At Home My Way

I grew up right in the heart of central Florida, but I now LIVE right in the heart of central Missouri!  This time of year, I ESPECIALLY miss "home" more than ever.  Probably it has something to do with the winter lasting so LONG, that trees are just gray sticks this time of year, and of course there is ice, snow, cold, gray, and very little sunshine.  But, I would have to say it also has to do with not only weather, but differences in food and family.  Pretty much, I just miss everything about being HOME. When we moved here from Florida back in the day, we didn't make much of the difference in how Missourians ate compared to our native Florida.  But as I age I really miss the meals available to me that I have associated with certain memories.  One of those memories is that I always remember the lunches we had when I was growing up.  First of all, we NEVER at out.  Lunch involved either peanut, butter & jelly (no potato chips), hot dogs ...

I really look forward to St. Patrick's Day because of one reason, pretty much.  I LOVE cabbage!  I grew up eating lots of cabbage.  It was a staple at our house.  My husband, however, does not like cabbage.  He can't even stand to smell it cooking!  Grrr... But he overlooks this aversion on St. Patrick's Day, being that he loves me so much. LOL. This St. Patrick's Day I was all set to go to my parents' house for dinner.  My mom was making corned beef and cabbage.  I was so looking forward to it!  Well... wouldn't you know that I would get sick on St. Patrick's Day?  I could have went ahead and gone to my parents' for dinner but, I didn't want them to catch my cold.  It was miserable being so sick! My sweet husband drove me around our small town trying to find a restaurant serving corned beef and cabbage, but we had no luck!  We ended up at our local A&W restaurant, ... which was good, ... but it wasn't corned...