Family Friends & Food | What Else is There?

Raise Your Glass

A toast to “Family, Friends, and Food”, Webster’s Dictionary defines it as; a few words of welcome, congratulations, etc. uttered immediately before drinking to a person, event, etc. My definition is simply “Ed Douglass”.

Who is Ed Douglass, you ask?! Ed Douglass is my friend….one of my very best friends. For the past 25 years, every breakfast, lunch, dinner…hell even an afternoon snack that I have shared with Ed, without fail, he would raise his glass and four words would be spoken….”Family, Friends, and Food”.

Every time these words are spoken, even as I write this, I think about my childhood, my adolescence, my young adulthood, my middle age…I like to think of myself as middle age anyway, and yes even my fast approaching senior years, I think about all the wonderful times I have shared with my family, my friends, and all the amazingly delicious food and some not so amazing, that are a part of those memories.

I will write more about my culinary journey through life. I’ll mention my mother’s incredibly delicious chop suey…from an Irish Catholic no less – go figure! I will talk about my Aunt Loretta’s lemon squares, Aunt Mare’s pierogies and my grandmothers Sunday dinners that would serve 50 of her closest family and friends. I will write about the importance of sitting together and sharing a meal. How in that simple act it fosters love, understanding, and an opportunity to stay connected to one another.

So I ask you to share with me your stories, your memories of family meals, family traditions, meals with friends, acquaintances, even total strangers. Share with me your favorite recipes, your favorite restaurant, and your fondest memories of your life!

Now…more than ever…we all need each other. So in the words of Ed Douglass…I raise my glass and say to you “Family, Friends, and Food – What else is there”.

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