Jersey (Epilogue)!

Just a few words about food. In addition to the pork roast and the pizza at Mack and Manco's, there were myriad other opportunities for shameless gluttony down in the Garden State. Let's start with hoagies (not subs, heros, grinders, or whatever else you people out there call them) - only in the Delaware Valley have I had an Italian sandwich worthy of the name. Normally we'll get a hoagie from Rocco's, in the Reading Terminal Market across the river in Philadelphia, or pick up a few sandwiches from Gurk's, a deli/convenience store from my dad's postage stamp hometown of Sewell that's been serving up hoagies since he was a kid. What makes both places' hoagies top-notch is the quality of the ingredients, from the imported deli meats to the extra sharp provolone cheese, the sum total of which is nothing at all like what you taste when you order a "Spicy Italian" at Subway, no offense to the House That Jared Built. But this time we actually got our hoagies from a new Sicilian place, and man-o-man, did they ever deliver the goods, though in all truth you could probably swing a cat and hit a decent eatery in South Jersey. The best part of their hoagies however was the bread. Instead of a soft or semisoft roll, these guys used an honest to goodness crusty baguette, which not only tasted delicious but kept the sandwich from getting soggy, which is always a problem with all that oil and vinegar.

As for the rest of the cornucopia of Jersey foods we enjoyed over the weekend, I can only sing the praises of a store called WaWa, which is less of a convenience store than a Garden of Earthly Delights. There we could find Sizzlis for breakfast, Tastykakes and Philly-style soft pretzels for lunch, and meatball sandwiches for dinner which you assemble yourself virtually by touch screen. They have birch beer; potato chips with Old Bay seasoning; pork roll; bottled iced tea with sugar and no lemon (a.k.a. "sweet tea"); preztels stuffed with jalepenos and cheese, even warm and gooey graham cracker S'mores - everything a Jersey Exile needs.

I need to open up a WaWa franchise in New England!

But all in all, it was a good trip. The proper balance of gluttony, fun, and sloth was attained. Who can ask for more?