My first "Taste Memory"

As a chef I always think of my first true "taste memory" when looking to where all this passion for food started. I was twelve and staying with my Aunt Virginia and her family in Mercer Island, Washington outside Seattle. I was quite a headstrong boy and thought I knew everything but my trip to Washington changed me forever.

My Aunt Virginia was perhaps the best gourmet cook I have ever known! Every single meal in her house was absolutely from scratch. My first true memory of her wonderful food was from helping her make (2) strawberry & rhubarb pie’s in which I got to slice the fresh strawberries and rhubarb while she made the crust. The assembly was fairly simple but the flavors it produced where amazing! While the pie's baked we made homemade vanilla ice cream that would go on the pie. With the wonderful aroma of the pie lofting through the house she sat me down and explained to me how these recipes where from my grandmother who was a great cook in her own right!

When she took the pies out of the oven they looked and smelled simply amazing with this picture perfect lattice crust that held the beautiful pie underneath. She placed one on the counter and the other on the kitchen table explaining that one was for the family however this was ours to “sample”! To this day I can taste that "fresh from the oven" pie with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream!
My Aunt Virginia passed away this spring at the age of 84 and my first recollection was that pie as well as all the wonderful food I experienced in her kitchen that summer. She once told me she was proud that I loved to cook and looked forward to eating in my restaurant someday.

I truly believe she will be with me in spirit when the doors open to my restaurant……and in her honor Strawberry Rhubarb pie WILL be on the dessert menu!