Snack Attack!!!

Have you had the new flavor sensation that’s sweeping the Kazakh nation??? I’ve been systematically tasting the various flavors (Seafood, Paprika, Sour n Cream---that's not a typo!) Krack’s... a blatant rip-off (although much cheaper) of Pringles (with a hip-hop edge boy-eeee!)

I’ve been experimenting with different foods to try to satiate my grumbles. The store on my block carries a wide selection of food for this growing boy, but it has been difficult figuring it all out. A loaf of fresh-baked bread for merely a quarter – GOOD! A small bag of Shop-Rite (yes that Shop-Rite!) pretzels for a whopping $8.00 – BAD! It takes time and try, try, tying again to get it right. I still buy the bread, but I’ve found a great substitute of German-brand pretzels for less than two bucks!

The other night we had some delicious homemade quesadillas, and later on decided to pair the leftovers up with some tortilla chips to make some MACHO NACHOS (Joey G. All Rights Reserved). Well, upon checking out, I saw that the tortilla chips (hard to find) cost six bucks! …even though the bright orange sticker read 99¢! To add salt (no pun intended) to the wound, I saw upon further inspection that they were ‘Bickells’ and made only a short ride from my Delaware in York, P-A!!!

For lunch, I usually stop in a local market (YES, they are all over / NO, they don’t even compare to Wawa). I saw they had some pre-made sandwiches at a good price, so I scooped one up with a wrapper of a glistening Thanksgiving-style turkey and grabbed a Maxi-Tea to drink (my favorite is apple flavored) and sat down in a park for lunch. The roll tasted of cardboard and encompassed a few shards of turkey skin, a couple hard-boiled eggs, three cucumber slices, and mounds of mayonnaise. Yum! I’ve resorted to the market’s meat pies. They come in different shapes and I usually order by such shapes, “One square, one triangle, and one half-moon, pazahulsta (please)” and I have the nice lady heat them up in a microwave. They’re not bad – usually some flaky dough stuffed with meat, onions, cheese. Sadly, I do not say, “One Whiz, Wit’ Out!!!” like we all do in line at 9th and Wharton (that’s Pat’s Steaks, you should know that)… It’s actually a fun game, mystery meat roulette. Hot Pockets KZ-style, all usually 3 for a dollar! But it’s not always this adventurous – I enjoy having oranges, apples, bread/cheese, at my apartment for lunch as well.

I look forward to dinner, which is usually late – 9:00 – 10:00PM and usually home (I mean apartment) cooked. It has ranged from burritos, penne pasta w/fresh tomatoes, 'shrooms, white wine/mozzarella, to some bangin’ homemade pizza (Amazing Amanda made the crust from scratch!) Amanda is big on using the fresh veggies during meal prep – peppers, cauliflower, onions. And I’ve finally learned to like rice… well at least eat it. My kitchen is very accessible and I’m surviving without a microwave (adapt), can opener (improvise), and toaster (overcome). Desserts are also a favorite – Amanda whipped up some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (finally found baking powder!), I like a good fruit cocktail, and I’m known to ooze some vanilla ice cream on warm cookies. Tea (hot) is king here. Not a huge fan… yet.

That’s all from the food front for now. Pop the top, indeed!