Random Tidbits About Canada

We've been back from Canada for a week now, and I have to admit that being back in the real world isn't much fun. Deployment is coming up fast, which upsets me. I guess I had been ignoring that fact for a while, but reality set in when we got back from Canada.

BUT...on a happy note, I decided to write about some random fun things in Canada that have nothing to do with almost losing my life.

First....I grew up in New Jersey (as you probably know by now). New Jersey is known as the "Diner Capital of the World". You can find a real, true diner in just about every single town. Many towns have diners on every street corner, and some have more than one on the same street. Diner food is hard to describe if you've never eaten it before. Its not quite home cooking, but its also not a meal that you would get at a restaurant like Applebee's. One thing I miss about Jersey is my favorite diner, the Crystal Diner in Toms River. The Crystal Diner serves something called disco fries. They are also served in many other diners around the state too. Disco fries are a plate of french fries, with brown gravy and American cheese on them. Before you say that it sounds gross, I dare you try to them if you ever have the chance and I bet you will be changing your mind quickly. Since leaving the state, I haven't come across disco fries anywhere. In fact, I really haven't come across a real diner anywhere else. The closest thing I have found to a real diner, is a typical Carolina Barbeque place (only in North Carolina though). Carolina Barbeque isn't diner food, but a lot of other things they offer is similar (i.e. grilled cheese). So needless to say that I was beyond excited that a very popular meal/snack in Canada is something called Poutine. Poutine is...you guessed it...french fries, with brown gravy and cheese!! The cheese was something similar to blue cheese (I forget what it actually was), so that part was different, but the first time we came across a restaurant with Poutine, I was able to get them to switch their cheese to 2 slices of American cheese. Then I happily ate my disco fries, at the top of Suplher Mountain, in Canada :-). Mr. V always thought disco fries sounded gross, until he tried mine in Canada. He changed his mind. We ended up finding that almost every restaurant that served fries, also served Poutine (The KFC there served fries and gravy in place of the mashed potatos that we are used to here.) Some places served french fries with a regular meal, and you can get a side of brown gravy to pour over them. Needless to say, I ate my beloved disco fries at every place that served them. I think its going to be a while before I will be able to eat them again. So yay for Canada and their own version of a favorite Jersey diner food!

Second....Another weird food/snack that I love is marzipan. Marzipan is an almond paste that is used a lot in cake decorating. At Christmas time marzipan comes in small fruit shaped pieces, usually in a nice gift box. There is nothing special about marzipan, other than the fact that I like the taste of it. However, its another thing that I like to eat, that I have a hard time finding outside of New Jersey. I worked at a candy store for 5 years, and we sold regular marzipan, along with chocolate covered marzipan. Mr. V happens to find marzipan absolutely disgusting, as do many other people who have tried it. Apparently, disliking it must be pretty common because its not an easy thing to find (although here in Oak Harbor, Safeway sells it in their baking isle). So score another point for Canada! We went into several small candy shops while we were there. If you know me, you know I get sweet cravings pretty often, so if there's a candy store around, and I have no candy in my car, then we are going inside.) I was quite happy to discover that chocolate covered marzipan is a pretty common thing sold in Canadian candy stores.

So while, I'm sure people are still going to think that I enjoy eating things that seem gross to them, I am happy to report that Canada clearly understands my taste buds. And since Poutine and marzipan is sold just about everywhere, then I'm happy to say that I can't possibly be the only person in the world who likes to eat this stuff.