Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Food Mood

With Thanksgiving coming up, let's talk about food, shall we?

Things I Believe About Food
(Caveat: I know some of this is totally irrational. But if you wanted rationality, you wouldn't be reading this blog right? This is the blog where I talk about my Celine Dion nightmares and argue about the difference between pajamas and leisure pants, after all.) So here we go.

1. I grew up in a house where I seldom ate the same thing for dinner twice in a row, ever. It was all about variety in our house. To this day, eating the same food twice in a row (pizza? AGAIN???) seems wrong to me. I am always amazed at people who can make a huge batch of something and eat it all week. I am a very non-monogamous eater.

2. Oh, you know what? BioGirl has a friend who knows Doris Day. IN PERSON. FOR REAL. I adore Doris Day so being two degrees of separation away from her is more than I can BEAR. This totally has nothing to do with food but I just thought about it and it was so thrilling that I had to tell you. Ok. Moving on.

3. Processed, packaged food was doled out very sporadically in my childhood house. This has had some strange repercussions. Like, the only time we ever had pop in the house was when we were sick (7-Up for a yucky tummy) or on holidays. My parents would serve us Faygo Red-pop (that reference is for all you Michiganders out there) in wine glasses to make us feel all grown up on Thanksgiving and birthdays. And we could have a Coke when we went out to this Chinese restaurant in our town, which was like, maybe twice a year. Even now, I like Coke with Chinese food but hardly ever any other time, and I think of red soda as a Very Fancy Beverage, akin to a nice Merlot.

4. The lack of packaged food also had the result of me coveting certain things as if they were gold in my youth. I had an aunt that didn't have anything against packaged food and I would go to her house and gorge myself on frozen pizza and Keebler Fudgestripes until I was blue in the face. It was awesome and felt so SPECIAL. To this day, sometimes I walk by Funyons in the grocery store and stop and go "wow! Funyons! Can we have that??" Who am I asking permission from? I am an adult, I can bring some goddamn Funyons into my house if I want to. But I hardly ever buy them. It seems too special for just me. Funyons are like, food for company.

5. We were a very sit-down-together family when it came to eating. I still do this and have never, not once, EVER, eaten food standing over a sink. In fact, I find it hard to believe that people actually do that. I half-convince myself that this is just something that people SAY they do, like go to the gym every day or bake their own bread in the morning or something, but that no one really, truly does it. I know I am wrong about that, but I can't help myself from doubting.

6. I miss Blue Moon ice cream so bad sometimes that I think about planning a trip back to Michigan just so I can have some. Does anyone out there know about Blue Moon ice cream? If you do, can you please describe the taste for me so I can explain it to Nordic Boy? Thanks.

7. I don't know if I could live if I couldn't have hot, spicy food. It's like an addiction. Certain foods just don't taste right unless they are burning the skin right off of your skull. You know what I mean? The kind of hot that is so good that while you're eating it, you're all "whoo!" like Cher? Come to think of it, maybe that's why she was always "whoo"-ing and sticking her tongue out like that. Maybe she had a mouthful of Tabasco or something. Whoo!

8. I was always a kid who brought lunch to school, and never bought lunch. I was always jealous of the buyers. When I think back to the nasty food that I was so frickin' jealous of, I want to smack my former self across the back of my head. I mean, the rectangle pizza with that kibble meat on top? What was the story with that? And the taco meat that seeped orange oil? Gah.

9. When I was growing up, we had tea time in my house every day after school. Sometimes my mom would make these crepe things that were basically like little pancakes that you put jam on. Tea and snacks. It rocked and I miss that.

10. I believe that Necco wafers are an evil plot to try and get kids to eat chalk. Who, you might ask, would want kids to eat chalk? And for what purpose? Don't bother me with details, people. The Necco company is chalking our children!

11. When I was in high school, I thought the Olive Garden was WAY FANCY.

12. I shop at small markets. I went into a large chain grocery store over the weekend (I couldn't find fried crispy onions for the top of my green bean casserole any where else) and I almost cried with the magnitude of it all. 8 million aisles! Surgery-bright lights! Aisles the size of, well, something huge! Where the fuck is everything? How many types of cereal can the world POSSIBLY NEED? Aaaaahhhhh!

I'm out,
Librarian Girl

17 comments:

Becky said...

we lived on frozen tv dinners when my mom was getting her CPA. they have turned me off of salisbury steak for life. and i went to 3 grocery stores yesterday to get all the food for my family's feast- all 3 were huge and all 3 were packed with shoppers looking just as discombobulated as we were by the hugeness.

Leah said...

You mean that they don't have Blue Moon ice cream outside of Michigan? Really? I did not know that. I'm a Yooper and I know they don't have Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream elsewhere (do they have it downstate?) because, duh: Mackinac Island.

I'm not sure quite how to describe the taste of Blue Moon. I don't think its flavor exists in nature, so there's nothing I can think of to compare it to. It just tastes like Blue Moon. Not very helpful, I know.

Anonymous said...

Yes, we can get Mackinac Island fudge downstate here. And you're right. Blue Moon tastes like, well, Blue Moon!

Katie Kiekhaefer said...

I've always heard that Blue Moon tastes like fruit loops, which I don't think is quite right. Also, if I"m remembering correctly, Cold Stone had a blue ice cream that was supposed to taste like cotton candy? (Just checked the website and indeed it is blue and indeed it is called cotton candy.) I wouldn't trust cold stone to get your fix though :) I agree with Leah: it just tastes like Blue Moon. And now I have a horrible craving for some.

Librarian Girl said...

Leah- I remember that they did have Mackinac Island Fudge downstate, but not as a staple. Blue Moon and Superman (another flavor that I have never seen outside of Michigan) was EVERYWHERE in Mich.

katie- I have heard the froot loops comparison and you're right- it's not really right. Maybe I should go to Cold Stone and try their cotton candy and see if that's close. At this point I will accept a substitute!

Sauntering Soul said...

Wow, so much in this post I don't really know what to comment on.

First, I have a deep-seated dislike for Celine Dion. Not really the point of your post though.

I also grew up with Coke being special. We drank it when we went down to south Georgia and stayed with my grandparents, and we got to have one glass when we went out for a hamburger after church each Sunday with my parents. Now I drink way too much because I'm an adult and choose to have it in my house.

I've never heard of Blue Moon so I cannot help you in the least on that. I've been on a tour of the Mayfield Dairy in Tennennesse though. They have some good ice cream. Cold Stone's ice cream is good for about 10 minutes and then I always get violently ill from it. I think it's too rich for me.

I've never had a Necco wafer. In fact, I just recently heard of them for the first time.

This comment is way too long already so I will not say anything about the other stuff you wrote about.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Anonymous said...

I agree re the Necco wafers.

I have been living in Massachusetts for 12 years and I have yet to find evidence that a majority of the good people of this Commonwealth really understand food. Necco wafers, which are made right here, are just another piece of evidence supporting my doubt.

cadiz12 said...

doris day is FRICKING AWESOME! even though i've never met you, can i tell people i know her by four degrees of separation?

i always thought Necco wafers were for people who wanted to get out of paying tolls on the highway (but i never actually tried it myself).

when we were kids, twinkies were a rare delicacy. now i just think they're gross.

Dallas Diaries said...

awe.. people DO eat over their sinks. Nomally its when you come home frm work, your badge still dangling off you, and youre making small talk to your significant other (sans kids) who claims he picked up some mcDonalds on the way back home.

I can almost see your nose wrinkle in disgust.

Blue Moon? I'll have to ask my bro. I make a detroit trip once a year so I'll have to do it the next time for sure.

Anonymous said...

Those crunchy onion things for your green beans? Next year, you might try Trader Joe if you shop there ~ it's a wee bit smaller than the big stores :)

Leizel said...

Blue Moon always reminded me of licorice--not that it really tastes like licorice, just kind of that same flavor family. We had Superman in central Wisconsin! I was never a blue moon or a Superman fan, but man, does anyone else out there remember bubble gum ice cream? That stuff was the bomb!

I grew up on diet pop, and I still can't stand pop with real sugar. It makes my teeth feel gross. During Christmas, my parents would let us have a little Manischewitz wine--it's like liquid candy--and that stuff still feels like it's for special occasions only.

I'm totally a sink eater. We had a really small kitchen table, so my mother, and when I got older, I were reduced to eating over the sink/standing at the counter when we had company (which wasn't often). I eat drippy things, like peaches and plums, over the sink. I'm usually way too lazy to get out a plate and then wash it. I don't even own a dining/kitchen table.

Jan Ross said...

We never had fun, packaged stuff when I was a kid either - my dad was a Marine and with four kids, there was no money for chips and stuff. I'm over 50 now with a little grandson and I still marvel over the fact that I can buy WHATEVER I want and take it home with me. This is why I love going to the grocery and don't understand people who hate it. But you can pick out WHATEVER you want. And bring it home. How can this be a chore?

Anonymous said...

I am the leftover king. I am the primary (only?) cook, so I don't want to cook every night. If I make enough of a dish two or three nights in a row, then at least I don't have to eat last night's dinner for lunch. And I am a total sink eater. And eating a cold boneless pork chop straight out of the ziploc baggie is sadly, a common occurrence. At least I don't drink the OJ straight out of the carton. Unless it is the last bit, because then you get to feel like a rebel AND save a dirty glass!

Brown Sugar said...

You've just made me hungry from describing all those yummy food.... :(

Anonymous said...

I'm not bored by repetition at all, so on #1, we're totally different. But I'm with you on eating over the sink (or even standing up) - I will only do that with a very ripe pear or peach so as not to make a freaking mess. And the processed foods! We were only allowed to have Cheerios and Rice Crispies growing up because my dad is/was a dentist. When I discovered Cap'n Crunch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch in college, it was INSANE. (But now? I pretty much eat Cheerios.)

Anonymous said...

My childhood ice cream store (in Ohio) had both Blue Moon and Superman ice cream. Blue Moon was my favorite, and I'm pretty certain it's almond flavored. It tasted the same as pistachio (which is actually made with almond flavoring), but without the nuts.

Anonymous said...

Okay, so I have to admit that I used to LOVE Necco wafers! Especially the brown ones. Maybe I'll ask my mom to buy me some the next time I see her...You know, as a special treat.