Try something new. Wait, I’ve had this before …

I’ve been working out and changing the way I eat. No really, I have. I even treated myself to a personal trainer on my birthday. And she guides me with nutrition too. But this post isn’t about how fabulous I am doing or how hot I am going to look … Ha.

It’s about me sharing how trying new things can bring back fond memories.

My trainer suggested that I eat a grapefruit or orange everyday. They are belly fat reducer foods … Or something like that. I was avoiding eating the grapefruit because I thought I wouldn’t like it.

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The first one I peeled like an orange and sure enough I didn’t like it. I couldn’t get to the juiciest part of the flesh. The next one I cut in half and scooped it out with a spoon. What happened next was pretty amazing … It took me back to my childhood when I would eat these with my mom. Just like that … Cut in half and eat with a spoon, y un poquito sal por favor. I think maybe that was the grapefruit diet fad. Or she just really liked them?! I didn’t ask but admittedly I texted her to make sure the memories were real. Sure enough, I was right (that happens sometimes)! The memory of being with her and having a grapefruit just made me smile.

Yep,m I love how God stores those memories for you and brings them right back … I posted before about how I knew this about memory and sense of smell. I hadn’t experienced it with taste.

Changing my eating habits led me to making soup in 102 degree weather … In August … In Texas. Crazy? Yes. I’m working on eating fresh, healthy foods and my son has many, many food allergies and this soup was a match! Chickpea and spinach soup. A variation from Bethenny Frankel’s White Bean and Spinach Soup. (whose book: The Skinnygirl Dish will make you want to stay in your kitchen! … And cook) The soup was refreshingly easy to make and To.Die. For. Delicious! And totally worth the warmth.

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I sit down and get half way through my bowl and to my surprise, decade-old memories of sitting at a different table rush over me. The recipe wasn’t the same but the flavors must have been just the right mixture to send my memory back to college sitting somewhere eating, chatting and laughing with my friend Jessica … This time the memory of the exact place isn’t so clear but sharing that time with her is. Amazingly, I don’t think I’ve seen her since.

Do you cook something or eat something in particular just because of the memories the taste holds?