Pancake Pie from Last July

Hello to fellow bloggers or readers or whoever the type of lovely people you may be! :)

I decided to post this blog because I have been thinking about food (big surprise) and how it affects all of us. Some of my other blogs involve the same topic, but of course I like to introduce different aspects or discoveries one might make of it.

I was just eating a dessert I made, which is basically a giant pancake with berry compote on top...There's no fancy name for it, but I guess for now I'll just call it the Pancake Pie.

Anyway, while I was eating this ravishing treat, I thought about the senses I was experiencing when I last ate it--the sounds, smells, tastes (well obviously, it was the same taste), but also what I was feeling at the time. I started diving into some memory that I pulled out of my brain from last year's July, when I made the Pancake Pie for my entire family (my uncle, his lovely wife, their baby and my grandma came over too; my relatives are always the life of the party!). I remember it was a calm (so calm that I wished it would never end) night after an entire bright day of almost suffering from 80 degree sunny weather, so each bite out of that pastry deliciousness cooled every inch of me down to mere satisfaction.

We actually didn't get to finish the Pie together, because 10pm struck and my relatives wanted to go home for their night's rest (perhaps out of being drained from the hot weather...By the way, I think if a person from Florida were typing this blog they wouldn't have emphasized the hotness of the weather the way I am!). My dad, brother and sister decided to hit the sack too, so they bid my mom and I good night and went off to sleep.

My mom, as always, was working on her laptop and refused the idea of going to sleep, the way a person refuses to eat a cookie after a rigorous workout. "Not yet Shirene," she murmurs, after I try to convince her to take her red eyes off the laptop!, "...and I just poured myself a cup of coffee to keep me awake" she slowly and tiredly adds XD. (But don't worry, she has been going to bed a little earlier and isn't on the laptop so much lately.)

But I decided to stay up too, though not for as good of a reason as my mom...I stayed up late to watch TV (specifically, to watch a new episode of one of my favorite shows, Being Erica). And because no one finished the Pancake Pie, I felt free and careless enough about my diet to grab the pan and eat the entire rest of the dessert! ...It was nothing but gratification because no thoughts of any nauseousness or excruciating guilt I might feel the next morning entered my mind--All that my brain cells concentrated on was the bursts of flavor that came out of each chew I had of the berries and the fluffy texture-y pancake. :)

Mmmmm, now I feel like grabbing another slice of my newly-made Pie that's sitting next to me!

This entire memory was what I thought of for literally 10 minutes, as I was eating today's Pancake Pie and my family and I were listening to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack (the one from the new movie version by the way ;) ...I'm a big Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep fan!). And while remembering the smells of the deep night summer air that swiftly entered the living room from the open window; and as I recalled the dim lights spreading throughout the dark room (save for the brightness of the TV) and illuminating my devoured Pancake Pie at different yet striking angles, the sounds of the soundtrack music and my family's chatter drained out of my ears and seemed almost nonexistent. I felt like I was being transported back in time, all because of taking bites out of my dessert.

Until now, I never really thought about the impacts (in this case, the emotional ones) of eating a food that reminds you of memories of the past. Whether those memories may be uplifting or disturbing, the food can act so powerfully that you can never look at it the same again after you have realized its potential.

In this case, I was able to re-experience one of the most relaxed and fulfilling (not just because of how full and satisfied I felt by eating the dessert...It was of course also because of the talks and laughs I had with my family while sitting around the dinner table eating our meal together :) ) times of my life.

I almost hoped that I would go through the same exact memory again sometime this summer, but that's just asking for someone to press the repeat button. It would actually be boring, for if it happened, I'd miss out on all the other exciting, food-related memories I could create in the future.

Today (or tomorrow, if you end up reading this blog late at night or if you have already brushed your teeth!), eat a food that reminds you of a happy time in your life, a food that makes you want to go through that image all over again. But then also think of a way you could use that same food to make a new and equally wonderful memory with (like inviting your friends over for dinner for example). :)

Bean out.