Yesterday I broke down and bought a Snapple iced tea from a vending machine. One sip in the car and the taste brought me back to my sophomore year of college in DC. Drinking the iced tea brought back memories of walking around DC and studying/gazing out the window at the same wooden table in a mulitstory library. I haven't thought about those things in years. 4 kids will do that I guess.

It's funny how food does that. A particular taste can bring you back in time. A good plate of chicken or beef chow fun brings me back to my best friend's family's kitchen in San Francisco. It's steamy warmth and greasy noodles take me right back to their round white formica table that we crowded around for after school snacks and dinners. I can see her mom taking business calls right next to us, switching back and forth between english and chinese in a single conversation. Here's the funny thing about chow fun...I only recall eating it one time there before my family moved from San Francisco to DC. Somehow that one meal was enough to color my memories in a distinctly grey San Francisco hue.