There must be a parade today. I come to that conclusion by noting the large number of people who have already set out lawn chairs to watch it from.

Mayors Tailgate

The Intelligent Era and WGAL have both noted that Rick Gray was invited to the White House for Sunday's SuperBowl party; one of them mentioned that guests were invited to bring munchies, and Rick brought Hammond's pretzels. This morning's York Daily Record mentions that their former former mayor, John Brenner and Reading's mayor Tom McMahon as well. Apparenbtly, the White House thinks it's safe to snub the mayors of Bridgeport, Bausman and Willow Street. They only invited 150 mayors, after all.

They talked about the fact that unemployment was high, a fact I'm sure has escaped Mr. Obama's attention until now, and discussed Yuengling beer. Jennifer Lopez was present at the party with her husband, but apparently they didn't discuss her at all. John Brenner said the deep-dish pizza was incredibly good.

Well, duh. Obama is from Chicago, after all. That's where pizza was invented<,/i> or at least, that's what everybody said in the 1950s when I was first exposed to pizza. (East-coast pizza is all about the crust. Midwestern pizza is all about the toppings. They go by the same name, and bear some physical resemblance, but they really are quite different foods.)

The Dill Pickle Othentic

If Lancaster is The City Authentic, then is Poland the land of the Pickle Othentic? You can't see very well from this picture, but these jars are oval in cross-section, much wider than they are deep. They have a variety of pickle varieties, both dill and sweet, and I thought they were exceptionally good. I don't know where there is a reliable source of supply; every so often, I run across them in Amelia's. Recommended.

Baby, It's Cold Outsides

It isn't a little cold outdoors, it's a lot cold. When it takes a half mile or more of driving to warm up the power steering fluid enough that the steering isn't stiff, that's cold. I wanted to apologize to the van this morning, but after a couple of miles of driving, it seemed to be rather cheery, and it was a pretty day out, if you could ignore the temperature.

The heifers at Conestoga Valley Dairy didn't seem to be bothered by the weather. They were in a loafing shed, open to the weather on every side except the south, and you'd think they might be cold, but they seemed to be happy. I stopped to talk to them, and reached out my hand. Heifer #16 was thrilled that I was willing to scratch her nose gently. She reached around and gave my hand a warm lick of appreciation. It's been a long time since I was involved in the daily lives of dairy cattle, and I really miss their company. Most women would be offended to be called cows, but most heifers are intelligent, curious, affectionate, kind, and have some of the prettiest eyes on this planet. It really should be considered a compliment.

Chips Passing In The Night

Utz is proud that they were once called the best potato chip. There are a lot of different chips out there, and for the most part, it's not that one is better than the other, but they are simply different styles.

I can't argue with those that gave top honors to Utz, for my favorite flat chip - Magic brand - are almost idential to Utz. Magic is made by JCS, as in "John C. Seyfert". John Seyfert sold his "Seyfort's Potato Chips" company to Borden a few decades ago, and then his family started up a new potato chip factory a decade or two later. Seyfert's chips are too salty, Utz could use a tad more salt, and Magic are just perfect.

Blondie prefers Good's flat chips to those three. The choice of oil, the thickness of the chip, and the temperature of the fry oil make a big difference in the chip's flavor.

I always Ballreich's, of Tiffin, Ohio, made the best marcelled chip. You might call them a "rippled" chip. The white-bag Herr chips pictured here taste very similar to Ballreich chips. Until recently, I didn't know anything about these chips. They had the name "Herr's" on the price tag, but no other info on the package. Now, as you see, there's a sign that says they are rippled.

I don't know why I like the Herr's marelled chips so much, but care so little for the Herr's flat chips. The heart has reasons, it is said, that reason knows not. And yet, despite the fact that there are all these many brands, all of which taste different,they pretty much all taste good. I'm glad that I'm not trying to support a family by producing a potato chip that's better than the competition's offering. There's just no satisfying people.

That's All, Folks!

And that's today's potpourri.

Other Bloggers On Related Topics:
Amelia's - Ballreich - Barack Obama - Chicago - dill pickles - Good's potato chips - heifers - Herr's - Jennifer Lopez - John Brenner - Magic potato chips - parade - pizza - potato chips - Rick Gray - Seyfert's - Utz