A Life For Itself

Tag: food

  • Can’t Keep Running Away – 7 May 2021

    Today’s inspiration:

    “Runnin” by the Pharcyde

    Today’s joy:

    A fun time out, running errands in the evening.  

    A past joy:

    Running the same errands, but just before the time of Covid.

     

  • Fueling Myself and the Car

    A few days ago, I saw a tweet from Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks about a crab cake being sold by High’s, a local convenience store chain.  I thought for about half a second about going out to a High’s and trying it, but I’d also said the same about their fried cod sandwich, but never followed through on that idea.  It’s a gas station.  Thankfully, he tried it himself and saved me from having to go out there, since the meat is claw.  It’s like $8.99 and I can go to my favorite seafood place and get an excellent backfin crab cake for a couple bucks more.

    That tweet spawned more discussion and then the Sun’s food writer put out the call to Baltimore drivers, asking for their favorite gas station meals.baltimore drivers - what's your favorite gas station meal?Since I drive lots of places in the Mid Atlantic and lower Northeast, I have, from time to time, bought food at a bunch of different convenience stores and gas stations.  Here are some of my favorite meals and other items that I like when I’m on the road.  And some other stuff.

    Overall favorite: QuickChek Chicken Sandwich.  I’ve had this numerous times from being around New Jersey so long.  It’s about as good as a McChicken or Burger King’s original (long) chicken sandwich, so don’t expect the Sun, Moon, and stars, but it’s decent.  But it has one thing over some of its fast food cousins — since you’re inside of the store at the machine to order it, it’s much more customizable.  That way, you can more or less make the sandwich yours.  QuickChek also makes some really good branded teas.  No, there are no QuickChek locations in the Baltimore area.  

    But, my local favorite … Royal Farms (RoFo) Chicken Tenders with Western Fries.  Royal Farms chicken is good.  Perhaps not as good as their commercials would indicate –and it does not necessarily take the place of a chicken box from a corner spot– but it’s a good stand-in if you’re on the go.  And if you’re not in the mood for fries, you can get mashed potatoes and other sides.  They also have a good selection of sauces for your meal.  RoFo’s lime tea is highly recommended.  Get yourself a jug of it instead of a bottle.  For something sweet, get yourself some chocolate donut holes.

    Some others:

    Wawa: Hands down, their strawberry smoothies.  During Siptopia, I might go every other day to Wawa.  Also, their branded teas are awesome — Peach, Raspberry, Blackberry, just go get them.  Their brownies are really good, too.  Not too much into their hot foods.

    High’s: I grew up going to High’s but not for hot food.  High’s is where I go to get cheap lemonade and orange drink and things like that.  I’m not planning on trying any of their hot food, but if I’m up near Ellicott City and remember, and am bored, I might roll in there.  And if it looks okay in there, I might get the sandwich.  Maybe.

    7-11: Haven’t eaten anything made at a 7-11 in a very long time, like decades.  But they carry some of my favorite candies, so there’s that.  And their branded drinks are pretty good.

    A-Plus: I don’t eat anything out of here that’s not prepackaged.  And the only one I usually go to is the one at the other end of the parking lot from the Biden (Delaware) Welcome Center, so I’m not there that often anyway.

     

  • Maryland Food Polls

    Thinking forward to the next few months, I think I’d love a great snowball this summer. Yet, I doubt that’s going to happen. I’m not sure, no matter how good they are, that snowball stands will be allowed to be categorized as essential. Yes, they serve a food item, one pretty well beloved in Baltimore, but I don’t think they case can, or will, be made.

    Snowballs are just one of my picks in one of the latest Twitter quarantine games: Baltimore and Maryland food polls. In this one, you had to pick just three to keep.

     

    As you can see, I chose 1, 4, and 9 — crabs, snowballs, and scrapple.

    Yes, of course, I chose crabs. I would ask what Marylander wouldn’t choose crabs, but my younger sister might do so for the sake of being contrary. Who knows? Maybe a transplant might, but I don’t always count them. Unfortunately, I’m also having doubts as to whether crabs or crab cakes will realistically be on the menu this summer, as well.

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    I would love a scrapple sandwich with cheese. Just like we used to eat on Sunday mornings before church. Minus the egg. I probably should have had one during the pandemic, but because I only eat turkey scrapple, and that stuff isn’t always as easy to find as the standard pork variety. So, once this situation ends and things are more open, whenever that may be, one of the first things I plan to do is find a nice block of turkey scrapple. Then, I’ll have a nice, toasty scrapple sandwich.

    Some will point out that scrapple might be more of a Pennsylvania thing, even more of a Delaware thing. That’s cool. New York and New Jersey both claim best pizza and recently, bagels. I’m willing to share scrapple. I’ve even heard that you can go to some places along the Chesapeake in Virginia and get some decent-to-good crab cakes. Now, again, this is a thing that I heard and can not verify personally.

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    In this other poll, I just took a bunch of them. I didn’t feel like deciding between the ones I liked.

     

    Crab soup, #8, can be really good, but cream of crab is so much better. Imagine that fishy, pungent, spicy taste of crab with Old Bay, not within a thin broth, but a silky, creamy one. A soup understated as it first hits the tongue, but gives you all of its crabby goodness on the back end as it goes down. That’s cream of crab. First time I ever had it was in a small deli in Annapolis. I fell totally in love. The next time I had it, I ordered a bowl and ended up dipping a couple of chicken fingers in it. I’m pretty sure few others will find cream of crab to be so versatile, but those chicken fingers were so good. I should have reviewed that meal.