Tastebud Memories

It never ceases to amaze me how powerfully the senses of taste and smell are connected to our memories. I think that must be why we turn to favorite recipes from childhood - especially around the holidays - those little mouthfuls of memories that take us back to the magic of the season as it was when we were young.

In our house my hubby was the baking fanatic this year - I managed to crank out a batch of my favorite butter crescents (or moon cookies -as the Munchkin called them), but other than a big gingerbread cookie (BIG pan - one BIG cookie) I just stood back and out of the way as hubby made Russian Tea Cakes, Cutouts, and super yummy decadent truffles.

So why the picture of the big pretzels? Well -it was not exactly a Christmas memory - but these big puffy soft hot pretzels brought back memories of my own childhood attempt at pretzels, straight out of Cricket Magazine - of which I was an avid reader. I still have them all - from Volume I Issue I on up for about 5 years. I am saving them to share with the Munchkin when he is old enough - and I hope that he finds as much enjoyment in them as I did.

Who needs 1.21 gigawatts of electricity for time travel -just stock up the fridge, fire up the oven, pull a book off the bookcase - and away we go!