Southern Fried Comfort

Most people who know me know that I am a bit of a “food snob”. I have been that way since college when I started making my own food choices. I grew in a fast food family where going out meant a hamburger or Mexican food. But coming to California to go to school opened up my world to the many international tastes that are a benefit to living in the Bay Area.

I spent 2-3 nights a week my first two years in college at Manna’s Thai Cuisine in Hayward – this eventually came in handy when I met my first husband, as my breadth of knowledge on Thai food seriously impressed him!

The more new cuisines and restaurants I discovered, the less traditional fast food I ate. The more my metabolism changed as I aged, the more I avoided them. It was easy in California with sushi and salad places on every corner.

But when I am sick or feeling blue – there is one “comfort” food that I cannot resist and that is KFC. And today I have “slummed,” a guilty pleasure partaken 2-3 times a year. It was just coincidence that today I had a lunch planned with two of my new co-workers and that plan consisted of fried chicken. Little did they know that this outing was a much needed hour of comfort after yesterday’s bad day, but those are often the best gifts – the ones given freely, the ones that are unknown.