Bread class...and a familiar smell

This weekend I helped with bread class.  Naan, fugase, mulitgrain, olive bread, blue cheese, apple and walnut bread, fig and hazelnut bread, potato rosemary, and ciabatta.  I always love to see people get excited when something they made actually turns out. So, other than that it was a kind of quiet weekend.  Tonight when I got home from class, we fired up the grill and Dan cooked hamburgers.  Just the way I like it, crispy on the outside, cheese, tomato, ketchup, sliced onions and just a swipe of mayonaise.  If only it would have been a "fresh from the garden" tomato, then it would have been a true, full on summertime meal.  Friday night I made Chop Suey.  My grandma's recipe.  It's not really much of a recipe, but it's one of those meals, that the very smell of it sends my mind back to everytime we sat at her table and ate it.  She didn't make it often, maybe one or two times a year.  She had this certain rectangular, metal pan that she would pour the chow mein noodles in and toast in the oven, I can still see it ...in fact, somewhere in a box, I think I have that pan.  I am ALWAYS amazed at the power of food and how the taste or smell or sight of it can transport us to another place.  I think that's why I enjoy seeing people's eyes light up when they are proud of something they created.  I know that they will take that new found knowldege and make delicious and beautiful things for their family and friends... and  the cycle of food sparking memories will continue...just as it should.