By Greg
This post relates to the Menu Diaries series. If you aren’t familiar with the series, a good place to start would be here.
Some Feedback
The other day I was talking to a friend who likes the TrennaMahney.com website. I asked for some feedback, and this is what she said.
“I love all the stories about what Tren got up to – there’s lots of stuff I didn’t know. I don’t read those Menu things though… I’m not really into food all that much”.
Well, I thought, that’s fair enough, not everyone is going to like everything. And Trenna and I would be the last people to try to tell you what to read….
BUT, I would like you to make a well informed decision, because the Menu Diary series is a LOT more than just a list of meals.
What The Menu Diaries Really Are
As you would have seen Trenna recorded most evening meals that we had, along with a pithy, Trenna-esque comment on each meal. What I’m doing is making my own comments based on the entries Trenna has made.
As I go through them I am cross checking my own work diary, my own memory and using other sources to put together what was happening in our lives at the time.
As I do it many, many stories and anecdotes are coming back to me. A few of these will eventually end up as posts in their own right, but for the most part I am telling those stories right there in the Menu Diary posts.
So in any Menu Diary post you are very likely to come across a range of stories, photos of the exact times we are talking about, my reminiscences about life in that period, and often recipes we would have cooked then, or in some cases updated versions of those recipes.
There is a lot of territory covered.
More Importantly (I Reckon)
But there is also another reason I think it is worthwhile reading the Menu Diary series. Food preparation, cooking, menu planning, eating and reviewing what we thought was really central to the second half of Trenna’s life. Central to her life.
To her it REALLY mattered what we ate. It was important that she looked after our health by giving us nutritious and varied meals. She believed in the joy that a meal, carefully prepared and served, could bring.
And, I am sure that she believed that preparing delicious, nutritious meals for me was an act of true love.
And it was.
Trenna was a complicated individual, but if you can get a grasp on her relationship to meals you will go a long way towards understanding this fascinating woman.
If you need to go back and catch up on the Menu Diaries, you can start here.