KFC - Double Down - Double UGH.

I decided long ago (February... of this year) that this blog was not going to be used to promote fast food chains.
They do a pretty good job of that themselves. I am not going to bore you with facts and statistics about how bad for you fast food is. You know all of that. You also know how delicious and cheap it is, and when you are in a hurry because you are late for your 3:30 nap, you just need a quick stop at Arby's first for a French Dip sandwich, and maybe some curly fries. We all know that. These are everyone's problems. In any case, I don't want to shill for these corporate monsters. I'm not their hype man. Its called Let's Eat LANCASTER not Let's Eat Corporate America.
The problem is that sometimes those corporate monsters create something that cannot be ignored. Usually, its a new mobile telephone or other electronic device (BOOOORRRING!!!), but sometimes, its a tasty new way to have a heart attack.

Penn Manor High School - School lunch

A few weeks ago I was asked by a former teacher of mine to come back to high school to speak for career day. In addition to this food blog, I am also a "pro" (in the sense that I get paid to do it) DJ, weddings, bars, parties, etc. and for years I have been marketing myself and doing my best to avoid adult responsibility. It has become, over the years, a fairly lucrative way to make a living, now if only I was a little better at saving money... 
So I was asked to participate in Career Day at Penn Manor High School, a place I have not been since 1996. Weird. Immediately after my class graduated, the school began an extensive MEGA renovation, and now everything is different and insane. I won't get into the details of my return, how it was SO different from what I remembered it to be, or how I was having Vietnam like flashbacks of places that were slightly familiar to me... and I won't get into the discussions that I had with the kids. I will not bore you with these details. Not here, not now.  I will simply say that, I think it went really well. 


After it was over (the three 40 minute blocks of time allotted to me to speak to each group of students) I was pretty hungry and it was lunch time. Did I also mention that I had to wake up at 6:30AM and I have not seen that time on a clock for, oh, I don't know, 6 or 7 years... yuck. So, by 11:30am, I was ready for some lunch. So I snuck down to the cafeteria, I think by this point most of the more "official" career day speakers had packed up and left for the day, not me, though... no way. 

Hot Diggity Dog - The Lancaster Dog

Sauerkraut, chunky applesauce

I have lived in Lancaster for most of my life, except for about a year or so in Philadelphia. I feel a very deep rooted connection to this city, this county and its people and culture. This hometown pride has manifested itself in many ways over the years, most recently with this very website. I feel that what this town has offered to me for so long, what it continues to offer, and the things it has yet to reveal, all need to be honored, for now though, I will focus on the food.

Lancaster has been a part of this country since before it was even officially a country. And guess what, it was the CAPITAL OF THE UNITED STATES for one day in 1777. Take that, other places that weren't! Did you also know that there are a lot of Amish people here? Yep, a whole bunch…