It’s 4 days until the 4th of July! That might just be a date on the calendar for some of you, but for me it’s one of my favourite holidays. I love celebrating American Independence Day (even if I did marry a Brit, you get a free pass Chris). It makes me think of summer, big family parties with my aunt and cousins, swimming pools, streamers and parades and of course food! I’m going to share with you some of my favourite eats that some people (ahem, Chris) don’t quite share my enthusiasm for (he likes them, sure, but isn’t quite as obsessed as me) and just don’t taste the same when you’re not in the good ole USofA.
Grilled Cheese is probably the most comforting of comfort foods to me. You can make it at home of course (using American cheese slices only! I know, I know, it’s not really cheese but you just don’t get the smooth, creamy, gooeyness with anything else) but it pales in comparison to diner-style grilled cheese thanks to their hot griddle and serious grease. Ideally, it should be served with a slice of pickle and some crinkle cut french fries.
Iced Tea or more precisely, sweet tea, or even more precisely, my grandmother’s sweet tea. I’m fond of a cuppa over here, so this isn’t an either/or debate, but on a hot day in South Texas there is nothing better than a glass (or 11, god bless free American refills!) of ice cold sweet tea. And if you’re eating Tex-Mex, iced tea with lime is the best! My grandmother’s tea was ridiculous, from what I remember it tasted like all the sugary goodness I wasn’t supposed to eat, ever. And It. Was. Good. I want one thing to be clear here, that powder-based Nestea gunk you sell over here is not iced tea. It’s gross. Don’t do it. Book yourself a trip to the Southern US some day and get yourself a big glass of heaven if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
Watermelon is definitely my favourite fruit (followed closely by straweberries) Okay, we can get watermelon here for a couple of weeks in the summer and they are pretty good, but they are nothing compared to South Texas watermelons. The one pictured above is cute, but much too small and too round. However, I’m happy to have dainty watermelons here because that means I can carry them home in the buggy! Watermelons are summer. So pink and sweet, they are designed to make you happy. They even look like a great big smile! I have so many fond memories of sitting outside with half a watermelon and a spoon. I can’t wait to head to Market Square when I’m back in SATX to get some watermelon juice!
Pancakes. I know I’ve talked about pancakes a lot and I may have mentioned a few times that crepes are not pancakes (they are crepes). I love a big stack of fluffy American pancakes, silver dollar pancakes, short stack, full stack, chocolate chip, funny face, blueberry and sweet potato pancakes, I love them all. Just typing those words makes me happy because it reminds me of great moments in my life served over a plate of pancakes–trekking through a snow storm to get to Allston’s Breakfast Club on Chris’s first trip to visit me in the US; standing for hours hungrily waiting for a spot in Somerville’s Sound Bites; going for the full stack on our honeymoon to Savannah, GA; late night IHOP hangouts in high school; and of course lazy Saturday mornings at home when Chris makes pancakes so good, he could be an honorary American! (If you want to make pancakes too, here’s our Double Chocolate, Wholemeal and Apple Cinnamon recipes)
This list isn’t exhaustive. I could also include bacon, peanut butter, ice cream (and ice cream parlours in particular), gulf coast shrimp, deli sandwiches, pickles, and hamburgers but I was getting too hungry! Sure, we’re not winning any awards for being healthy, but what’s the fun in that?