Vacation-only Food

Have you noticed that there are certain foods that you would never buy or even eat unless you were on vacation? Here are a few vacation-exclusive treats:

• Taffy: Taffy is a staple of any coastal vacation. The boxes boast “Salt Water Taffy.” How many people actually think it’s made with salt water? Does that really make them want to buy it even more? My rule is: check the box and pass if it’s not local. Even if it is made on the spot, what is the appeal and what makes us buy it? I will admit I’ve fallen victim to vacation taffy more than I care to admit. Take Daffy Taffy in Boothbay Harbor. They make taffy in the store, right up front by the window so you can’t help but get pulled in by the process. (Pun intended.) Then you get to mix and match your flavors from the dory full of loosely wrapped taffy bites. That must be it. Standing there is an investment of precious time. How do you get the value of that time back? Buy a box of taffy! You’ll feel like you practically made it yourself.

• Fudge: Does anyone buy fudge at home? What is it about fudge that makes people buy it when they’re away from home? Why is it always for sale in vacation destinations? What does buying fudge have to do with the historic Mystic Seaport? As far as I can tell, the connection is weak. Though apparently a traveler’s will power is not!

• Ice cream cones: I eat ice cream at home. Who doesn’t? When on vacation, though, it’s perfectly acceptable to go out for an ice cream cone every single night. It’s an expedition of choices. If you’re in a place like Bar Harbor, it’s a nightly dilemma to figure out which ice cream shop to visit. Even if there’s only one shop, there are still choices: flavors and toppings and cones, oh my! Some find a favorite and stick to it every time. Others make it a point to try something different every night, thus working their way through the entire menu. As you’re standing in line with everyone else who shares your passion for frozen dairy in a crunchy container, it’s inevitable that bonds will form. You share your favorite flavors, commiserate about yucky weather, and get suggestions for a great dinner. Time spent on the ice cream line is like a little vacation from your vacation.

Grape Twists- my new love!

To those who know me, I’m quite a chocoholic. I’m all for good quality chocolate of Belgian origin. However, this weekend introduced me to a new food love: Arbor Hill Grape Twists. While touring some Thousand Islands wineries, we came across these goodies and just had to buy them. I’m a sucker for anything grape-flavored: gum, lollipops, Jolly Ranchers, Laffy Taffy, pop, juice and apparently now licorice twists. The scent alone is so intoxicating, I think I might sleep with these under my pillow. It is taking a LOT of restraint to not scarf down the entire one pound bag!

One pound of grapey goodness!

You can order them online through Arbor Hill Grapery. I wonder if they have a monthly shipment plan!

Foods that snuck over the border, eh!

Swiss Chalet Rotisserie chicken, those fries and that famous dipping sauce! Unfortunately the last of the US restaurants (2 remained in Buffalo as of last year) closed their doors for good, leaving the closest ones over the border. The good news is you can buy packets of sauce mix; the bad news is that you can’t duplicate their chicken. “Swiss Chalet, Okay!”

Tim Horton's Founded by hockey player Tim Horton, this donut and coffee chain knocks the socks off Dunkin Donuts any day! Our favorite, the elusive Canadian Maple, seems to only be available in Canadian stores. In the US we settle for the Maple Dip (same frosting, except just a hole in the middle rather than cream filling). As they continue expanding further into the US interior, I say “Bring on the TimBit!”

Smarties Not the sugary tablets rolled in a clear plastic wrapper. (See “Fizzers” below) These Smarties are candy-coated chocolate akin to M&Ms yet unique in their own right. Sold in tubes or boxes, and popular in Europe as well, Smarties come in an array of pastel colors. I swear that each candy shell tastes slightly different based on its color, but Don doesn’t. Guess you’ll have to experiment to find out.

Fizzers These were the Canadian version of our Smarties. Why didn’t they call them Smarties? Well, see the above description of Smarties. Fizzers looked just like the US Smarties and if you took them both out of their wrappers, you’d be hard pressed to find a visual difference. Pop them in your mouth, however, and you’d find out why they were called Fizzers!

Aero Bar Take a creamy milk chocolate bar and add air bubbles. Behold the Aero Bar. Its beauty is in its simplicity. These candy bars were lost for quite some time, but they have staged a comeback and I have seen them available in the US!

Hostess and Humpty Dumpty Chips Known for odd flavors, Hostess and Humpty Dumpty were the original pioneers of creatively flavored snack chips. Canadians LOVE their ketchup, so it stands to reason that chips would be flavored with their beloved condiment. For some reason dill pickle was always a popular chip flavor as well.

Kraft Dinner In the US we call this Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. The stuff in the blue box. In Canada, they are passionate about their Kraft Dinner. Same food, though north of the border it’s most likely enjoyed with- you guessed it- ketchup. All the fanciest Dijon ketchups…

The Broadway Market

A Buffalo icon, the Broadway Market was THE place to get all of your fresh, homemade foods. Meat, baked goods, candy, horseradish, fish, flowers… you name it. The Broadway Market had it all. I use the past tense because while the building is still there and it is still in operation, it’s not the same market it used to be.

Steeped in old world Eastern European tradition, the Broadway Market was not just a shopping center, it was a cultural and social Mecca as well. Since Nan worked there- at Redlinski’s Meats- for what was probably close to 50 years, we had really close ties to the Market. You could buy pretty much anything there and I’m pretty sure Nan did. Redlinski’s sold anything meat. Not just kielbasa, but hot dogs, cold cuts, sausage and more. For an indulgent high-sodium treat, we’d opt for “TV snacks” as Nan called them. Later on, I found they had a real name: cabanossi. Whatever they were called, they were meaty, salty and completely addictive. Whenever anything came home from Redlinski’s, it was wrapped in the classic white butcher paper, taped with masking tape, and placed in their iconic red, white and blue plastic bag.

The Broadway Market teemed with Polish favorites. You could get placek, chrusciki (angel wings), and pastry hearts (elephant ears) from the bakeries. Fish for Christmas Eve dinner was, of course, from here. So were the mushrooms for the soup. They even have their own “famous” horseradish for your beef on weck. Easter time was really special thanks to the presence of the butter lamb. This Polish Easter classic was blessed in the Easter basket along with the rest of the meal fixings and graced our table every year. For those who don’t know, it’s a chunk of butter molded into the shape of a lamb. It has cloves for eyes, a red ribbon around its neck and a flag-on-a-toothpick sticking up from its tail. The best things about the butter lamb were being the first to start hacking into it and then seeing its poor shrinking little body amount to a head on a plate. (You always started at its hind quarters for some reason. Chopping its head off first seemed a little cruel.) 

Can't find the real deal down here, so this is the next best thing! (And it doesn't go bad...)

I’m sad to know that the Broadway Market is not the market I knew growing up. Fortunately, I found an amazing sausage purveyor in Orange County NY’s Black Region Dirt. Quaker Creek does it just like Paul Redlinski did all those years, but more detail will follow in a future post. Until then, thanks for the foodographic memories Broadway Market!

Tastykakes

OK, they’re not from Buffalo, but Tastykakes always make me think of growing up in Buffalo. They hail from Philly and were like the local Hostess products (only way better). My grandparents’ families were from eastern Pennsylvania and many trips were taken to visit them in Nanticoke, outside of Wilkes-Barre. Whenever Nan and Pop would return from PA, suitcases of Tastykakes accompanied them for the ride to Buffalo. We got to the point where we put in “orders” in advance and froze them so they could be enjoyed year round. That is, if they even lasted enough to be frozen. I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have some kind of Tastykakes in the house. Lauren liked the chocolate Kandy Kakes. Mom liked the peanut butter ones, the unfilled cupcakes and the coffee cake juniors. Dad and I weren’t as selective; we ate them all.

There were years that went by when Tastykakes were not available where I shopped and since no one was traveling to PA anymore, Tastykake withdrawal set in. Within the last decade or so, I started seeing them in local stores. Maybe living fairly closer to Philly makes for easy distribution. Who cares? I can now get Tastykakes at not one but two local supermarket chains! Granted the selection is not the most extensive, but it’s nice to know that I can get a little taste of Buffalo-via-Philadelphia whenever my little heart (and stomach) desires.

Wegmans (Part 2)

Even today, Wegmans still delivers. Unfortunately, not literally. I now have to drive at least 2 hours to get to a store, but that just makes me stock up on what I need when I get there. Even Don shares my obsession with Wegmans since we shopped there when we lived in Rochester. Not only do we load up on elusive Buffalo food stuffs, Wegmans house brand makes its way into our cart as well. That basically means chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and croutons. Love their croutons. Much to our dismay, however, one of our favorites was discontinued several years back: Wegmans Hot Ginger Ale. Maybe we were the only ones who bought it. It was good while it lasted. Oh, and if you need a savory snacks in between wineries while you're touring around the Finger Lakes, nothing beats a bag (or two) of Wegmans Memphis BBQ chips. I speak from experience. Definitely crave-worthy. Stock up on multiple bags so they're always there when you need them.

Mmmm... Wegmans Memphis Barbeque chips!

Wegmans, as I mentioned yesterday, is a destination. We actually go there for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner; friends even meet us there for a meal out. Breakfast at the Market Café is crazy good. Waffles, omelets, and eggs Benedict made to order. Then there’s the orange juice. Ask our friend Sean about the juice. We already have plans to smuggle some back here very soon! It’s fresh-squeezed and SO scrumptious. I don’t know what kind of oranges they use, but I bet they’re a special breed of oranges grown under close scrutiny especially for Wegmans in their privately-owned groves. The hot food bar also continues to impress. Asian fare galore- Chinese, Japanese and Indian. A great way to try different things and a perfect stop for lunch. Forget fast food. (Except for Mighty Taco!) I’m pretty sure you could eat every meal at Wegmans for a month and never have the same thing twice. A given Wegmans might have any combination of the following prepared food eateries: subs, panini, sushi, pizza, wings, burritos, rotisserie, soups, salads, pasta and pre-packaged meals to go. Those with a Market Café have tables and patios where you can relax with your yummy food. 

Too much. This place is seriously serious about food. Then again, so am I.

Wegmans (Part 1)

<sigh>  I… LOVE… WEGMANS. My first real job. My first true foodie love. The first thing I missed when I moved away from Western NY (well, besides family and friends). It’s a destination, a phenomenon and so much more than a supermarket; it’s an experience. Wegmans prides itself on customer service and quality products. What supermarket doesn’t declare to do the same? Who actually succeeds? How many people truly LOVE their supermarket? Wegmans delivers.

While not exclusively a Buffalo company, Buffalo would not be what it is without the Rochester-based Wegmans. And neither would I. In high school, I worked at the Wegmans on Sheridan Drive- store #62- and enjoyed many close encounters of the edible kind. Even though I worked in the video and photo departments, I had a lot of opportunities to enjoy the goodness that is Wegmans. (Remember when we had video and photo departments in stores?) The video counter was right across from the pizza counter. Most supermarket pizza is adequate at best; Wegmans pizza was awesome. I ate a lot of it, especially when Lou was working. Any slices left over at the end of his shift were free game for the photo-video staff. Another favorite was the Wegmans chocolate chip muffin. You know... the kind with loads of mini chocolate chips and the big sugar crystals on top. Low-fat or fat-free? Not a chance! Their chocolate chip cookies are amazing and apparently famous after former VP Dan Quayle sang their praises during his tenure. Rich, loaded with chips, and home-baked soft. 

LOVE these cookies... see if they last a day!

When I wasn’t bumming free pizza or eating baked goods for dinner, I would actually get food from the salad bar. (Yes, I paid for it.) They had the most tasty pasta salad I’ve ever eaten. I can’t recall what made it so amazing, but I know it involved artichoke hearts. Of course there were days when I’d get my meals from the bulk food bins. (Again, paying for them.) If you’ve never experienced the bulk section, it’s a dream come true. Barrel after barrel filled with everything you need and many things you don’t; everything from sandwich cookies to gummy worms to sponge candy to granola to pet treats. I think I saw shoes there once. Over 20 years ago, The Olde World Cheese Shoppe introduced my family to a longstanding holiday tradition: salsa dip. During a demo one day, the cheese lady was sampling a dip made from salsa, sour cream, cream cheese and topped with shredded cheese. Completely simple, but it caught my taste buds and it still appears at almost every celebration.

That’s just the Wegmans of my past. To be continued… (How Wegmans continues to cater to the foodie in me!)