Sunday, December 2, 2007

If Only I Could Have My Cake and Eat It Too


Isn't that how the saying goes "If I could only have my cake and eat it too" or "You always want what you can't have" perhaps "The grass is always greener on the other side". These sayings very much apply to my world of food.

I have lived in 8 different locations over the last 16 years. There are many culinary items only indigenous or readily available in those particular areas. Yes, of course with the age of the internet and federal express and dry ice you can get most any item (for a cost) shipped to your home. Missing a local restaurant is a total other ball game.......you can't just have a ravioli dinner shipped to you, it is not the same.

I grew up in NW PA. I will never forget my first move to CA in 1992 and my first snack food shock. Back in PA about 45 minutes from where I grew up was a potato chip factory.....Troyer Farms. I grew up on Troyer Farm's chips. I thought everyone in the world ate Troyer Farms Chips, being the naive 21 year old I was. I enter the local Safeway in Monterey, CA ready to load up on a salty bag of potato bliss and there are NO Troyer Farms Chips. How could this be???? And so on and so forth the story begins:

I miss: Troyer Farms chips from NW PA, Valerios Restaurant in Erie, Pa (pepperoni balls and wedding soup), I mix Ox Roast from Greenburgs, I miss Rachels restaurant in Grove City (deep fried soft pretzels and bean soup), I miss Wegmans roast beef subs, I miss Carpino's restaurant in Apple Valley, CA (kudos to the rosemary focaccia, ravioli w/meat sauce, antipasto salad w/mortadela and the princess cake and cannolis), I miss the tamales at Marias in CA, I miss my CA Pizza kitchen (although it is a chain restaurant I have NEVER had a bad meal there), I miss my salmon sandwhich on focaccia bread w/bacon, onion and roasted red pepper at Upstream in Omaha. I could go on and on. I know most people refer back to their travels or prior places of residence with things they have seen and people they have met ,but this food obsessed blogger tracks her travels by all the wonderful foods I encounter and all the yummy places I have the priviledge of dining. I love that I have seen our wonderful country from one coast to the other and most places in between, I will remember a good meal before I will remember your name if our paths cross in the night.

It is a sad day when that craving strikes my taste buds (like a pregnant woman that can't get her ice cream and pickles) and I can't run down to CPK and get my favorite brick oven pizza. I am excited to start trying all the new local joints in Little Rock and finding a favorite to miss once we are transferred again. Loco Luna your cheese dip is amazing and Bruno's of Little Italy......OH MY GOSH YUM and I can't forget the Whole Hog ---they made me fall in love with BBQ all over. And I can't forget McAllisters Iced Tea.....our friends call it "crack", you definately can't go a day without it and who wants a wife w/the shakes, sweats and bitches???

I am grateful for this life I live and lead and for the wonderful family that I have. Food is truly a blessing and no one should go hungry at the end of the day.

2 comments:

Dennis Weed said...

Have you been out of the area so long you've forgotten about Smith’s Hot Dogs?

Obsessive Foodie or Food Addict....You Decide said...

LOL, ya know, I have had smiths hot dogs but if I had to choose between smith's and portillo's in Chi-town (Chicago), I am going with portillo's everytime. I eat hotdogs maybe twice a year and when I do I buy Hebrew National. Why? You might ask yourself....I figure the Rabbi blesses the worms so you can't go wrong there.