New York City hick gets lost in the new South of South Jersey

It is a truly hideous condiment. Do not eat it! It will no doubt have some sort of horrible reaction with your Latina system.

Off to finish the lasagna for tonight's dinner.

Nance

I grew up pretty much in the middle of nowhere in southeastern New Hampshire. To do any grocery shopping, you had to drive between 8 and 15 minutes; the small businesses downtown were great if you needed convenience store stuff, hardware store stuff, or video rentals, but nothing more. Outside of my neighbors, none of my friends lived less than a ten minute drive away. Public transportation was virtually nonexistent; there's a bus service that goes from town to town, but the hours and service areas are extremely limited.

There was a tradeoff, though. Even though driving everywhere was a necessity, I had miles of woods to ramble through. I lived within a stone's throw of several lakes and rivers, 30 minutes away from the ocean, and 45 minutes away from the White Mountains and the Presidential Range. There were trees and cows and pastures and farms...for a kid with a huge imagination like mine, it was pretty much perfect. Well, 'cept for all the black flies and mosquitoes. Sure, as soon as I got to be a teenager, I headed for a life with less trees and more of a night life, but what I'm saying is, living in 'car country' isn't always a totally horrible thing.

is reality for a lot of us. Everything is a drive away here, at least 10-20 minutes, and there is virtually no mass transit. What there is is about to be cut because we are about to have our property taxes cut and the federal portion of the funding was already cut. Brilliant planning, folks.

Nance

though it's not surprising to see so-called liberal bloggers blithely ignore issues related to issues of class (and, no, not just consumption/lifestyle choices), i find this post about bob evans, despicable. for one, the title alone (the new south in south jersey) is clearly anti-southern, coupled with comments about obesity, bisquick, saliva dressing. despite all attempts to make a critique of suburbia and car culture, this reeks of good old fashioned class/anti-southern bias.

Neither seem something to go for. But then again, I remember when I lived in Manhattan, finding a friend with a car just to go walking on the Board Walk at Atlantic City was an adventure. I enjoyed Atlantic City even more when I reread "Elmer Gantry."
For all the biscuits and gravy that the South has, I have never been in Bob Evans. How did I avoid it all these years?
If maybe this conversation steers toward energy conservation, the inevitable question arises over "America's love affair with the automobile." Love them or not, cars are the only way most persons can get from point A to point B. It was built into the Interstate Highway system. I don't believe anyone knew how congested and mind-numbing that would become. But worst of all, think of the little towns allowed to atrophy for lack of a off ramp. And in the cities, the dead spots that made slums even more ghettoized. Yet, we all know that there is next to no chance of instituting a mass transit system in crowded areas.
Well, this is just a ramble. I really looked to see whether the steam pipe break at Grand Central made news at CK. Couldn't find a thing, but thinking of Grand Central made me pine for the oyster bar. Now there is a chance to think of food with a consistency which many people consider repulsive, lower on the food chain than salad dressing.