Friday Five: Bon Appetit!

How fortuitous that this week's Friday Five deals with one of my very favorite things...food!

1. If you were a food, what would you be?
Prime rib -- full of fat and cholesterol, but worth the risk to get to know me.

2.What is one of the most memorable meals you ever had? And where?
I've had many, in various contexts. But I think one of the neatest meals I've ever had was in a church basement in Toronto, back when I was in college. Our church folk group had gone to play at the parish of our director's brother, who pastored an amazingly diverse congregation there. We hadn't expected the congregation to feed us, but they served up a groaning board of dishes from all over the world -- everything from hot German potato salad to Caribbean curry from Jamaica. That was cool.

3. What is your favorite comfort food from childhood?
When I was sick, my favorite comfort meal was tomato soup with a toasted cheese sandwich. Otherwise, one of my favorite "feels like home" meals was my mom's smothered chicken -- she'd flour and season the chicken, then brown it, then put it in a roaster with chopped onion and pour a little water over it, then bake it in the oven. This recipe makes the most delicious gravy; it's essential to serve it with mashed potatoes. This was a popular haying-season dish when one of my great-uncles or neighbor kids came over to help.

When going to a church potluck, what one recipe from your kitchen is sure to be a hit?
We have a sauerkraut, white bean and kielbasa dish -- you add some onion and a little ketchup to it, and that's pretty much it; FT and I had this at a party and scored the recipe for it -- that was a hit at one of our church potlucks; our church folks are a sauerkraut- and sausage-loving people. If I ever got up the energy to replicate my mom's labor-intensive hot potato salad, that would probably be a hit as well.

What’s the strangest thing you ever willingly ate?
I seem to recall recently sharing with you all my barbecued-beaver-on-a-bun story, from a family reunion many years ago; I didn't know that's what it was before I made myself a sandwich, but I did finish the sandwich after my father told me what I was eating. Earlier in my life, when I was but a toddling LutheranChik, my mother once caught me outside chewing on a hunk of shelf fungus I'd pulled from a stump in the yard; I explained that I wanted to be like Alice in Wonderland, and grow larger and smaller at will.

Bonus question: What’s your favorite drink to order when looking forward to a great meal?
We're muchly into Michigan wines around here, although we tend to look to the Land Down Under for red wines. On hot summer days, brewed iced tea -- unsweetened, thank you! -- is just the ticket for light, picnic-y meals. And -- gotta have a good cup of coffee with dessert, or with a great breakfast.