Things we eat: July 2008 Archives

Kinda sad, I know. But probably a very Yorker-like thing to do, being as to how we love to eat so much.

The food in question in today's photo, though, is somewhat un-York-like. It's very Italian and very spicy, so eat with care. It's "pasta aglio y olio," which literally means pasta with oil and garlic. (With that translation, you might barely need the recipe!)

But it's not pronounced ag-lee-oh e oh-lee-oh, and there's one more secret ingredient after the garlic and oil.

Having some time to spare before coming in to work yesterday, my mom, daughter and I headed down to Brown's Orchards and Farm Market in Springfield Township to pick up some good, fresh produce - and lunch!

On the produce side, we got some tomatoes, zucchini, peaches, radishes and bananas. (The radishes and a banana came to work with me as my after-dinner snack.)

My lunch choice was slightly less healthy than all that produce, though! Lunch there is one of my favorite things, and normally I get a hot dog on a pretzel roll. I know, boring. So today, I mixed it up a little.

Wondering what, exactly, that is?

You've heard me mention several times how much I love picnics.

Well, the Greater Dover Historical Society was kind enough to invite me to their annual picnic last week! Jo, a member, was kind enough to introduce me around, so I got to meet a lot of people who I'd heretofore heard of only in e-mails.

Oh, and there was food. FOOOOOOOOD. Did I mention food?

Here I am (center) talking with Madelyn Shermeyer, the GDHS president (right), and her daughter Lisa Byerts, who I had as a teacher in middle school!

Intrepid photographer Jo checked in with this visual update on the Smittie's pretzel stand on Route 74 North. She took this photo last Thursday evening.

Looks like the new, lighthouse-style pretzel stand is getting closer to completion. That means no more pretzel "shack" soon!

Today's post is an ode to my favorite sweet snack...

ICE CREAM!

I couldn't even begin to pick one local favorite. If I had to, it would extend slightly beyond York County's borders to Mechanicsburg, the home of Rakestraw's. Ohhhh, is that good.

Let's see... where else for ice cream?

Local favorites week rolls on, and today I'm looking at my favorite local junk food.

Yep, that's them at right. Utz ripple-cut sour cream and onion chips.

The irony? For those of you who don't know, my part-time job is as a Weight Watchers leader, and I'm getting ready to lead a lunchtime meeting today.

That's just a special kind of irony.

After I wrote yesterday's post on stellar lunches, guess what I ended up making myself for dinner?

You guessed it.

Instant ramen. Isn't that awesome?

Lest you think I'm a little too York County-focused, I should probably mention that one of my main hobbies is reading manga and studying Japanese culture.

You also know that I loooooove food, right?

So imagine how stoked I was last week when Jo sent me some pictures of some amazing Japanese-style bento lunches.

(More photos if you read on!)

One thing you will learn about me, if you stick with this blog long enough, is that I have an almost frightening attraction to hot dogs - or, "stick meat," as my friend LeAnne calls it.

So you can imagine my immense joy when the PR gentlemen from Hatfield e-mailed me to tell me that July is National Hot Dog Month!

Like I needed more of a reason to eat a ketchup-and-mustard-laden, rotisserie-grilled piece of heaven on a bun?!

Matt from Hatfield also tells me that, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, there is such a thing!), last year, in the Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Scranton region, residents purchased more than $27 million worth of hot dogs - the ninth-highest of any region in the nation.

Now that's a lot of meat.