Saturday, February 28, 2009

Where's the pimento cheese?




Well, it's Saturday afternoon and Atlanta is expecting SNOW. Who knows if we will get it, you just never know in this neck of the woods, but I went to the grocery store just like I was suppose to for "bread and milk"! To be completely honest, I didn't get any milk, I'm lactose intolerant, but I did pick up some bread and eggs. I also got some chicken pot pies, some Coca Cola and some celery.

Let me set the stage for you, I'm single and I rarely grocery shop. I mean, I shop for toilet paper, towel paper, garbage bags and laundry detergent and an occasional frozen microwavable dinner but I do not shop often enough to be familiar with the groceries in the store. So today, I'm pushing my buggy through the masses of regular Saturday shoppers and the "SNOW" shoppers and I'm looking and looking and can't locate what I'm looking for. I saw an associate in the refrigerator section that looked to be maybe 17 and asked him, "Where's the pimento cheese?" He asked me, what? Again I asked, "Where's the pimento cheese?" He kept looking at me like I had a third eye in the middle of my forehead. I explained to him that it was a "cheesy sandwich spread". He said, let me get the "cheese guy", maybe he knows where it is. In steps associate number two, the "cheese guy". I asked him, "where's the pimento cheese?" So he pointed me to their Pulix brand and I said, "no, I'm looking for the "Ruth's" brand. Well he showed me where it was and I checked out and drove home.

On the way home, I started thinking I'm going to have to get a little more hip! What do young people eat if they don't eat pimento cheese sandwiches? I've been eating them since I was a kid, always with a little black pepper! I never was the PBJ kind of kid. I liked jelly and I liked peanut butter, but never as a combination! It wasn't just any pimento cheese spread, it was always "Ruth's" or homemade pimento cheese made with Velveeta Cheese, Duke's Mayonnaise, pimentos and a little black pepper!

I suppose we all have those days, you know we've been told it would happen. The day we put our arm through a sleeve and our mother's hand comes out the end of the sleeve. With men, I guess it's when you look in the mirror to shave and you see your father's chin. Today, I had the moment in the grocery when I realized that one day, no one will know what pimento cheese is and they certainly will not know about "Ruth". Makes me wonder if I could freeze a large quantity of it and save it for posterity? The thought of a young child not ever having the experience of a pimento cheese sandwich, some Lay's potato chips and a cold Coca Cola make me want to cry! VN8

1 comment:

Jim said...

I love pimento cheese but I think you're right, young folks don't have a clue what it is. LOL You know, it's still almost 60 degrees here. It's going to have to get cold fast and freeze the ground our that snow will never lay. I sure hope it does for a few hours though!