Signs: Awesome

This sign resides just outside the quaint and beautiful downtown of Aiken, SC. Um, yeah, I had to snap a pic. And cursed if "off da chain" is not back in my lexicon!Besides snickering, this sign got me thinking about the naming of restaurants. I'm actually fond of this more descriptive moniker than, say, some of the one-word descriptors that merely allude to the food and drink being served, or, worse, just sound pretentious.

Ansill, Supper, Bindi, Kanella, Xochitl, Tinto, Fork, James, Meme? Tell me what you really serve. For instance, Monk could be more accurately named More Beer Than You Can Shake A Stick At. Amada could be renamed Tapas So Good You'll Stain Your Drawers. And Moaz should be called Bangin' Euro Fast Food Falafel. Just a thought.

Signs: Italian Market Meats

While the sheep snoozes, and the cow is oblivious, the pig knows he's the tastiest and the first one to go. You think he saw this sign?

Signs: Gottahava

I've you're from Pennsylvania or the immediate surrounding states, you know exactly what letter is missing from this sign. W. And that spells Wawa, the Ojibwe word for the Canada goose...or a chain of convenience stores and gas stations that people either feel indifferent about or love, love, love. Or maybe you're somewhere in between indifference and love, like me. Older Wawa applesticker

Funny story (not really, but...): Even though Wawa is one of the most prominent convenience stores in the Delaware Valley, it took about a year and a half after moving to the area to discover that Wawa is not a health food store. Health food store? Why in the hell would I think that Wawa was a health food store?

You see, the first two years of living in Pennsylvania, I lived a very sheltered existence in a small town where I did not have the time to get out much due to work, so the only Wawa I saw was of the homely, older variety (the super Wawas with gas pumps weren't even on the scene at that time) with a hippy-dippy orange and brown bird logo and the words "food market" on the building. Yep, health food store. I, of course, had never stepped inside a Wawa.

It wasn't until a roommate of mine told me that the sandwich she was eating was from Wawa, and that she worshiped Wawa and their sandwiches, that I got the full story on Wawa - sort of like a 7-Eleven and a Subway combined, but better.

I don't know when I actually tried a Wawa sandwich, but I can tell you that my first experience convinced me to love, love, love Wawa - as far as convenience stores go. Far better than Subway, and almost as good as a local corner hoagie shop, Wawa has some pretty good sandwiches. ElCapitan

But what I love the most about Wawa is the touch-screen ordering system that spits my order out to a person behind the counter. No interacting with people, no repeating my toppings, and a button that actually specifies a little bit of mayonnaise, I wish every sandwich, burrito, salad, or any other lunch spot where you move down the line calling out the ingredients you want had this system in place. Yes, I prefer not to interact with strangers (bah humbug), but my order is always correct at Wawa.

While Wawa isn't my first lunch of choice, I can't deny that I gottahava Wawa sometimes. And after returning home from a food-scarce road trip with no Wawas to duck into, you practically fall down on your knees and kiss the ground when you get back into Wawa territory.

Other reasons to love Wawa: cheap gas; coffee (some people swear by it, but I'm not a big coffee drinker); snacks like cheese, crackers, yogurt and fruit that you'd actually feel good about eating; and surcharge-free ATM's.

I love Wawa's sandwiches and touch-screens, but am indifferent about the rest.
Why do you love Wawa?

Signs: Regionalisms

Quick! What do you call a sandwich on a long roll filled with meat, cheese, veggies, and condiments?

If you said sub, grinder, hero, or one of the other regional names for such a sandwich, you're not from around these parts. It's called a hoagie in Philly, and I'm not from around these parts. I'm sure you can find past posts where I've flung around the word sub -- what I used to call these sandwiches.

It's funny how regionalisms rub off on you, whether you like it or not. Having lived in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware for the past six years, I now say hoagie instead of sub almost instinctively. This adjustment and change I don't mind so much.

I do wince when I say you guys instead of y'all, though. When I'm being proper and having a formal conversation with someone (work, meeting someone new), I say "you guys" about half of the time. "How are you guys doing?"

When I'm inebriated, excited, mad, or just plain comfortable, I fling y'all all over the place. I get a little accent, too, that entertains others. "How y'all doin'?"

As far as food regionalisms go, I'm in the soda camp (soda, pop, or coke). To me, soda means any carbonated, sugared beverage. Coke means any cola-flavored, carbonated, sugared beverage, be it a Pepsi, RC, or whatever. Not no ever, no way in hell, huh-uh would I ever use the word pop, though.

For the record, I say caramel, carra-mel (three syllables); and pecan, PEE-can.

What other food regionalisms can you think of? Has living in a different region of the US affected your speech?

Signs: Killing Me Gently

This sign is a testament to the rapid degeneration of my aging brain.

When I snapped this picture, I swore the sign said kosher and gentle killing.

Aw, how nice of them to lovingly, gently kill the little animals.

It wasn't until I uploaded the photo that I realized the word was gentile, not gentle.

Holy shit, they're killing gentiles down in South Philly. It's Philly's own Delicatessen! Does anyone know about this?

No, no, no...this is just someone's sick (and kinda funny) joke.

About an hour later, it dawned on me that the sign just meant kosher and non-kosher killing. Phew!

I'm off to bone up on word puzzles. Gentiles, watch your backs.

Signs: Bangin' Bagel Hole

The first sign I'm giving you is my most favoritest food sign in Philly. This bagel beacon is hanging outside of South Street Philly Bagels just a few doors south of South St. on 3rd St. (confused yet?).

I love this sign because of the mesmerizing hole in the middle of the bagel. I could look at it forever (also, the crack in my bedroom ceiling). If the hole were perfectly round, I would not be so smitten with the sign. But it's not, and I am.

We are also smitten with the real bagels. And when I say "we", I mean my boyfriend. I also think South Street Philly Bagels' dough wheels are bangin', but the boy is the one that has been buying a baker's dozen every other week from the joint ever since he moved to Philly four years ago. That's over 1000 bagels!

Newness To The Blogness

There's going to be a new feature on this here blog!

I'm not sure what to call it since I'm hopeless when it comes to clever names (um...check out the name of this blog), but, for now, I'll just call it Signs. Yeah.

This new feature has nothing to do with aliens, but will be food related signs, scrawlings, and any other sort of image I find interesting in Philly (Wilmington, I might love you, too). You see, if I bake and eat out all the time, I'll keep gaining five pounds each year, and that's four pounds more than is acceptable.

I pass lots of interesting places in my wanderings through the city (I'm mostly in South Philly), but, honestly, I have no desire to eat at most of them. Some of the places have interesting signs, though. Some of the signs aren't that interesting, but I might have an interesting story (totally subjective) to go along with the sign. And sometimes a sign is just a sign. And sometimes it's not even a sign.

So, this is just my heads up to what in the hell is going on over here. I'm giving you a sign, dude! Soon-ish.