December 05, 2003
Food = Good.
I've been back in the states for the past two and a half weeks, and there's still four more weeks to go. I imagine many people would try to get their fill of their native culture at this time. Others would focus on catching up with family and friends. Of course, I am doing a bit of this as well, but the main focus?
Eating.
Some cravings are easily satisfied, like bagels with cream cheese. I could eat bagels every day and be as happy as a clam. So many flavors to choose from, each one more heavenly than the last.
Add to those, the old "usual" eateries. Like the chinese place that serves up the most delicious honey garlic pork ever. The mexican joint which filled my face on a nearly weekly basis throughout my high school career. Those half-priced appetizers at Applebee's which are so easily turned into a meal.
Of course, there are the disappointments. Yesterday, I treated myself to one of my "usual" meals from those early days of freedom... one of those chicken ranch sandwiches from Carl's Jr, with a side of onion rings. And as I bit in, expecting some sort of food-induced orgasm, all I got was a disappointment.
Feel free to add some food suggestions. After all, I have four more weeks of eating to do.
Posted by Kim at December 5, 2003 04:16 PMI miss Double Stuf Oreo cookies and Morningstar Farms veggie burgers. The former I can get shipped here, at least, but not the latter, I'm afraid. Chow down on a veggie burger for me!
Posted by: wildsoda at December 5, 2003 06:32 PMI gained twenty pounds on my last visit solely from eating beef jerky, I think. That would be one of my four food groups, I think, on return visits, together with candy corn, hash browns and oh I don't know, mushroom soup. Ask me tomorrow and I'd tell you four other foods I miss.
I missed Thanksgiving this year. For the first time in a long time, we didn't celebrate it. Stray dogs killed a bunch of turkeys at the farm where we buy ours, and we sort of used that as an excuse not to do it. It's a big organizational challenge every year, finding the right substitutes for everything. Like, "allspice? How do you say allspice in German? What the hell is it anyway?"
Although, you know what, Japanese foods that I miss come to mind more easily. The thick-sliced bread in their "Western" breakfasts. The yaki-imos and the yaki-imo men this time of year. Etc.
Posted by: mig at December 5, 2003 09:36 PMthe main US foody things i miss are:
1. sf mission district mexican food - especially good soft tacos with handmade corn tortillas. . .
2. thai curries and pad thai. . .
3. persian food. . .
4. philly cheesesteak sandwiches. . .
5. zachary's pizza (it's a berkeley thing). . .
6. bbq pork chow fun with chinese broccoli. ..
7. doritos nacho cheese tortilla chips. . .
8. reese's peanut butter cups. . .
9. good donuts. . .
10. natto. . .
11. kitsune udon. . .
12. korean bbq. . .
13. pop-tarts. . .
and last but not least,
14. taco bell tacos. . .
luckily i have to leave the czech republic in the next week or two to renew my tourist stamp so i've got a good excuse to scootch on over to paris and eat at my favorite restaurant in the whole world for a week. . . :^)
Posted by: bloopy at December 6, 2003 04:46 AMI don't even have to think about the two things I miss:
Mac and Cheese the way Kris makes it.
Ice cream floats from Ages Cyber Cafe.
Can you have an ice cream float for me? They're really good when made with vanilla ice cream and Jones' Green Apple Soda.
I'm going to go to bed and dream about Mac and Cheese now....
Posted by: Anna at December 6, 2003 05:25 AMIt's sad, I know, but the first time I was living abroad do you know what I missed most?
Mountain Dew.
Posted by: Kat at December 7, 2003 03:07 PMi used to miss doritos and bologna and cheese sandwiches on the soft, white bread the most. of course, these days doritos are available world-wide, and i have no idea why i even liked bologna!
Posted by: Kristen at December 8, 2003 09:45 AMStrangely, I don't really miss anything. Except if I happen to celebrate Christmas here, because the Swedish idea of an elaborate Christmas spread basically follows what poverty-stricken Swedes of 100 years ago thought was luxurious: lots of cold preserved fish, boiled potatoes, a ham, clear soup made from the water the ham is boiled in, meatballs. It's just not comforting at all, it makes me feel a bit sad, and then I long for the very traditional Thanksgiving-type Christmas meal, with turkey and dressing and cranberries and sweet potatoes.
Posted by: francis s. at December 8, 2003 11:09 AMDoughnuts. Dunkin' ones. Tim Horton ones. Boston cream. Raspberry jelly. Cruellers. Cinnamon Twist. Sugar Twist. Ohhh, doughnuts. This summer, N and I put on a few pounds just because we kept on pigging out on the doughnuts.
That and the Slurpees. Mmmm.
We came back just in time before we had to buy a whole new set of clothes.
Posted by: K at December 9, 2003 08:00 AM