Last night I was sitting around with a few foodnik pals, chatting about my recent short trip to Pennsylvania to visit family. What did you eat?, they wondered. Did you go out?
Not really. I hit up a few restaurants, but I was more in the mood to get my fill of home-cooked food. One night, I inhaled some hamburger barbecue (a.k.a. a Sloppy Joe, the quintessential picnic and mom's-too-busy food) and awesome local potato chips that you can't really find out West.
But then I was suddenly stumped at the name of those chips, even though I grew up with them, could visualize the packaging, and have a permanent part of my brain devoted to their taste.
Good ol' Google. I searched "Pennsylvania chips" and found a site called PA Snacks, which not only carries Middleswarth Chips (duh!), but also birch beer, shoofly pie, and Tastykakes. Glorious splurges, all of them.
At least now I have a way to tide myself over between visits.