Grilled PBJ

Ingredients: Sliced bread, peanut butter, strawberry preserves, butter

Directions: Heat pan high, spread peanut butter on one slice. Strawberry preserves on another slice. Press together like a typical peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Next proceed to butter the PBJ. Grill sandwich like a grilled cheese sandwich. Serve hot and brings lots of napkin.  Enjoy.

It’s a simple variation on a sandwich classic. With all the extravagance one sees on the Food Channel, it is refreshing to have something simple and yummy.Never been a foodie, but I enjoy a good meal. My waist band can attest to this. However, it took some time to understand what the fascination with the gustatory choices people make.  I would take mom to Filipino restaurant down in the Valley. Never thought it was great food. It was fried, sitting under a heating lamp for a minute and I found it bland.

A Little Goes A Way

Next to it is a Thai place. Its alright, but not my favorite, either. Nopgow on Rancho Vista Blvd would be the place I would go for my last meal. Actually thinking about the food we eat is difficult task. It’s so simple, yet the combination and sequence of preparation are vital. Sure, one can place a two slices of bread in a toaster, spread butter and jelly on them, poof one has sustenance. However, if given a choice between the PBJ I just described and a grilled PBJ, 9 out of 10 will choose the latter.

Rose Buds Come in Many Variations

Our taste buds are peculiar. Most reports say there are mainly four distinct tastes: Sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.  According to webpage from livescience, Tongue map Most scientists agree that there's a fifth distinct taste, called "umami. . .This is the taste of glutamate.  It is common in Japanese foods, particularly kombu, a type of sea vegetable similar to kelp, and in bacon and monosodium glutamate (MSG), which Ikeda isolated and patented.  There's considerable debate about the existence of a sixth taste receptor for fat, too.”

It All Counts

We too often do not consider the incredibly complexities that it takes to feed us. Think about the simple PBJ. I knew one lady ate only PBJ if it was crunchy peanut butter. Another family member hated if either peanut butter or jelly was disproportionate in spread. My nephew prefers just jelly. I like copious amounts of spread on both sides.

Moreover, we often overlook the environment in which our meal is served. It’s quite an incredible balancing act. Think about last time you went out. Did you wait in line to get served? Too long and you get frustrated. No line makes you wonder if the food is good. Did the restaurant have a view or were your sitting in a crowd of people? Was the server nice and did he/she refill your water? Or were they rushed and inattentive? How about the company you kept? A wonderful date or people from work?

Eating is an experience and one we take for granted. Talks of comfort food never really registered until recently. We go to certain restaurants because it builds on good memories. Usually, the food must be good, memorable. Next the service has to meet a certain level of expectation. Everything else, like ambience, mood, company will add and or detract to this memory. Made-with-love post 

Food Memories

It took some time understand why Mom would prefer to eat just Filipino food. My guess is that it brought back memories of home. With the food landscape, Mexican, Chinese, and hamburgers, a nice variations is something other. I mean the food was not the greatest and she admitted this, but she still returns. Like lemmings to the top of the mountain, ready to fall.

Started thinking of my own food comfort zone. When I lived in Boston, there were two places I enjoyed eating. Union with a grilled cheese, tomato, and bacon sandwich. Second place was a pizza place called “A Place To Eat” Their Stanches were incredible. Stanch (pronounced Stahhnch) is a simple Steak and Cheese. Take the first two letters of each word and you get ST(eak) AN(d) CH(eese)—STANCH.

When I left for school, I found myself getting lunch and dinner at these places often.  I was catching the Simpson on the big screen at the Union. Or I was getting home from a late night carousing with friends and the only place open was at the “Place to Eat”

More than Just the Food

Our memory banks fill with good memories with family and friends. When we eat we quickly associate food items to good experiences. Maybe this is the reason for the epidemic of obesity. We long to feel happy again. Certain places, certain foods triggers our happy signals in the brain.

For Me, going on a late night Tommy’s runs I think of singing Air Supply songs with Tammy, Brad, and Corinna on Roscoe Blvd. Rampart Original Tommy’s makes think of Dad original-tommys-simply-best post. Late night Denny's--Its Marc, Brian, Kathleen and others. Nopgow makes me think John Cusack, graduation, and family get-togethers. Roscoe Chicken and Waffle, I think of Jason. Pinks, its Rodney and his family. Odyssey, its high school football and my brother Kevin. Fish Market on 6^th Street makes think of Michelle and the last goodbye night. Cheesecake Factory and Dr Hogly Wogly BBQ stirs memories of LA Fitness. Steer N Stein, its Brad. Farmers Market, I think of my childhood.

Why Ask Why
Now, I’m not so opposed to taking Mom’s to Filipino restaurant, even though it is not the greatest. Just knowing it may bring her good memories I will never understand, I will just smile and go. I can relate because I have my own special restaurants and my own comfort foods.What are your favorites comfort foods? Where are you favorite places to go? And Why? I’d like to know. 

Original Tommy's; Simply the Best

Happy 64th

Tommy’s. Its her 64^th Birthday. Been forgoing the fast food kick for awhile. Fish and chicken, but today I learned it’s the birthday of the Best Hamburger Place in the Universe. It artery clogging. Terrible for your cholesterol. Probably the primary reason for obesity in Southern California. However, it must be done.

Yummm, (Drool, Slobber, Drool)

Tommy’s has been Food Channel. ABC, NBC, LA Times, and just about everywhere. It is an institution. Yellow and white tissue paper wrapper to soak up the grease from the heavenly chili. Beefsteak tomatoes slices. Quarter-sized dill pickle. Chopped onions atop a slice of a just cooked 100% ground beef—fresh, never frozen patty. Dressed in mustard  and sandwiched in fresh daily delivered buns. Just heaven on earth. http://www.originaltommys.com/

Nothing Better

There are other ingredients that can be added, like lettuce, and 1000 island dressing, but why add on perfection?

Not too many things, can compare. Sure, I like Inn-N-Out Double-Double animal style. Pink’s dogs are okay. Also, like BJ’s pizzookie, however, nothing really compares to the memories I have with the Original Tommy’s.

Stars Eat, Too

Driving to Rampart in downtown LA. Waiting in lines that surround “The Shack” two times over. (Sorry, Pinks got you beat line-wise. Food, Original Tommy's are the Lakers. Pinks you are the Clippers) Watching families in the Dodge Windstars barrel out of their van to get a dog and in soda. Minute Maid in the can. Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Orange Crush in the lying down freezer. Two areas of attack. One on the corner and the other in the back. Parking lot filled. People of note come here. Saw Lawrence Fishbourne driving his convertible corvette one night. Through the years, saw a few Dodgers and Laker players drive in and out carrying the cardboard boxes filled with chili dogs and fries.

Tamms and Brad

There were those nights driving to Roscoe on a Tommy’s run. It was those nights driving with family and friends at 1 and 2 in the morning after a late night drinking and dancing. It was meeting Tammy and Jason late at night. Driving with Brad and Rinnes on those nights with the moon roof open and night filled with Air Supply singing. It was just drive from Palmdale to the Valley. It was freedom and life.

Dad

It was times with Dad. After leaving Ambassador Hotel to get a bite. It was standing by the wall, grabbing a napkin from the side dispensers. It was enjoying the time with family and friend. Just feeling proud and happy with Hamburger delight. It was a place where no matter what happened in the world, things were going to be alright.

Times have changed. Life needed to move on. Don’t go to Tommy’s as much.  Nope, not the same regularity. 

Thank goodness. Arteries couldn't take it.

Nothing like the Original

I mean I’ve hit places like Valencia and in Van Nuys. Seen Tommy’s the Northridge Mall, but it wasn’t quite the same.  Burbank is okay. It has that city-fied field. Kind of. It became commercialized. It became trendy. It became not of the same great memories. Maybe it was me and I was going through a phase. They opened an Original Tommy’s 20 minutes from home, but if you asked which would I rather go: Rampart, Roscoe, or Rancho Vista. Rancho Vista and Roscoe, Sorry. 

Rampart hands down.

 

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger

Rancho Vista is cleaner. It’s fresher looking. It newer. Roscoe has the Budweiser brewery across the street. Rampart and Beverly, all others can't compare. There was a sense of danger being in Downtown. Black and whites rolling up.Movie stars and professional athletes. Coziness of  "The Shack" Grade School cafeteria napkins. The chest style freezers filled with Hawaiian Punch and A&W Root Beer in the can. Yes, with the sliding doors. You are so close to the food that you can reach over and flip the burger yourself. "Hamburger, Hamburger, and Cheese,"--Those words were magical to me. Staff were so close in the Shack that one can charge $20 for a lap dance.

Ambiance

However, the memory investment has to go back to the classic. 64 years at the same place. Get a free burger when you stop in and say happy birthday, Tommy's. Shack can't compare. The tiny parking lot. The waiting in lines. Standing shoulder to shoulder with rock stars and regulars. Wiping off the secret recipe chili off my face, my shirt, my shoes--Just Heaven. 

Right Company is Important

Sure, I’ve taken family and friends on Tommy’s run. It was never quite the same. If you asked me would I rather go friends and family or by myself. I think I rather go alone. It is a place special to me. It is a place where my Dad took me after a long comic convention day. It is where Tammy lived close to. It was where Brad and I sang the night away. They are not close anymore, but I miss them dearly. Tommy's is a place where I can be alone with them.

Some places are special. Churches, mission, graveyards they have an emotional investment that can’t be measured. Not comparing Tommy’s with other fast food with these sacred places. However, the Original Tommy’s has a special place in my heart.Tommy's, Thank you for being there for me and my Dad. Thanks for sharing those many magical moments. Thank you letting me remember a happier time. Happy 64th Birthday, Tommy's. Thank you for the memories.