Dairy Nostalgia

June 26, 2012 — childhood, dairy, food city, grilled cheese, Kay's Ice Cream, memories, milk, National Dairy Month, nostalgia, Oreos, power shopper, tomato soup

There’s something about a big bowl of ice cream, a warm gooey grilled cheese and a tall glass of ice cold milk that sends a delicious thrill through my bones and makes me remember good times of the past. I call this my Dairy Nostalgia, because each time I see one of these items, I can’t help but take a moment and think back to times when my friends and I were drinking milk to try to make our bones grow that extra inch or consoling ourselves after a scratch on the knee with a scoop of our favorite ice cream.

I seemed to be having a lot of these moments of nostalgia recently, and then I heard it was National Dairy Month–who knew! Maybe this is a sign that I need to revisit my dairy-associated memories…

Milk and Oreos

My mother made us drink milk with dinner every night growing up to make our bones strong, but the real treat was at the end of dinner when my mother would let us have two Oreos to dip in the rest of our milk. My uncle was the first person to teach me the art of Oreo-dunking and thinking of his instructions on how to get as much of the Oreo in the milk as possible without submerging my fingers, still makes me laugh. Since then, thanks to the Internet, you can find many unique ways to dunk an Oreo in milk. This is one of my favorites: The Cleanest Way To Dunk An Oreo

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Whenever I got sick as a child, I would stay home with my mom and we would watch soap operas, read magazines, paint our nails and take naps. But one thing that always made me feel better was a mom-made grilled cheese sandwich and some tomato soup! Thinking back to these moments, it’s a wonder I didn’t try to stay home “sick” from school more often–but that’s probably what made staying home even more special. The old fashioned grilled cheese sandwich might not sound like much anymore (compared to the ones with bacon, pesto, spinach and more that’s on them nowadays), but it is one of my fondest memories of being a kid. I now make these same grilled cheese sandwiches for my children, passing along this nostalgic tradition. Go back to basics with this grilled cheese recipe: Your Basic Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Kay’s Ice Cream

Growing up, I would go to stay with my grandparents all the time in the summer, and one of my favorite memories is when they would take me to get Kay’s Ice Cream at the store down the road. I would always begin salivating as soon as I saw that giant ice cream cone in the distance, knowing that I was about to indulge in my favorite summertime treat. Now that I’m older and my grandparents aren’t around to take me to get Kay’s Ice Cream anymore, I can still enjoy it because it’s sold at Food City! And my kids now love it too

What are your favorite food memories?

-Lorrie Stewart, Power Shopper