food memories of my youth...

i grew up in southwestern connecticut and spent my summers alternately in cape cod and rowayton. my parents were avid sailors so we owned (sometimes) multiple sailboats (catamarans) at once. my brothers sailed too. and me? well, i was a bathing beauty and an all around cutie pie, winning over our fellow beach club members.

roton point was where i learned to swim, where i was hit by the rock that resulted in my first experience with stitches, and where i have my first real food memories.

each night, after a day of sun, we would dress a little warmer and wait for dusk, looking out over the auburn hued water, as the fireflies made their way into the night air. dad would fire up the hibachi, and mom would prepare salade nicoise (it is only now that i realize how 'french chef' that is - all i cared about then was getting to those juicy bits of green beans, eggs, and flaked tuna - yum). the adults (all fairly raucous sailors - holdover hippies really as this was the early seventies) drank their dubonnet on ice in plastic tumblers and the kids had...well, i just don't know what we drank. but i do know what we ate before dinner.

does anyone remember this?


ahhhh port wine cheese spread. cheesy enough for a kid, but with a kick of port to make you think you are being deviant. i don't know if it was this brand, but it sure looks the same. sure i've moved on to affinoise as my cheese of choice, but there is something so satisfying about the bite of this cheese, even now. i keep a container of this in my fridge. my husband doesn't get it, but all i need to do is show it to my mom and i get a nod of approval.

to this day, the sight of port wine cheese sends me back to that little run down beach haven on the long island sound. when i have my bad days, if i'm missing my mum, or feeling down, a slathering of this on a cracker just somehow brings me....up.