52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #5: Food

This is the fifth challenge in a weekly series from GeneaBloggers called 52 weeks of personal genealogy history.

Week 5: Favorite Food. What was your favorite food from childhood? If it was homemade, who made it? What was in this dish, and why was it your favorite? What is your favorite dish now?

My Dad with a large Wahoo

One of my favorite foods growing up was fresh Florida seafood, including shrimp, Florida lobster, and fish. My Dad used to go deep sea fishing and often came home with a good catch. He's shown here with a prize Wahoo which bested his friend's catch on the left. My Dad and his friends shared their catches, so we often had a freezer full of fish and lobster. Good times!

Paella

While it's hard to beat shrimp or fresh grilled fish, the ultimate seafood dish in our family was Paella. My parents went to a Paella party when I was a teenager and a new family tradition was born. Paella has a bit of everything in it: Fish, shrimp, scallops, chicken, pork, chorizo sausage, rice, and veggies. Ours was always topped with lobster tails. My Dad was the main chef and this dish was usually reserved for big family gatherings. It's still a favorite dish!

Of course, we didn't always have seafood on hand! Other faves were my Mom's home cooked meals and all of her baked goodies like cupcakes, brownies, cookies and Key Lime pie. We had a Key Lime tree in our backyard and she tried out all different kinds of Key Lime pie recipes, but my favorite was and still is the original custard pie in a graham cracker crust with meringue on top.