I have the east coast in my blood and it's always good to go home, even if it means a total of over 10 hours of plane time with two small children and a wife who hates to fly. My wife, thankfully, is an east coaster as well. One of the pleasures of WonderWife's™ hometown are the many Wawa convenience stores sprinkled throughout.
I did not grow up with Wawas. My hometown had 7-11, as we do here in Southern California. While my love for the 'Sev is strong and unabated, I must confess that Wawa gives it a run for its money. It could be the made-to-order sandwich bar, where you can put together your masterpiece using a touch screen that has detailed options like "a little bit of mayo" or "extra oil". Perhaps it's the fresh baked Philly style pretzels sold at the register. But most definitely, it's the entire aisle dedicated to the greatest snack cakes in the history of junk food.
"Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a..."
(If you can finish that line, than you know what I'm talking about.)
I was fortunate to grow up in a state that had access to the sugary goodness known as Tastykake. They are made in Philadelphia and are only sold in surrounding areas (though their reach keeps expanding). Tastykakes are one of the touches of home that I miss now that I live on the opposite coast. And at the Wawa, they have a whole bunch of them.
So imagine my surprise when I was perusing the Tastykake aisle of a Wawa, while the sandwich artisan behind the counter was preparing my Shorti, and I found this:
Not only is it a Tastykake, but it displayed two words that I love to see on any snack food, "limited edition."
Cheesecake Tastykake pie is exactly what you want it to be. It has a graham crust, thick enough not to get soggy and thin enough so that you don't get a mouth full of dry crust when you eat the pie. The filling has a rich, creamy texture and does a pretty good job of replicating an actual cheesecake. Good stuff indeed.
Speaking of good stuff, my mom-in-law (who in the past has provided me with experiments in bacony goodness) came through again this Thanksgiving by serving bacon cheese before the big meal.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that bacon cheese is cheese with bacon in it. While I think the cheese itself was cheddar, it tasted more like deeply smoked gouda. It was really good on it's own, but it was downright excellent when placed upon a garlic cracker. I almost didn't have room for turkey.
But of course, I had room for turkey. Cause it was Thanksgiving. And I was on the east coast. My true home.
8 comments:
Are you as unaware as the last person I read who mentioned Wawa, that Wawa is actually a town in Ontario that is famous for its large-assed goose sculpture thingy?
Also? Bacon cheese? Brilliant!
Mmmm. Bacon cheese. *drool*
I've never had a Tastykake. You can probably blame that one my West-Coast-y-ness.
But I think even if they were here, I'm not sure I could make myself purchase one. I have an aversion to companies that use Ks in place of Cs.
I'm weird, I know.
Who needs turkey and stuffing when you've got pakkaged kheesekake pie and bakony kheese?
I grew up in the same neck of the woods as you. When I was in about 2nd grade, they showed us a film about Tastykakes (I think it was early "infotainment") and all I remember about it was there was a girl in the film who kept asking, "How do they get the jelly in the Krimpets!?" Did you happen to see that one?
SciFi...I was not aware. When you say "large-assed goose" are you talking that the goose literally has a large ass?
Zen...We will need to fix the Tastykake problem. A Butterscotch Krimpet or Peanut Butter candy cake should do the trick. K or no k.
YEO...I don't think I ever saw any film on Tastykakes growing up. I think I was instinctively drawn to them from the beginning. Since you're familiar, you probably know the urban myth about rubbing the unopened pack of Krimpets on your shirt so that the frosting doesn't stick to the plastic, right? I still do that.
TastyCake. (I have east in blood but west was first - I'm a Washington State girl living the East Coast life.)
Ah Wawa. Where else can you get gas, drinks, snacks and a sense of joy at all once? Plus their bathrooms are top notch on the gas station scale - you actually don't mind using them.
And SciFi? Wawa is a town in PA. Famous for milk and ice cream.
When I first saw your mention of "Wawa," I thought, wow, you're from that little town on the northern coast of Lake Superior? Hey! I've been there! (:D
But no. So it's also a 7-11 equivalent chain? Never heard of it, never been to one. We had Store 24's where I grew up.
Now, if they had a Wawa IN Wawa...
Yeah, but can you get a tub of slushy frozen juice like stuff and a rubbery hotdog for less than you would spend on a Starbucks drink?
That, is the real test...
Whenever I go back east, it's so refreshing, like "I can be as loud and obnoxious as my instincts tell me to be and I'll fit right in!"
Also, I totally thought the two great words on the Tastykake wrapper that you were talking about were going to be "cheesecake pie." Because that sounds pretty good to me.
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