Road Food

This weekend my LDF and I hit the road to visit her family for Easter weekend.  It wasn't too long a trip as these things go, but by the time we were traveling, we realized we would need a snack to see us through lunchtime.  We stopped and got biscuits at a drive-through.  For some reason there was a noisome odor lingering near the biscuit place, but I think it was mere coincidence because the biscuits were delicious.  We could tell they were going to be good when we saw the grease stains on the brown paper bag.  The best road food is the kind of stuff that you would never eat on a daily basis, but it's perfect for traveling.  Maybe it's an ancestral urge in our cells to stock up fat reserves for the journey ahead.  Maybe traveling makes us long somewhere deep down for home and stability, and eating comfort food is a way to achieve that.  Maybe going to foreign surroundings pulls us away from a sense of our mortality, and the feeling of our arteries clogging is a reassuring reminder.  Maybe the heavy food is ballast that literally helps ground us during the uncertainty of physical transition.

Or maybe it's just downright tasty.

(Late-Night) Milkshake Runs

Throughout my college years, a recurring treat was the late-night milkshake run.  It was never clear who exactly had suggested we drive to Cook Out to get milkshakes in the wee small hours, because the idea spontaneously arose in all of our minds at once.  We would pile into someone's car, pump some tunes as we rolled down the road, and often discuss the relative merits of different flavors of milkshake.  The stuff memories are made of.  So you can imagine my joy when a friend and I happened to be driving late this past Saturday night and we looked at each other and asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  Yup, it was Cook Out time.  Cook Out is a drive-through chain around here that has fast food and is open late at night.  The important thing about Cook Out is that they have so many flavors of milkshakes, and they're all really good.  If you're in the mood for a strawberry cheesecake shake, they can do that.  If you'd prefer a simple banana fudge (my all-time favorite and standby), they can do that, too.  This particular Cook Out run was somewhat vexing, but I'll hasten to say that even a vexing Cook Out run is still pretty great.  It was vexing because I did not get the shake I had ordered.  I asked for a plain chocolate one, and was handed one that was chocolate but with a bit of a coffee flavor and odd, crunchy candy-like bits in it.  My friend and I spent the better portion of the ride home passing the mystery shake back and forth attempting to decipher its flavor (possibly chocolate Heath bar crunch).  Although it was not what I had asked for, the entertainment value of trying to solve the mystery more than alleviated any disappointment.  And thus came to pass another excellent milkshake run.

Really Good Food

Good food is special.  Maybe there are places where all food is good food--nourishing and satisfying and prepared with care and attention--but I expect they're few and far between.  Here in the U.S. all too few of our meals fit into this category.  We're always on the go, always trying to save a few minutes here and there so we can cram more into our days.  But in so doing, we end up feeding ourselves poorly.  We consume processed foods that are quick to eat and that fill our stomachs, but that fail to deliver balanced nutrition or satisfy our senses.  We almost forget what a really good meal tastes like, what it feels like.  But when we do eat one, the difference is stark.  The flavors jump out with clarity and simple potency.  The multiple facets of our hunger, physical and mental, are satisfied, filled, relieved.  Our bodies feel energized rather than bloated, light rather than sluggish, alert rather than lethargic.  I had a really good meal tonight when the place where I work held a benefit dinner.  A barbeque pit master from South Carolina prepared a whole pig, cooking it all day long until the meat was extremely tender and juicy yet not greasy or heavy.  Local chefs prepared sides: pinto beans, cornbread, collard greens, pickled vegetables, and coleslaw, each traditional yet vibrant and with a fresh twist.  There was rich yet fluffy pound cake, the best banana pudding I have ever tasted, peanut bar cookies, and multiple kinds of wine and beer.  It was a really good meal not because of the selection of dishes, but because of the quality of the ingredients, the imagination with which they were combined, and the care with which they were prepared.  After eating I felt sated in all regards, not just full in stomach, but full of life.

Sassy Waitresses and Waiters

I went to a diner in Greensboro with a friend today, and encountered my favorite kind of waitperson--a sassy one.  Now I'm not a fan of waiters who roll their eyes or make snide comments under their breath, but I am partial to the kind of waiter or waitress who can be a little sarcastic and poke gentle fun at customers while still showing that he or she cares about them.  She might say, "Oh, now you're ready to order?" with a smile, or "Nope, no more coffee for you," with a wink.  Being a waiter must be a difficult and often frustrating job, so you've got to find ways to let off some steam while still making the customers feel good about their meal.  I think a little sassiness can go a long way toward making a diner experience more satisfying and memorable.

Burritos

I hesitate to say that burritos are my favorite food, but in the last few years they have certainly climbed right up near the top of my list.  I think it's largely due to Carrburritos, a superlative burrito restaurant in Carrboro, NC.  Also the Cosmic Cantina, which has locations at least in Durham and Chapel Hill.  The burritos there are much more straightforward than Carrburritos, but still completely satisfying.  In fact, come to think of it, I had one burrito from Carrburritos and one from Cosmic today, which makes it a pretty awesome day in my book.  The burrito has endless variety and potential, it's a neat and tidy package, and it's got all your food groups in one handheld bundle.  What more could you ask for?  My favorite burrito at Carrburritos is the regular black-bean burrito with guacamole filling and jalapeños added.  At Cosmic I go for the regular veggie burrito and use liberal amounts of Valentina hot sauce.  I've got more stories about burritos, but that's all for now.  I'm not thoroughly happy with this drawing, but I tried it a number of times, and concluded I'm just too tired to get it better right now, so up it goes.  Burritos, on the other hand, I am entirely happy with.  Mmmmm!  So good!

Pi Day

Today is Pi Day.  It's Pi Day because when you write the date like we do in the U.S., March 14th looks like 3/14, which looks kind of like 3.14, which starts off the decimal approximation of pi, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  Pi Day would no doubt be but a blip on the pop-cultural radar were it not for the neat coincidence that "pi" sounds like "pie," and pies are tasty.  So Pi Day becomes for many an excuse to bake and eat pies, a pastime with which few of us could quarrel.  This evening I'm missing out on Pi Day festivities at Johnny's in Carrboro because I'm still a bit sleepy from the time change to Daylight Savings Time yesterday.  I'm also going to a concert later, so I figure I need to marshal my strength.  And do this blog post before I head out.  A few years back I was very enthusiastic about Pi Day and brought pie materials in to work so I could bake a pie in the kitchen.  I did this, and it remains one of my proudest workday achievements.  That year, Pi Day also fell on a day in the NCAA tournament when UNC was playing (actually, it might have been the ACC--I can't remember), so I went back and forth at lunchtime between checking on the pie and watching the game with my coworkers.  It was a good day.  And a good pie.  Have a very happy Pi Day, everyone!

Cleaning Out the Refrigerator

My roommates and I had been talking about it for a long time, saying things like, "Hm, we should really get around to doing that sometime," and answering, "Yeah, we really should, like tomorrow or this weekend."  Well, today the day finally arrived: refrigerator cleaning day.  It was horrifying.  There were several items that looked as though they had been in there since the Clinton administration, which was surprising since we only have a two-year lease on the house.  I'm sure we threw out several promising new antibiotics, along with odors potent enough for military use.  When we'd weeded out all the repugnance, I washed the Tupperware with bleach water and then dish soap and hot water.  And man, we've got a lot of clean plastic containers now.  It's so satisfying to have room in the fridge again, and to know that if I grab something out at random, it's going to be edible.  Maybe I'll ride this momentum all the way to cleaning my desk.  You never know.