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Our office is a motley crew with myriad accents and hometowns, but our summer food memories are all sweet and ripe with nostalgia. Here’s what we still taste from our summers growing up…
Julian Belvedere, Account Executive: “Spinning the wheel of fifty flavors at an ice cream parlor in San Francisco’s Sunset neighborhood. If I felt adventurous, I’d ask them to spin the wheel.”
Lindsay Bowerman, Sales Support: “Walking to the general store with my grandparents in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where they’d buy me a chocolate ice cream in a cookie cone with rainbow sprinkles.”
Graelyn Brashear, News Editor: “Picking fresh peaches from our trees in Crozet or gathering wild wineberries—my mom would toss them in a casserole dish and top them with a simple, sweet biscuit mix.”
Todd Cutruzzula, Account Executive: “Cooking fresh peppers, onions, and homemade sausage on the grill with my grandfather in Pittsburgh. They made the best sandwiches ever.”
Randi Henry, Account Manager: “Walking to the Downtown Mall with my cousins, where we we’d go to the Hardware Store and buy a huge jawbreaker for a quarter. At home, we’d take a hammer to it for all of us to share.”
Jane Hammel, Account Executive: “Growing up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, eating my mom’s ice cube tray orange juice popsicles.”
Megan J. Headley, Food and Wine Editor: “Swimming in the ocean at the Outer Banks and then eating Nutter Butters that were cold from being in the cooler.”
Tami Keaveny, Arts Editor: “Helping out at my grandparents farm in Massachusetts picking tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn to sell at their farm stand. My Gram would slice fresh, ripe beefsteak tomatoes onto toast with mayo for lunch.”
Lian LaRussa, Graphic Designer: “Getting a lemon or cherry Italian ice from my cousins’ bakery in Marlboro, New York. Haven’t found anything like it since.”
Beth McLaughlin, Account Executive: “I grew up in Lewisburg, West Virginia, and would beg my dad to take us to Dairy Queen after supper every single night for a nut cone. Nine times out of ten he said no, so that ice cream cone was a fairly huge deal.”
Bill LeSueur, Art Director: “My mom made sweet pickles in an antique crock, soaking them for days. I still steal them from the pantry shelf in the basement.”
Debbie Miller, Controller: “Spending the day climbing the sand dunes near Lake Michigan, then going to The Whippy Dip for some huge hot fudge sundaes.”
Giles Morris, Editor in Chief: “Going to this hole-in-the-wall bakery on Wisconsin Avenue in D.C. for glazed donuts that were gummy almost, not airy, but without that chemical taste you get with some doughnuts. If you got more than you could eat, they’d be inedibly stale the next morning, but you could never resist trying.”
Chip Sawyer, Account Executive: “Walking my dog to the gas station in Albany, Kentucky with two quarters and getting a Yoo-Hoo and a pack of peanuts from the vending machine and then dumping the peanuts in the Yoo-Hoo.”
Susan Sorensen, Copy Editor: “After a day at Lake Independence in Maple Plain, Minnesota, my brothers and I would pile into my mom’s red Chevrolet Impala and head for the A&W drive-in restaurant for root beer floats.”
Ashley Sult, Classified Manager: “Walking to the local fast food place in Kingsport, Tennessee for a rich, chocolate milkshake and then sitting by the city pool.”
Caite White, Managing Editor: “Eating watermelon in my bathing suit every night with my grandfather on my grandparents’ back porch in Mayland, Virginia. He’d put a little salt on it, which is still how I like to eat it.”