The Land of White American Cheese

So we've arrived. We're back on the East Coast. We didn't come quietly though and for awhile it seemed like Mother Nature didn't want us to leave the West Coast. The day we flew back east, our plane was delayed 1.5 hours on the tarmac in Seattle because of bad weather in Philly. Almost like we shouldn't have been on the plane. When we finally got to the airport in Philly, it had started to rain. By the time we got the rental car (past midnight), it was pouring. Julia and I were standing outside the rental car office with our 12 bags, trying to keep everything from getting wet and trying to keep our spirits up. We stayed in an airport hotel for the night (and I will never stay in one of their chain hotels again), then drove up to Lansdale the next morning, looking for breakfast on the way. The only bright spot was the fact that our movers delivered all of our possessions on Sunday morning. In the pouring rain. We had to endure many jokes about rain, being from Seattle, and having the rain to welcome us back east. It does not rain that hard in Seattle.

On Saturday we took an excursion to the local Safeway (called Genuardi's here) to find some food. We needed lunch meat and cheese so that Dan would have something to eat on the job his first week. Now I remember that lunch meat was more expensive in Connecticut than it had been in Maryland. And lunch meat in Seattle was not cheap, but for $8.99/lb you could get the all-natural ham or turkey with no preservatives. Not here. They don't even carry anything besides ham, turkey, salami, and bologna. So we sighed and paid the $9.99/lb for the turkey. Then we had to find some cheese. We like cheddar. There was no cheddar. Instead they had muenster, Swiss, and seven different kinds of American cheese product.

The first time I lived in PA I was struck by the fact that the American cheese here is white. They don't add the orange coloring that everyone else in the country adds to it. My dad tells me I should be happy about this, because it leaves the cheese in a more natural state. Which is true. But the stuff in deli was clearly labelled cheese product. Not cheese. And I didn't know that there could be seven different kinds of it. And it was not seven different brands...there were only two brands. I am not quite sure what the difference between the varieties are (the labels were not very informative), but we ended up getting the cheese product that was on sale.

This stuff melts. As both Dan and I discovered when we ate it on sandwiches that had been made the night before. The cheese product melts of its own accord to make something that is the consistency of mayonnaise. Only more drippy. I don't remember American cheese doing this when we lived here before. Perhaps they have changed the formula for making the cheese product. This week we bought provolone.

So there has been a lot of culture shock here. The accents have been driving me crazy. I actually heard someone say "yous" the other day when they meant "you (pl)". I cringed because it reminded me of high school. It has been almost impossible to find vegetables in the store beyond lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, and cucumbers. We found a Whole Foods and bought some kale, not knowing if we would ever see it appear in the other grocery stores. I did find Alaskan salmon at Costco, which may be the only reason we keep our membership.

Some bright spots: we went apple picking, which we were not able to do in Seattle. The fall colors are beautiful and happening all at once. The rain has stopped and we haven't been subject to any more Seattle rain jokes. I discovered that my favourite tea shop in Seattle does mail order. And last week Julia and I made a great find in the Safeway. Tillamook Cheddar.