Working on a Car, but my Son Remembers the Food

It was 4-years ago on this very day that my youngest son Noah and I rented an engine hoist to remove the 289-V8 out of our 1965 Mustang father & son project. Although the body of this car had no rust whatsoever, the rest of the car pretty much needed a complete rebuilding from ground up. Now you're probably wondering why I, as a Chef, am writing about this in my food blog... well, like the title of my blog states, this is not just about food or cooking, but about life too... and in this case it IS about food, just keep reading.

He remembers this day very well. It was a special day for just dad and son to hang out together in the garage all day. My oldest children do not live in our house, my youngest daughter was at daycare for the day, and my wife was at work. Just me & Noah. One of the things that he liked the most about this day is that I let him choose what we were going to eat for lunch in the garage as we worked on the car. I told him he could choose anything he wanted and I would make it happen. He thought about it for a short time and says to me "I want us to eat chunks of ham off of knives just like pirates would, and drink root beer!" I chuckled, but honoured his wishes of this lunch choice - with my wife's recommendation that we include a vegetable too... which, by the way, we ate off of knives as well.

Whenever we talk about this particular day, the thing he remembers most is that lunch. He brings it up regularly. Food is life, quite literally because we need it to survive, but food is also life in the sense that it brings people together and helps to celebrate relationships that we cherish so much. For example, can you imagine a birthday party without a cake? Or what about a holiday celebration like Thanksgiving or Christmas without a feast? No, I can't either. Eating in itself is a celebration of the senses as well as nourishment, and so we remember these times so vividly - especially when that food is connected to a special time or occasion.

I could have easily just said to Noah that we will break for lunch and come inside and have something that we would normally have. Instead gave him the choice and thus created a wonderful memory.

What can you do today with food (or drink for that matter) to create a wonderful memory for someone? It could be just as simple as treating someone to a coffee, or as elaborate as surprising a loved one with their favorite homemade meal, or anything in between. Every day is full of choices in every aspect, and I know food is always one of those choices, at least 3 times per day. ;)

How's the car project coming along, you ask? Well, to make a long story short, we figured it would have been about 15 to 20 years before we ever got it done and a lot of that work was way over our heads, so we sold it and got a new project car (our decision together) that was at least drivable - a 1965 Pontiac Parisienne Custom Sport. This way we could take her out on drives while we were working on her. That switch in project cars started us on a very slippery path however, as it then lead us to getting a 1949 Chevy Pickup, and then into our current muscle car - a 1967 Barracuda, which we still work on together.

Anyway, think about your food choices today, and think about the people in your life. How can you make a difference to someone on this very day?

Until next time... Happy Cooking!