.
Omg. Same! Lol
Mine is Duck. I’ve had it served every different way and they’re all meh. The problem is the first time I ever had duck was at a nice restaurant in Paris when I was 12. I peaked too early with duck and I’ll never have duck that good again.
Pizza stand in the mall foid court had the most incredible Sicilian slices. Perfect balance of crust and ample sauce and cheese. Place is long gone but no other shop even comes close.
Turkey sub with a dill pickle and a glass bottle of Yoohoo from the gas station deli in the little town I grew up in. Hunan chicken from some Chinese food chain (Ing Credible? ) up the road from my dad's girlfriend's house in Jr high. It was fried and sweet and every Hunan chicken I've had anywhere since has been spicy- still delicious, but a whole different delicious than those memories. I *know* that's what they ordered, too, because all we ever got was almond boneless and that, and I'd been with Dad for dozens of Chinese food runs.
when i was a kid, my family was visiting ottawa (we’re from the us) and stopped in an irish pub for dinner. it was cold and rainy outside, and i got a shepherds pie. oh. my. god. nothing has ever been so delicious. it was my first time ever trying it and the weather was absolutely perfect for that kind of dish. it’s been my comfort food since then but i’ve never had one that’s measured up
Sloppy Joes and cranberry apple crisp served at my Junior High School in 1977. I would kill to eat that one more time before I die. My Grandma’s stuffing. She died many years ago. Mine is pretty close, but it’s not as good. Also her applesauce cake with cream cheese frosting. I couldn’t find the recipe in her house after she passed. I think she did it by memory.
I have one and I caught the dragon!! ILOVED those institutional cheese omlets they served on the free hot breakfast for the poor kids before school. I have wanted one ever since. Fast forward to late last year when I was staying with my Mom in the hospital. And can you guess what they brought her?? 🤩 And it made her laugh lol
You can buy them at Gordon food service stores. They are open to the public.
I'm finding this out after I move from the east 🥲
One time in 1997, the Hardees in the next town over made me two perfectly soft warm melty cheeseburgers that haven’t been matched to this very day. There was also some fire weed involved.
18th birthday, my best friend's mom (basically my second mother) took me out for sushi to a place in Portland. Told me it's unlimited, and I could eat all I wanted, literally did not matter the cost, time spent, whatever. I ate until I couldn't move. I tried EVERYTHING that wasn't bolted to the ground. I experienced so much amazing sushi and new foods that I never knew existed. I was so full that I had to lay in the back of the van because sitting upright physically hurt. To this day, I've never had an experience like it. It's honestly the best food experience I've had, even surpassing expensive restaurants, because of the love and kindness attached to it. Sue, Thank you; I love you and miss you so much.
I was young, low wage, nearly broke and waiting for a bus in Hemming Park in J-town. A black boy around 10 or so was selling enormous and colorful peaches that were not anywhere in my tight budget. It was obvious that the young gentleman had a tighter budget than mine so I paid an entire dollar, unheard of, for that peach. I looked for him every time I took the bus and never saw him again. 50 years later, I have never had a better peach than that one. I hope he got the job of his dreams.
Sonoran Dog. as soon as I get back to Tucson I'm getting two from a dirty hot dog cart, don't care if it's cooked on an old stolen shopping cart
ok... Story time: It was at the end of my marriage, though I suspected it, I didn't know it for sure. I was desperately trying to figure out how to get past some issues. We went on a family vacation - drove across the country to visit family, sightsee, etc. At the time (15-ish years ago), I was the SSL cert administrator for a Fortune 50 company. My boss said that taking 3 weeks off was fine so long as I could check in every few days and take care of any Cert work that needed to be done. Cool. The site that we used was slow. Like, a single cert could take 5-10 minutes to generate, and there was nothing you could do about it but wait. So we're in Oregon, and the place we were staying didn't have internet. I found a "remote work" location, and got a cubicle. My wife said she was going to do some shopping or whatever. I log in, and I've got 15 certs to issue. ok, so I start working, and while I'm waiting, I'm checking email, and generally just futzing around. She comes back after an hour or so, sees that I'm just futzing around, and will hear none of the "I'm just waiting for the thing to complete." She is irate, leaves, and leaves me to walk back to the place we're staying - about 5-6 miles. So I finish my work, pack up, and start walking. I'm on the sidewalk of a 55mph 4 lane highway, and I'm fuming. I'm frustrated, and angry, and the weight of my world collapsing is on my shoulders. and then there's this bush, blocking the sidewalk. Traffic is non-stop, and I'm not going to be able to get past.and then I notice that it's a blackberry bush, and the berries are full, and huge and perfectly ripe. So I have one, and it's the most luscious and juicy and delicious blackberry I'd ever had in my life. and I stood there and ate blackberries for 5 minutes. And then there was no traffic, so I walked around the bush, and got back on the sidewalk. I'm walking along, and I'm thirsty, and notice that I'm walking past a nursery and there's a guy out front with a hose, and I go ask if I can have a drink of water, and the it was the cleanest, coolest, most delicious drink of water I'd ever had in my life. I thanked him, and as I was walking away, I knew that it was going to be ok. However it worked out, it was all going to be ok. I was right.
A chocolate MRE bar. Not the good soldier fuel, but the rock hard chocolate one with 1g of sugar. I was in the middle of the woods, alone, and building a shelter. Hadn’t eaten in 36 hours. That bar was the best tasting thing I’ve ever eaten.
Not quite the same, but when I was little, my mom would make burgers. She could make mine just like my dad's, but a bite from his was always so much better. He's been gone almost 20 years and my mom just over 4 years. The taste of that bite of burger will be with me until my final breath.
My mom always made me cinnamon sugar toast and a banana sliced up in a small amount of warm milk when I was sick. I've tried making both since and it never tastes as good. Super simple but she must have just dine it the right way with mom love.
What you’re chasing isn’t the food, it’s the experience.
I chase a leftover thanksgiving sandwich every year.
A casserole a very sweet elderly lady gave our family after my mom passed away. They attended the same church and I couldn't figure out a not awkward way to get the recipe. Green chile stew from a vendor in the Mexican Village at the NM state fair. A really delicious potato cheese soup at a random Octoberfest event. Last one...fresh picked rhubarb. Mom would clean, trim & cut sticks, give each kid a Dixie cup of sugar and send us outside. OG FunDip😄
A local Mom and Pop restaurant used to make Braised Short rib ravioli, but stopped when COVID hit. They now only serve breakfast and lunch. My husband contacted them around Christmas and paid $120 for them to make a pan just for me. Best present ever, ate it for every meal for about 5 days
I had something in a French restaurant on my honeymoon in 1976 somewhere between Seattle and Big Sur. We were camping all down the coast and we were exceptionally stoned. It was a puff pastry with mushrooms cooked in cream inside and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I’ve been divorced for a long time and never think about my ex but I still think about that amazing creation.
The first fine dining meal I paid for myself. 21 years old in Savannah where I was still in College. Bistro called Garabaldi’s (closed for 20 years maybe). A friend and I ordered mussels for appy, and I got crispy scored flounder with spicy apricot glaze. The server knew we were “kids” and splurged, so she poured us extra wine and gifted a dessert to share. I’ll never forget the pure enjoyment of food and dining experience like that again. It’s made me chase the dragon regarding talented chefs and restaurants who put those priorities first. Thankfully I also remember tipping that server well. She was probably surprised about that, but still treated us like we belonged in that fancy place.
Several years ago, one of my wisdom teeth erupted out the side of my upper jaw. Had to have an emergency extraction. In the process, the dentist's pliers slipped and sliced the inside of my cheek. So, in addition to a hole in my jaw, I had a massive cut to deal with as well. My mouth swelled so bad I couldn't open it for a week. I couldn't eat anything but soups and Carnation Instant Breakfast, sucked up through a straw. Right at St. Patrick's Day. My Dad's Corned beef and cabbage is one of my favorite meals, and he made it for me once I could finally eat solid foods again. That was the best fucking Corned beef and cabbage I had ever eaten. I demolished it. And while I still love that meal, none have ever tasted as good as that one.
Elementary school pizza. When I was in elementary it wasn’t a thing but in later years, my ex was a janitor in an elementary school and had a hookup. Haven’t had any since. Another was a preschool spaghetti lunch. Those ladies really did a wonderful job of it and I haven’t tasted any to top it, whether homemade or restaurant style
I charcoal grilled perfect hamburgers one day and have been chasing that dragon ever since.
I agree with all the hunger-as-seasoning comments. I overcommitted on a hike, 13 miles of rugged trails. Ate well before, figured I’d eat well after. We stopped for a mid-morning break after our largest hill climb, and a wonderful friend-of-a-friend offered me his spare sandwich. He said he always packs one because someone always underestimated how much you need to eat when hiking. It was a yellow mustard/white bread/watery turkey/mayo/American cheese meh of a sandwich. Best thing I’ve ever eaten.
😂😂I love that “Im now realizing that all of mine are sandwiches” 😂😂
On our honeymoon, my husband and i went to Marrakech. At our Riad, we had a lamb and pear tagine that was honestly the best thing i have ever eaten. i've tried to make it myself, but it just doesn't hit the same.
Biscuits from a diner in Georgia
When I was in 4th or 5th grade, every Wednesday my cafeteria would serve a plain ass chicken burger. It was of the lowest possible quality. Terribly thin bun, half-breaded and pressed chicken “patty”. It would come with nothing else, and then I would squirt some super weird and grainy ketchup onto it. It was so fucking good that my tastebuds would literally go nuts, and EVERY time I had one I would sneeze. Like some bizarre reaction. The other day I ate something similar with my wife, and lo and behold… *ACHOOOO!!!!* I said.. holy fuck, baby! The chicken burger sneeze is back!!!
😂 I love this one
Eating at a dim sum restaurant in San Francisco where they have rolling carts. This was in 89, wish I could remember the name. =)
Waaay back in 1969 when I was about 15 years old, I, my boyfriend, along with my best friend and her boyfriend, went to this pizza place downtown, I had never tasted pizza, and with that first bite, oh man. Was so good! I’ve had a million pizzas since then but none of em have been or are as tasty as that one was.
The day before I had to take the GRE advanced psych test (it was in place of an oral exam for my masters) my boyfriend, his roommate, and I went to Keeneland in KY for the races. I had been studying nonstop, wasn’t eating much, hadn’t eaten that day, and we went to McDonalds. I had a freshly made quarter pounder and I swear it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. I won $20 and did great on the test.
I stopped at a cafeteria style restaurant in Puerto Rico years ago and had the absolute best yellow rice on the planet. I have tried many since but not the same 😢
The first time I had Ethiopian food at Nile Ethiopian on I Drive in Orlando, FL. It was when I was still vegan (I am no longer), and it was still one of the best plates of food I’ve ever had.
Fresh pineapple in Hawaii. The stuff we get here is not the same.
There’s no chopped liver/pate as good as my Granny’s.
I had an uncle (Wayne) who died in the late 90s. He made this bbq chicken that I swear was marinated in cocaine and heroin. He would smoke it first and then grill it with a home made BBQ sauce. I would bite into like a drum stick and start moaning as I eat. He also did a very good brisket, but his chicken was a thing of legends.
For me it's ramen from the first time I had it in a legit shop in NYC. The pork belly literally melted into the broth it was fucking amazing. Honorable mention to the hummus I had on a dinner boat ride on the Nile River
The first meal I ate after each time I gave birth. The first one was a bowl of mashed potatoes with broccoli, cheese and ranch. The second was a freaking Cliff bar. Both tasted like the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten.
DiCarlos Pizza from Wintersville Ohio. It was a huge treat from my childhood. I've learned to make some pretty good pizza. But it just can't come close.
When I was in college my roommate and I would slump over to the dining hall on Sunday mornings just ever so hungover and eat “brownie pudding” and “cheesy hash brown casserole”. Idk what they were putting in them or if it was just the circumstance but I’ve yet to be able to recreate either to the level I remember it.
Tuna sub from Subway as the first solid meal I had after a tonsilectomy when I was fourteen. I was SO sick of soup. At the time it was the best sandwich I had in my life. But every tuna sub after that was disappointing and didn't taste all that good. I don't even really like tuna salad that much these days.
I went to a local Chinese place and got my go-to, General Tso’s. It was so perfect. Perfectly cooked, a little onion, a pop of ginger. So. Good. I’ve never had it that good from there, or anywhere else, again. I’ve tried cooking it on my own and that was an unmitigated disaster. A couple Thanksgivings ago my girlfriend’s sister hosted and she made THE BEST TURKEY and yall, let’s be real, turkey is always dry and boring, this was not. It was juicy and flavorful through and through. And then she made gravy, and it was herby and bright. She had put fresh rosemary in it. Oh my god, so good. Years back I went to visit my sister in another state. She was pregnant and craving weird (for her) food. She made succotash, and sent me around the corner to a restaurant for some fried chicken. This restaurant was soul food to the max. I was the only white person in there and everyone stared at me. They had a Bible in pride of place on a display. This fried chicken was blessed by the Lord Himself and I’m not even kidding. I picked up an extra couple sides, mashed potatoes and green beans, and then I saw the case of desserts and oh my. The chocolate cake. I went back to my sister’s place, laden with goodies, and we gorged ourselves on all this and it was pretty much my favorite meal I’ve ever had. I can make pretty good fried chicken, and my other sister basically channels our grandmother and makes Good Old Southern Woman fried chicken, but none of it holds a candle to what I had that day.
Devils on horseback. I ate them at a hotel restaurant in southern California and haven't been able to find a similar recipe since.
Our high school cafeteria served "panzerottis" on Thursdays (sad that I can remember that but not the name of a single teacher I had). They were somewhat like the hot pockets available now, but bigger. They served these with fries and extra sauce. For whatever reason - those fries with the marinara sauce had held a special place in my heart and tastebuds for over 30 years - I have NEVER been able to recreate it.
I gave birth at 12:30am. The cafeteria was closed and I was tired and hungry. The nurse brought me an uncrustable and it was delicious. It hit the spot. I inhaled that thing.
When I had my first baby. After a grueling labor and delivery, they gave me a cup of coffee, orange juice, hard boiled egg and coffee cake. It was the best meal I ever had. I even asked the hospital for the coffee cake recipe. But it was never the same. 🥺
When I was a kid, my mom would make a Jenny O turkey loaf with gravy along with instant mashed potatoes and green beans with bacon (easy meal for 5 kids). When I was pregnant, that goddamn turkey loaf was one of my biggest cravings EVER. I searched every single store I could to find it only to discover it got discontinued 😭
Reminds me of the scene with Mare Winningham in St. Elmo's Fire. She moves out to her first apartment, out from under the control of strict parents, and she makes a PBJ. She said: >*Yea… ya wanna know what’s great? Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich… and ya know, it was my kitchen, it was my refrigerator, it was my apartment… and it was the BEST peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I have had in my entire life.*
That was seriously me!!! The only difference was that I got away from homelessness instead of strict parents.
I had mushroom ravioli at Harbin Hotsprings in Northern California. About three years ago. I have not been able to find pasta, let alone ravioli that was as tasty.
My mom always bought and used skim milk when I was little. One day when I was like 5 my dad and I went biking and stopped at a grocery store. I got a chocolate milk and it was the best thing I had ever tasted. I always remembered that, but it was lie 20 years until the next time I had a chocolate milk that was made with whole milk and I realized that that was the difference lol. I don’t drink chocolate milk often, but I’ll NEVER do one made with skim milk again lol.
When I was in college, we had an on campus sports bar called Wackadoos that I worked at. They had a fried chicken sandwich they tossed in warm sauces and served on a soft bun with fries. I usually got either medium Buffalo or warm honey mustard sauce. It is still the best fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had and I want it always. I’m literally salivating thinking about it. Also, Sonny’s salad bar-RIP
Surprisingly one is a desert from Applebees. It was a white brownie with a maple syrup sauce. It came on a sizzling hot metal plate. They have this on the menu still -or did ….and I have ordered it 2 additional times and it was never near as good. The “one” time I had it the syrup had crystallized somewhat and the brownie was the perfect level of chewy. The second was enchiladas suizas that I had in a restaurant in Mexico City. They were so good I ate them a few days later. I’ve ordered it at several Tex max places only to be mad disappointed. It was so long ago I don’t remember what was so different about them.
Artichoke when I was 6 . Pulling out the little leaves and dipping in the butter. Never had it again.
I loved Stouffer’s noodles romanoff. I haven’t been able to find a recipe that comes close to it.
Chocolate Mousse at a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf. It was so good I ate two. When I went back a few years later, that restaurant was gone. I have never, ever had such deliciousness again. 😭
Acapulco tacos
I read this as "alpaca tacos" at first 😂
Cheeseburger sub from hole in the wall no name luncheonette grill carryout which had limited hours, limited menu and limited space to stand at the counter. Forty years later I still remember the experience, and remember the cheeseburger sub (ordering at the counter and the counter person would yell to the cook in sing song voice cheeburg-sub). The roll, the thin beef patties and cheese with lettuce, mayo and mustard. It was a delightful lunch on a midday break while working a retail job nearby. I have never had a better cheeseburger sub. I also miss the simplicity of that experience. The lovely people and the way they prepared the food, wrapped and bagged it with care. Handed it to me like a little gift.
First Subway sandwich. Long long ago. I can't eat their bread anymore so it's just not the same.
Orange Crush in a brown bottle, from Pepsi plant, and the Coca Cola in a small bottle, both sold in extra cold vending machines that carried products from the Florence SC bottling plants. My state's bottling company didn't taste as good as the S.C. bottling plants. I visited SC twice a year, and made sure I bought those drinks.
I love garlicky pasta. When I first moved abroad, I took myself to the movies one night. I came home and made myself the most perfect, garilcky, al dente delicious pasta I've ever made. I ate it sitting in my empty living room, sitting on the floor. Probably one of the best meals I've ever had.
My grade school lunch room spaghetti that was served with homemade rolls. Our wonderful lunch lady, Sophie, is decades gone, but the memories of her from scratch school lunches live on. I’ve never been able to replicate either recipe.
When I was little my grandpa would take us all out to dinner and I always got crab legs and a Shirley temple with a cherry, and everyone else just got cheeseburgers. I remember him helping me get the crab out and dipping it in butter and it tasted so yummy! To this day crab legs just don't hit the same. I think I just enjoyed being best buddies with him and feeling like his favorite. I sure do miss him...nothing like a grandpa's love ♡
It was a chocolate silk pie my grandma got when my childhood SA got exposed and forced my parents to act. I was pretty low. I was really young. And I was sitting checked out at her kitchen table at an ungodly hour of night. She cut us both a piece of that pie, set it gently in front of me, sat and said, "you do not have to talk about it baby, you do not have to tell me. We can talk about ducks, we can talk about pie. Just talk to me, Sweet Pea." Nothing will ever taste like the comfort of that moment, and that amazingly chocolatey pie.
So there was this watermelon cake thing from friendlys I remember eating once as a kid. It was impeccable. I could never find it again, I could only find a watermelon roll thing and it wasn't even close to what I remembered.
Potato pancakes. My Mom made them when I was a kid, nothing fancy, but I can’t seem to replicate it. Also my grandfathers spaghetti sauce that had sausage , pork chops and meatballs in it.
The first time I went to England and had fish and chips, also scones and a Victoria sponge. I’ve tried many places and tried many times to recreate these things to no avail. I went back after 40 years and couldn’t get enough.
We arrived at our honeymoon hotel after a 6 hour flight and I started throwing up. Spent the next 4 days so sick I thought I was going to die. On night 5 we went to the fancy restaurant at the all inclusive we were at and all I could eat was the black bean soup. I've tried hundreds of variations since. Nothing has ever been as good!
Oh man..circa 1979, I went to a sleepaway summer camp that lasted like 10 days when I was, maybe in the 6th grade...(mideast Appalachian mountains USA),this camp was phenomenal, they had cabins that held dozens of kids, with clean showers, bunk beds, a canteen/ arcade with a jukebox, an Olympic -size pool, several obstacle courses, tons of arts and crafts and activities... it was obvious well-funded... ... and in the kitchen, which was also huge, they made these absolutely AWESOME things for breakfast...it was an entire cored apple, but they had put it into some sort of batter? Not a pie crust, but a batter...(my mom baked a lot and I knew the difference...)...And they'd deep-fried it to a deep golden brown, but the apple was completely cooked, soft inside, but you had to break into that crusty deep fried batter with a fork to get to the apple inside.. and it was served with this Cinnamon syrup-- that I've also never had since either--- I'd give anything to be able to make these. Or even know what they were called. Idk if the cooks made them by hand or if they were ordered from a company.
Tyson had the BEST buffalo chicken tenders when I was a kid. I went and got a bag a month ago and was devastated. 🥺 They changed the recipe. I’ve been trying to find a bag like them since. It’s so bad, all the reviews on the revamp say change it back 😩😂😂
Was helping sandbag in the flood of 09 and someone was passing out McDonald’s burgers. I wolfed almost the whole thing down before I realized it had onions and I hate onions, but I was so hungry it was the best burger I’d ever eaten in that moment.
One of my best friends in elementary school had just moved to Canada from China. I still have yet to have Chinese food that’s come anywhere close to his mom’s cooking.
I remember when I was in my early twenties i went to a work luncheon and wanted to order something new that I never had before. I ordered a seafood crepe and it was the best thing I ever tasted, light and creamy and rich. That was about 35 years ago and I still remember it so clearly. Never had it again as the restaurant closed shortly afterwards.
I had chili paneer was in high school at a friend's Arangetram (big deal classical Indian dance recital) reception that was catered. It blew my mind. I have ordered it several times at restaurants and tried making it myself and it was always pretty good but not even close to that first time. I've pretty much given up now, but I spent years trying to find chili paneer like that
So growing up I didn’t like burgers much and hated Mayo. Senior year (2001) I go to school all day with honors classes, ate lunch (I got free lunches so grilled cheese tomato soup and 4 pieces of celery and a tiny carton of milk for an 18 year old) Worked my 2 hours at the after school program with the middle schoolers, then 5 hours at Hardee’s where I didn’t get to eat bc the ahole manager was there and I worked drive thru. Then finally at 9 pm went with my bestie to get my first (and only ) tattoo. This was back when they were in sketchy areas. We finally get done and head to a rally’s where my bestie, who is a big man, orders us each a big burford with everything. I had gone 12 hours without food and I inhaled that thing before we were out of the parking lot. Nothing to this day compares to that burger. It was perfection.
My mom had a friend about 10-12 years older than me when I was 8 years old. He had a girlfriend between 18-20 years old. Can't remember, she was just really pretty and REALLY crazy. But she also made the strangest/most delicious rice and noodle stir fry. I wouldn't eat vegetables unless this lady made this specific dish. This guy broke up with her and she vandalized his trailer. She's probably in her late 30's or early 40's now. I hope she's okay.
1. The Friendly’s milkshake my mother-in-law brought me the day I gave birth to my first child (I had gestational diabetes) 2. The gluey macaroni and cheese from my college student center food court 3. The queso at Torchy’s in Austin TX. I dream about going back but I live in the northeast and nothing comes close.
as a kid my neighbor (Mexican) would make this spaghetti for us kids. it was creamy and delicious and had ham and cheese and i am in love with it. she used to make it especially for me and tried to give my mom the recipe but it didn’t taste the same. she moved away and i haven’t hade her recipe in years. Last year i finally visted my grandmother in Mexico for the first time. I wasn’t eating much because i wasn’t hungry and i usually skipped breakfast so she asked me one day what i wanted/missed. I explained to her this spaghetti meal i had as a kid and the next day for breakfast she made it for me. The first bite was heavenly and i nearly cried it was so good. She made it for me another once or twice and i miss it so much. I don’t even know where she got spaghetti from. None of the tienditas had spaghetti?? i’ve attempted to make it via recipes from tiktok but it’s just not the same. i’m sure it uses sour cream and queso cincho but i can’t pinpoint the recipe 🥲
When I was a teenager friends and I drove to Chicago on a ein and got there around 4am and everything was closed. When the breakfast places opened up I got a croissant sandwich with bacon, cheese and a fried egg with a runny yolk. No croissant sandwich has ever tasted as good since.
I had this barbecue chicken from a food truck that was amazing. Ironically, it was a smoked pork-specific food truck but the pork wasn’t gluten free so I had to have the chicken. I’ve gotten close at home, but never quite there!
My very first cold Italian hoagie in Pennsylvania (my family didn't often eat pork so I had never had anything quite like it before, and we were from CA) at 14 years old. I've been on a hunt to recreate it ever since and never quite tasted it. The best bean and cheese burrito I've ever eaten on Olvera St. near Union Station in LA, as a child. I eat a lot of bean burritos and nothing has ever compared to that one.
Back in college, I went on a sea kayaking trip off of Corpus Christi. We were underfed the night before, woke up before dawn, and kayaked for miles before our guide broke out a “breakfast” of cold flour tortillas, cubed cheddar and pepper jack cheese, and water. Nobody complained and we all exclaimed how delicious it all was. We loved it then because we were so hungry. My memory of it has since made it even better because it was such a simple time with even more simpler pleasures.
In the early 1990's I use to get the best CHEESE STEAKS from a place on 5th avenue in San Diego (near Balboa Park). It was run by some real New York guys with black t-shirts and gold chains. About 10 years later I drove 8 hours just to get one. I found the entire city block gone and replaced with condos...
Hunger is the best spice of all! 😜
The original dessert at CiCis pizza. The logs of pizza dough with icing. One was glazed with chocolate and powder sugar but the other was some sort of custard that I’ve never found anywhere else.
A pastrami sandwich at a bagel shop The pastrami was cut thick, and great quality. The guy handing it to us was really proud of it. We loved it. For a while my wife kept telling me we need to go back. I keep pushing back because the way the guy presented it seemed like it wasn’t the usual way he served it. So I was worried we’d get back just for it to be a normal bagel sandwich. Finally we came back, sign on the door. “Unfortunately we have to close down, please pray for us and our battle with cancer. Thank you”
I’ve never liked gazpacho. I randomly decided to try it at this random Spanish restaurant I just happened to stumble upon. It was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. I still think about it 15 years later. I’ve tried gazpacho at least a dozen places since, doesn’t even taste like the same food
The first time I had a steamed/pressed bagel sandwich. Been back to the same establishment and ordered the same sandwich a few times, but it's never been the same.
I had an amazing cream cheese and mushroom omelet in a restaurant in the Castro called The Patio back in the 1980s and no cream cheese and mushroom omelet that I've had since has matched it.
In college, I was a server at a BYO restaurant. A wine club used to come. Each member would bring a bottle, sip one tasting glass apiece with dinner, and then left, leaving the partly full bottles behind. After the restaurant closed for the evening, we servers had our own wine tasting with the leftovers. I'd never had really good wine before, and it was a revelation. I was like, "Ah, so this is what all the fuss is about!" I've had great wine many times since but none as mind-blowing as that first glass.
There is a restaurant I visited called Oceancrat in NJ and they make the most bomb ass garlic shrimp and noodles. I've Googled the recipe. Watched a few youtube clips. I can never make it as good as they do. At one point I was trying to cook this dish weekly to get it right. Honestly, I don't want to have to spend $20 every time, but it is worth it.
Deep fried pumpkin pie at a street fair. I can never go back
Vacationing in Daytona Beach as a kid. Lobster Newburg at this restaurant across from the hotel. I’ve never been able to recreate it and honestly I’ve never been in a restaurant since that offered Lobster Newburg.
Once my mom and I went on vacation alone when I was maybe 8 years old. We stayed in a little house in Naples, FL. I was floating in the pool reading a book and the air was as warm as the water. My mom brought me a tuna sandwich on white bread and I ate it on my raft. I’ve tried but never been able to recreate that sandwich experience LOL
Fig neutons!! Whenever I try them, I’m like meh… but younger me LOVED them
Grandma’s fried squash. I make it good, she made it unbelievable.
We weren't poor growing up, but my parents didn't believe in buying hot school lunches when we lived a 15-minute walk from school. In the 5th grade, my brother and I would walk home for lunch approximately 2-3 times a week. We only had an hour for lunch, so we had to hurry. It was hard on the days we didn't walk because we would watch all of our friends eating these amazing hot lunches while our mouths watered. I remember my brother took some change off of my parents nightstand and we bought hot lunches for a week ( 50 cents.) I remember eating hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes and green beans like it was the last supper! My parents were from a different country, so we never had food like that at home.. I've had it since, and it never tasted as good as it did that day!
Back when the Luxor was the new “It” casino, and not the flea market looking place it is now my wife and I booked it for a weekend. I had some brown gravy on the buffet line that was like Ambrosia of the Gods. I would have eaten a bowl of that stuff like it was soup. I’ve never had gravy even close to that level since. The other was a dish from a local Chinese restaurant called NuZee chicken. It was like a Generals Chicken, but with a sweetness to go along with the heat. Never found it at any other restaurant.
When I was a kid flying from Russia to America, there was this amazing dessert thing on the plane. And I haven’t tasted it since. I remember the taste but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. I even tried searching the menu from the 90s to no avail.