Thanks, JenEx. I knew I could count on you.

karatekate
I think so. But it’s a pretty big region- maybe all over the Southeast. I don’t get it in MO, but I hear about RC colas and Moon Pies being the stereotypical Southern hick snack. Call me a hick- them’s good eatin’.

Am I the only one who saw all the tales about fried mashed potatoes and immediately thought of fried grits? You take the rubbery solid object that is the leftover grits, chop it up and pan fry it. Yeah, internet anonymity is great, my friends haven’t even heard about that one.

Mmmm. Moon Pies. I haven't had a moon pie in ages. Or a fried pie. My Papaw used to make the best fried pies. That and roasted goobers. He grew up in east Texas. I could probably talk my husband into trying to make fried pies, as soon as it cools off or the air conditioner gets fixed. It's been relatively cool this summer (unseasonably so), with highs mostly in the mid-80s. This week it's gotten up to 94-95 with Friday's forecast a high of 98, and this is the week the air conditioner conks out. The lines are apparently frozen, and they're not thawing out, even though the stupid thing has been off for a day and a half now.

I'll have to check the international (mostly Asian) food store here. I know it's the best place to buy curry powder (it's a lot cheaper) and Pocky (sp?), which I love, but I've never looked for chopped ginger. I have looked at Wal-Mart, Albertsons and the locally-owned IGA, the only supermarkets we have anymore, and haven't found it there. If I can't find it at the international food store here, I'll see if my in-laws will look in the Asian food store they go to in Oklahoma City.

There's a much wider variety of food available than you'd think in OKC. In the 1970s, a lot of Vietnamese refugees came here. I think a lot were initially sponsored by church groups and then brought the rest of their families here. There's also some Korean restaurants that I've heard (from people who lived in South Korea) are fairly good, and an Indian restaurant that I love and don't go to very often anymore because it's an hour away and the people we always went with moved to Illinois.

There's not as much variation here, but we do have a large Asian population, thanks to the university. We have a good Japanese restaurant, a sushi place, a number of Chinese restaurants (although only 1 I'll eat at -- it's the one where you'll see the most Asian students), a House of Greek (where we go for gyros) and a Thai place with some great curry. Now that I think of it, it's odd to have all that in a relatively small town in the middle of Oklahoma.

I didn't think RC Cola was regional, unless that region includes my tiny little town in southwestern Ontario.

And auntlada, roasted goobers? Huh?

I'm still waiting for whoever mentioned the recipe for homemade thin mints to 'fess up and let us know where it is.

ETA: There's this. Thats's a hell of a lot of chocolate chips. I just might have to try it out.

Goobers=peanuts. That's what Papaw called them. He was from east Texas, where his father worked in the oil fields. He also called overalls "duckins," so that's what we called them. I thought that was what they were called until I was 12 years old or so and I found out that none of my friends had ever heard of duckins. Apparently, duckin (I'm not really sure of the spelling) is a kind of material that work pants and overalls used to be made out of.

Hah! Goobers!! I haven't heard them called that in a long time. Boiled is better IMO.
Come to think of it, they still make "Goobers" as a candy around here. I assume from the reaction that it's also regional. Chocolate covered peanuts....tasty!
Mr. Tome won't touch a boiled peanut. Guess that's another thing to add to the "I'd miss it if I moved" list.
Zivra I've had fried grits, but never cared for them. Don't think it's any worse than polenta, though.

OOOH! Boiled peanuts!!! One of my favorite foods from back home!! We always used to stop for boiled peanuts at a roadside stand on our way home from the beach every Sunday. Good times. Meanwhile, the Michigander hubby won't touch 'em. He thinks the very thought of them is disGUSting. Sadness.

mel , sorry about the breakup and the subsequent crying fits. Speaking from experience, that sucks. Perhaps, however, you can consider it an opportunity to bake some comfort food in the form of those bootleg thin mints you linked us to! (That's what I'd do, anyway...mmmmm, cookies.)

mel42024, that's the recipe I use. I keep a ziploc of them in my freezer and have them with Ben and Jerry's ice cream (any flavor will do).

However, I really wish they would make Superman. I am 26 years old and still make special trips to the Purple Cow for Superman ice cream when I visit my family in Michigan. Yum.

ETA: Yes, it is a lot of chocolate chips, but the recipe makes a kajillion cookies.

Curious. All the chain grocery stores in suburban Boston carry jars of pre-choped ginger in the produce section along with the jars pre-chopped garlic and pre-chopped basil.

I always found Coke to be the dominant cola of choice when I lived in the south. You couldn't get anything else, but that was in a more urban area (Memphis).

On the subject of boiled peanuts... So does MrKate. And, really? So do I . But just the thought of them. Once I burst a squishy (I like them squishy), salty boiled peanut open and pop it in my mouth... mmmm... I'm hooked again.

My aunt decided about 15 years ago that if she didn't acknowledge her birthday, it didn't exist. But to keep other people from acknowledging her birthday she had to distract them. Thus began the Peanut Festival. It has grown to be about 75 people in my aunt's back yard eating hundreds of pounds of boiled peanuts and peanut butter fudge. There are also more substantial foods of Bubba Burgers and fixins.

It's like a big family get together where everyone has two aluminum pans (like pie crusts come in) or bowls - one for peanuts to be eaten, one for peanut shells.

Some of my family loves to freeze the extras and heat them throughout the year (because boiling peanuts is quite a production!), but I can only bring myself to eat them hot and fresh and that one time a year, no matter how much I love them on that day.

My sister-in-law is a former pageant girl. One of her titles is Peanut Queen, so every time I see her I ask if peanuts do her bidding. I'd love to see little jars of peanut butter following her around the house.

princesslola, yay! Hope the house purchase turns out well.

SorchaRei, the "special tastes" story was great. But then, I too like beef tendon, and fresh squid, so I'm the wrong person to relate to IdiotBoy.

Last year I was a table captain at DimSumCon, and tried to get a range of food that people would like, or at least find accessible (Especially because the wonderful Debra and Steve and their two pretty teenage daughters were sitting at our table. No grossing out racers off-race!). But I admit when I saw the spiced tripe go by, I picked up one for myself. Stuck it in front of me, said, "This is tripe, and you're welcome to some, but hell -- no one in my family eats this except me." Oddly enough, there were no other takers. Mmmmm. Tripe.



I love love love immersion blenders. I call my Braun the "zzzt-zzzt". (My mandoline is my "kitchen Ninja". Julia Child I am not.) Sadly, after 15 years of hardy service, my zzzt-zzzt just zzzted its last and died. Because of a little stock option blip, I got a little chunk of change -- not tons, but a nice bonus. I splurged on this utterly fantastic Bamix immersion blender (the "Uber-zzzt"), with some extra beakers. (Incidentally, Golda's is terrific to buy from -- she's great at answering questions and delivery was really fast.)

This thing has significantly more horsepower than the Braun -- I've crushed ice very easily with it. You can even use it to blend frozen milk into something closer to an ice cream texture than a granita texture, and I recently used it to make a cashew butter base for a pasta dish (something I could only do in a food processor before -- but my lid on that is cracked, and they don't make replacement parts for it, as it's about 10 years old). I also got the meat grinder attachment blade, although I haven't tried that yet. I haven't used my blender since I got the Uber-zzzt. It's a fantastic device, and it's a lot easier to cart to the cottage if you want to make stupid girly drinks.

Guess those missing words were eaten when I stayed up late last night to post. Really getting old.

I moved to SC from CT about 2.5 years ago and had NEVER had a boiled peanut in my life. First time I tried em, couldn't figure out if I liked em, but kept eating em anyway. Now, I am super addicted and would miss them if I couldn't get them anywhere.

In regards to the fried Mars bar, at the SC State Fair they do fried Snickers bars, Oreos, Twinkies, etc.... I've only had the Snickers and that was WONDERFUL, but am looking forward to trying the other delicacies in another month or so....mmmmm......

Bodiva, I'm the one who mentioned an upcoming visit to Scotland and I just remembered I never responded to your recommendation. Thanks for offering the info! I'm actually set on that front -- the people I'm joining already have reservations (in Perthshire).

Hee! I love my mandoline (I've got a Bron Professional Stainless - one of the bestest presents I ever got!), but I can't say that I've named it.

If you broke into my house and stole that, my vegetable steamer, and my 13" nonstick frypan, my family would starve.

I'm not really a cook, I'm a baker. Some people I talk to don't get the distinction. It's as easy as this: I'm way more interested in dessert: eating it, making it, dreaming about it...

I cut off the tip of my thumb on a mandoline, so don't own one now. I am not good with savory-type spices and can't throw meals together from my pantry. Put me in a kitchen with a candy thermometer, double-boiler, mixer and flour, sugar and butter, though, and I'll make you something goooooood.

I'm about to remodel my kitchen, and space to roll out dough and space for my KitchenAid mixer are tops on the priority list for counter space.

jpgr I'm the exact opposite. Baking is too exact a science for me; I'd rather throw a bunch of stuff together haphazardly than measure everything out. I'll do it when need be, but my kitchen looks like a war zone afterwards. Flour is not my friend.

First of all: Mel, I'm very sorry to hear about the breakup. Good vibes coming your way. And I completely agree with you about french fries and malt vinegar. That's the only thing I like to dip fries in, other than blue cheese dressing (Don't look at me that way! It's really good!)
I also love my immersion blender, and haven't used the regular blender since it came to live with us. It's the best.
I totally get the baker/savory cook distinction. I can easily punt on cooking a meat or pasta dish, but baking requires research and the following of recipes. I actually made up my own recipe for a chocolate hazelnut torte this spring, and am very proud of myself for doing so.
I don't have a jar of chopped ginger, but I do have a jar of pickled ginger in the fridge, and that stuff is the best.
Now, Moon pies. Are they the same as Whoopie Pies or is there a difference?

I had my first fried Mars Bar in Nova Scotia last month and it was incredible. The coating was great, similar to a Twinkie, but with a melted Mars bar inside.

I also prefer baking to cooking, because things usually turn out prettier.

jpgr I'm more of a baker too. When I remodeled my kitchen, we had one counter placed a few inches lower than the others as a baking counter. It's much easier on your back when you're using mixers.

My brother, who, unlike me, is not 5'1", thinks the counter is the funniest thing he's ever seen. I just enjoy fewer chiropractor visits during Christmas baking season.

Hildy, what's a Whoopie Pie?

I envy those of you who can just throw things in and make something good come out for dinner. The few times I have tried that, disaster happens. I can cook, but I need a recipe or it has to be something I've done a lot.

There's a woman in my church who can't even follow a recipe. I don't understand that because I don't know how you can't follow something that's written out and clear (unless you're one of the twins). That's what her husband says her problem is though. That and continuing to think that if the recipe calls for cooking something at 300 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 1 hour, then 600 degrees for 30 minutes should work. About a year ago, she cut her foot when she opened a cabinet in her kitchen and a glass baking pan fell out and broke on her foot. Everyone's first response wasn't, "How are you feeling? Can you walk?" but "What were you doing in the kitchen?"

Siebal WOW!! You mean there's another SC TWoPper? I was beginning to think I was all alone in here. If you're near Columbia and we can find a few more, maybe we can stage our own TARcon someday. A mere shadow of the real thing, sure, but TAR! Beer! Snark!

Weds


Thanks for the snicker. And I really didn't mean that as a peanut pun, but saw it as I was typing.........

JPGR, ditto AnneH. If you have space you should think about having a section of counter that is lower than standard counter height -- it makes it much easier to roll out dough, and easier to see into your KitchenAid.

I think this question would be off topic anywhere else so I’m interrupting your regularly scheduled Meet Market to ask it here. I just poked my nose in the Show Miss Alli Some Love thread, and I’m wondering, what does Clay Aiken have to do with anything here? His hair is already on the Japanese men’s gymnastics team, why does he have to creep into everything?

Argh! ClayKudzu!

Kudzu really only covers the south, though. Granted, I live basically in the south, but Clay's a little more... pervasive.

Actually, one of my roommates had a teacher that postulated the best measure for "the South" had nothing to do with the Mason-Dixon line or rivers or anything like that. The best line to use as a boundary for the south is the kudzu line. Once you're out of kudzu country, you must specify you want your tea iced and your mayonnaise Dukes!

ETA: Wouldn't it be Claydzu?

I'm in Columbia, actually....right off Harbison. How fab would that be? I've been kicking myself that I didn't know about TAR or TARcon when I was only a couple of hours away.


and don't forget sweet.

Damn, I just made it worse didn't I?

Whoopie Pies - haven't had one of those in about 25 years! They are 2 chocolate cookies with icing in between. Here's a recipe: Whoopie Pies

Miss Alli loves Clay. Snerk.

You can read about it a few of the AI recap where she pinch hit for Shack.

re: the kudzu line.

I had a Southern History Professor in college who had an elaborate theory of how the South could be more unified and respected if all the states of the former confederacy replaced the Stars 'n' Bars with a flag displaying a pig.

He believed the pig and b-b-q where the true cultural equalizer of the entire region.

Great guy. Excellent professor. Crazy ass theory.

PButtercup, that's not a moon pie. I'm not sure how to describe a moon pie, actually. It's sort of graham cracker cookie things with marshmallow cream in the middle and chocolate covering the whole thing. I don't know that you can make your own.

My mother (also from east Texas) always said you know you're in the South when the restaurant lists macaroni and cheese as a vegetable.

I miss sweet tea!! I even miss kudzu! I might have to move back to SC one of these days. Ah, Harbison...spent most of what little money I had at that Super Wal-Mart in college. And my roommate accidentally shoplifted a cable cord from the Best Buy out there. Good times.

I think the Moon Pie and the Whoopie Pie are 2 different deals.

In New England we have the two soft chocolate cookie Whoopie Pies filled with mounds of whip cream.

In the South they have Moon Pies that seem to have a marshmallow filling and are much smaller.

Moon Pies are usually sold in stores individual wrapped in plastic. You can usally only get Whoopie Pies in a bakery.

LisaJunior, especially when there is so much debate over BBQ in the south! Two distinct types in NC alone, very different from the mustard BBQ of SC and beef BBQ of texas.

And since when has a flag of a pig helped anyone become more dignified?

Sounds like a great class, though.

Thanks for the kind words. We're planning on staying friends, and I'm even going to a party at his house this weekend, so I guess I'll see how I fare then. This breakup is just making me look forward even more to next summer because I'll come home and as far as we know, he will be moving to London in the fall as well.

ETA: Hee, whoopie. That just makes me think of Bob Eubanks.

Not a huge fan of the mustard base BBQ, but I LOVE the NC Vinegar base. Funny, when I was in CT, our idea of BBQ was slapping some KC Masterpiece on some chicken and grilling it! Ah, what I missed out on by being a Yankee for 26 years....


My mother makes the best whoopie pies; she only makes em at Christmas though.

Mel, best of luck with everything; I hope all goes well for you.

Texas-style versus East coast barbecue debates would spark a mini Civil War splitting the South in half if you tried that.

Oh, and apparently NPR did a story about the Moon Pie and RC cola connection.

Sounds like Roy Blount, Jr.'s idea about a new South motto: "Just fine, and you?"

NC vinegar barbecue....okay, now I'm tearing up. I get to go "home" for the state fair in October, will definitely be hitting the Pork Chop Shop for a bbq tenderloin sandwich (I don't think they use whale.....).

cellochick, will you be going to Blair Castle? The Edradour distillery? Details!

FWIW you can get Moon Pies in NJ too. I buy them all the time from vending machines and convenience stores. And by "all the time," I mean maybe once a year because while good, they're very sweet. And now I have to go see if our vending machine has them.

Great. "RC Cola and a Moon Pie" was a song by a crazy-ass band called Southern Culture on the Skids. Seriously. I think it's from their album, 'Dirt Track Date,' or maybe from 'Plastic Seat Sweat.' Anyway, now it's on replay in my head. Thinking about it now, they may be fans of many kinds of snack cake; there's another song where the guy mentions "Little Debbie." ...aaaaaaand that song is called "Walk Like A Camel" and I swear to dog, I know way too much about stuff like this.

(But "Walk Like A Camel" goes brilliantly with last night's episode. In fact, if you play it during the camel part, with the TV sound off, it's EERIE. OK, not really. But if Pink Floyd could do it w/the Wizard of Oz....)

Ok. TARconSouth should have boiled peanuts, moon pies, and vinegar based BBQ. Sounds like a balanced dinner to me!
Seibel I'm downtown Cola near Earlewood and Elmwood Park.

Mel Good luck with the party. If it gets too squicky, just make a hasty (though dignified) exit. You can always work on the friendship part after you've gotten a little emotional distance.

Someone in the episode thread mentioned the song “Midnight at the Oasis” and that shrill warbling woman has been in my head ever since.

RitaTome, good to know I'm not alone down here! Now we just need some others.... I love your menu ideas, but you forgot 2 things.... green beans with fat back, and mac & cheese! Now we've got the balanced menu!

Mmmm...boiled peanuts. It reminds me of going to football games in Alabama and Georgia (where I'm from). The canned boiled peanuts (yes, they exist - Peanut Patch is the brand) just don't do it. I've seen microwaveable boiled peanuts, but somehow they didn't make their way into my cart. Fresh ones are unbeatable!

As for TARcon south - don't forget the fried okra!

Well, I don't really have any details yet -- we had an opportunity to go, and know a little about the area, and that we'll be capable of finding plenty to do even with stuff closed off-season. So I'm noting down any and all suggestions for when we get closer to figuring out specific daytrips and such. I do think a distillery visit was pretty much a given from the moment we decided to go to Scotland!

The snack food I miss the most from childhood are Tasty Kakes especially the Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes. I could only get them in New Jersey when I went to visit my
Grandparents. When my grandmother moved to Maryland I didn't have ant for years. Thankfully there is this new fangled thing called the internet.

Is there going to be a TARcon south? I'm in the Triangle of NC, and I'd love to make one...

Devichan We were just kicking the idea around. Think there would really be enough people to do it? I'm game, but I can't get out of town that night so it would have to be local for me. Feel like driving to Columbia?

adding fried okra to menu. Can't believe we forgot that one!

Damn, RitaTome beat me to it. I've gotta be local as well.