In search of some inspiration for today's Slice of Life post, I turned to Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. I thought about writing an encyclopedia entry, but as I was paging through this familiar book, I noticed that she includes many tables in her writing - sources that I had never considered emulating before.
Below is a table called “What My Childhood Tasted Like” (on page 59 of my paperback of Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life). It is a simple T-Chart. On the left hand side is the item from her childhood and the right hand side is ARK's notes about it.
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| AKR's Taste of Childhood Table |
I immediately found myself thinking about my childhood tastes and got to work making my own childhood taste table.
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| Trina's Taste of Childhood table |
(Note: I couldn't figure out how to properly include a chart on Blogger without distorting the words, so here is a link to my full chart of childhood tastes.)
I think about food probably a lot more than I should, but I hadn't thought about writing about food in this way before. Creating this chart conjured so many fond memories, and I could easily elaborate on just one of these ideas in a poem or short story. I found it to be a playful way to come up with new seed ideas to write about.
Encyclopedia of an Irdinary Life is one of my favorite books for funding writing ideas. I need to buy a new copy; I gave mine to a student last year. Anyway, I’m now thinking about foods I ate as a child. I think I have a chart in a notebook somewhere. We did eat a lot of creamed corn. I don’t think I’d like the graham cracker mash. I know I don’t like venison, but I’m not a big beef eater either.
ReplyDeleteLOL! It's my second copy as well. I have no idea who has my first-student or colleague!
DeleteI don't really enjoy venison or meat now...however, I know that my parents had very little money to work with and my mom did all she could to provide healthy meals. I really appreciate this now.
Oh, what a great idea! I love Rosenthal's book....full of inspiration. Ha! The 7UP cure. I know that one all too well. It was a favorite of my grandmother.
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mind, I'm going to pin this to my board of writing ideas. This might just come in handy before the month is over in which case, I'll give you and Amy credit.
Yes! The 7up cure! And I've found that sometimes I give this to my children too!
DeleteYes, please post to your padlet! I'm in awe of how supportive this community is!
Food and memories go together, and your memories are so unique. AKR is such a great mentor, forever.
ReplyDeleteShe is! I am still sad that she is gone.
DeleteA memory of taste brings stories to share. I think my hubby would like the graham cracker mash, he would add some jam instead of sugar.
ReplyDeleteYes! I think taste helps us build strong memories!
DeleteI just discovered Rosenthal thanks to this community. LOVE HER. And I love this post and the memories you evoke. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love all of her books.
DeleteLove food talk and this is a wonderful slice. Kringle ❤️
ReplyDeleteThank you! Kringle IS the best!
DeleteI have seen this idea floating around this month. Tastes, smells and song are my biggest memory makers! I have the same memory of 7Up too! Yuck!
ReplyDelete