"nostalgia" news and stories

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• The smell of sloe gin can spark up nostalgia (props to anyone who can guess what song lyric I'm mimicking here)
  

• Nora Krug reviews "Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet" and "The Sushi Economy"

In a funny post on a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reader blog, blogger Christina Hyun talks about growing up in an Asian household, and how her friends always told her that her house smelled better than their's did. On the flip side, Hyun always marveled at the huge quantity of bread/cereal/cookie products in her Caucasian friends' houses.

I can't relate as much to the cultural aspect, but as a kid, I was definitely envious of my friends' kitchens. My own mother tried to keep our diets pretty healthy, and flat-out refused to buy certain products (Fruit Roll-Ups, Ssips fruit punch, and Cookie Crisp cereal immediately come to mind). Other kids' parents often commented on my "healthy" appetite, as I downed cakes, cookies and fruit punch like it was going out of style. "Oh - my mom won't let us buy this stuff," I'd say, mouth half-full of Tastykake pie, red goo stuck to my chin. The mothers would nod warily as they added "Tastykake pies" to the grocery list.

As I got older, the rules loosened, and I heard rumors that my mom even allowed soda in the house - after I went off to college, of course. But by then the thrill was gone, and fear-mongering about obesity and diabetes had taken its place.

What about you? What products did other kids' kitchens have that made you green with envy? (Or were you that "other kid?")

Source

Cereality is a popular breakfast food chain based on the premise that people like cereal because it's a good breakfast food. The Surreal Bowl is a cafe based on the concept that people like cereal because it's sugary. They sell cereal two scoops at a time - so you can mix your Lucky Charms and Fruity Pebbles - with one topping and milk. Along with the prospect of combining any two cereals, the range of toppings available amounts to the every 7-year-old's dream Saturday morning breakfast since they include Oreos, peanut butter cups and even gummy bears. Not to worry, there are healthier cereal and topping options, too, but in a room that's full of 50's, 60's and 70's kitsch, including plastic furniture and Felix the Cat cartoons playing on TV sets in the corners, why not indulge and relive your childhood. At least, relive the childhood you would have liked to have if your Mom never had a say in what you ate.

Surreal Bowl
611 Central Ave.
St. Petersburg, Florida
phone: 727-452-1761

[Image Weekly Planet]