Coffee Warm Ups

During the Physical Space show, I gave people the opportunity to write about their relationship to specific types of edible materials. One of them was coffee. I got some great responses from participants, from the good to the bad: “Thank you lord”, “smells good, tastes aight”, “poop”. They also had an opportunity to ingest the substance, as I made cookies laced with the grounds.

It is an interesting substance for me, as I love the way it smells…hate the way it tastes. Well, that’s not true. I just don’t like black coffee in liquid form. I know I will make the die-hards cringe when I say this, but I think it is just the essence I like, as I love coffee flavored candy, espresso soaked lady fingers and coffee ice cream. This is probably why the cookies I made for the Physical Space show are a perfect use of the stuff in my opinion.

Coffee also has an interesting ability, for those who love it or hate it to create lasting memories, whether it is of the actual drink or to the whole ritual surrounding it. More coffee responses included things like “study time” or “mornin’!” as well as the more in depth relationship of “early morning wake ups and long bow watches at the boat house” and “I realize that I miss my country, France so much”. Who knew such a ubiquitous substance could elicit such bittersweet responses.

The cookies I shared with participants at the Physical Space Show are called Coffee Warm Ups, so called from an aural mistake by my husband (“no I said walnuts, not warm ups…”). They are made from a combination of two different memories: one on coffee, one on walnuts. Both of these memories were collected prior to the show at Mildred's Lane. This recipe was used in the first food memory dinner there and is much like a shortbread cookie. It was created out of common sense (coffee and walnuts would make a wonderful combination in a dessert) and a fair amount of research. It is an adaptation of a recipe by Alice Medrich.

Coffee Warm Ups

2 cups flour

1 cup walnuts

¾ cups sugar

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp coffee, ground

1 ¾ sticks butter, softened

1 tbsp + 1 tsp apple cider

1 ½ tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°

In a large food processor*, mix the flour, walnuts, sugar and salt. Pulse till combined. Add in coffee and butter and pulse till crumbly. Add apple juice and vanilla and pulse till it starts to form a dough ball. Remove from food processor and place on a well-floured surface. Kneed dough a few times till it sticks together better. It still will be crumbly. Place on a piece of waxed paper and roll into a log about 1 ½- 2” in diameter. Refrigerate for at least 2 hrs. Cut into ¼ slices and place on baking sheet about 1” apart. Bake for about 12-15 min. Makes about 4-6 doz.

*Yes, you can do this with out a food processor. You can chop and mix by hand. The ingredients will just be less finely ground and mixed unless you have righteous knife skills and buff arms

Day One

My family history is largely recorded in food, more specifically, meals we’ve shared. Shared meals times are peppered with conversations about meals we’ve shared before, meals we’d like to share in the future. As I think back on my own personal history, I can see memories that are bound to the smells, tastes and images of places that I have been, people I have shared experiences with and the hope of reliving those experiences some day again.

Take, for instance, the apple tea that I am brewing for my performance today. It is a recipe I designed based on a trip that I took to Poland with my family over 12 years ago. We stayed with a friend of the family. Every day they would make this cold, fruit-based drink that was really light and not super sweet. I finally got the lady of the house to show me how she made it and it was literally steeped fruit, usually fresh or dried apples and plums which were then cooled and drank like juice. Today's tea isn't exactly the same thing, but it makes me think of that place every time I make it. And making it for me doesn’t just re-create the memory of that tea, it re-creates my memory for the whole house, even the way southern Poland felt and looked.

What We Remember is an investigation into the role that food plays in creating our memories. The sensory experience we have in relation to food plays an important part in creating and recreating our memories. The way food smells, tastes, looks, the way it feels or sounds when we are planting, harvesting, buying or cooking it has an amazing ability to help us live and re-live our memories when those sights, smells or sounds happen again.

This blog will serve as a repository for the memories that I have collected as well as a place for me to work through those memories. Each story goes through a careful sifting and winnowing process. Gleaning ingredients and sensory experiences from these stories, I will be reconfiguring them into new recipes for me and you to try. My aim is to find a different way to look at food and the way it is consumed.

Ultimately I will share these recipes and the associated memories with others at food memory dinners conducted several times a year. Members of the collection are invited to the dinners as a chance to meet with other members, share their memories and create community in a different way.

Thanks for visiting and stop back soon as I continue to write about the process, the memories I collect and the recipes that are created or embellished.