Only semi-food-related.
Here's my situation. I'll be spending a total of 16 hours in the car this weekend, with a young man of my recent acquaintance, in whom I have taken a more-than-casual interest. This is, essentially, our first date. Thus, I present you with two topics to consider:
1) What snacky goodies do you suggest for the drive? I'm not entirely sure I'll have time to make anything before the trip, but I'm up for ideas.
2) What are some of your favorite get-to-know-ya conversation questions? We'll have so much time that virtually any topic will probably be appropriate at some point.
Well, maybe not any - my friend D did say to me, with a sigh, "don't get scary, E. You know how you can do that sometimes." What?! Me?! Please. Hasn't every man considered his opinions on, for example, the gender wage gap and the necessary steps that we as a society should take to narrow it? Why should it be scary to ask about that?
1) What snacky goodies do you suggest for the drive? I'm not entirely sure I'll have time to make anything before the trip, but I'm up for ideas.
2) What are some of your favorite get-to-know-ya conversation questions? We'll have so much time that virtually any topic will probably be appropriate at some point.
Well, maybe not any - my friend D did say to me, with a sigh, "don't get scary, E. You know how you can do that sometimes." What?! Me?! Please. Hasn't every man considered his opinions on, for example, the gender wage gap and the necessary steps that we as a society should take to narrow it? Why should it be scary to ask about that?
posted by ek at 9:34 AM
13 Comments:
Definitely don't talk about the gender wage gap - that even scares me. But I would talk about music, movies, books, and traveling. Hardly anyone doesn't have opinions about those kinds of things (or at least, not ones someone as interesting as you should be interested in) and I think you can learn a lot about a person from their choice of favorite movie (Royal Tennenbaums), favorite bands (The Avett Brothers, My Morning Jacket, Erykah Baduh), and travel choices (I wanna go to India, Morocco, and Libya).
As for snacks, I'm going to put my thinking cap on and try to come up with something. After my multiple drives across the long state of TN, I am painfully aware of how bad most gas station snack selections are. Ooh - how about homemade rice crispy treats? Chocolate chip cookies - make the break and bake ones and he'll never know they aren't homemade. I can't think of anything salty, though....I'll get back to you.
If you run out of things to do you can always count cows. There's a nice little graveyard/counting cows game that seems appropriate considering the area of the country where you will be driving. It's probably too weird to recount in full here.
Snacks... Graham crackers and peanut butter (make and take), apple slices (dipped in salt water, will keep them from turning brown), baby carrots and hummus (suprisingly unmessy, but requires a cooler), STRING CHEESE. Mmmm. Basically my suggestions would also keep a 3-year-old content but that's okay too. Seek inspiration from the snack aisle at the grocery store, but improve on the prepackaged stuff.
I love the string cheese and hummus ideas - and if, like me, you can't hold off from eating it for more than 5 minutes into the drive, you won't need to fool with a cooler. Otherwise, I am a FREAK for Soy Crisps, particularly the Ranch-flavored ones. I can't keep them in my apartment because I'll blaze through a bag in 30 seconds. The cheese flavor is fantastic, too. Store-bought, but an enlightened, healthy snack, I think. And not too messy.
I have a similar self-control problem with Stacey's Pita Chips. It gets ugly if I'm alone with a full-size bag.
Stacey's
Pita
Chips.
They are the absolute devil.
Costco sells a giant bag for $5.00.
Thanks, MG. Thanks for the 8 pounds of carb-weight that I'm going to gain in the next year, due to the information (upon which I MUST act!) about the giant bag at Costco.
I really appreciate it.
I've never even heard of Stacey's Pita Chips....and from the sounds of it, I should just pretend like I never did. I don't need an addiction to anything else.
Speaking of, do y'all find that the secretaries in your respective courthouses have far too many candy bowls brimming with delicious treats? Ours does and I'm afraid it might be the death of me.
EK, what are you taking on the road trip? Have you decided?
I've decided to completely jettison the project. I was too busy trying to clean my disaster of an apartment (to impress him with my housekeeping skills) to go shopping yesterday. I'm not sure when he's going to get up here today, though, so if I have a quick second after work, I'm going to try to get the job done then.
All of which means everything will be entirely store-bought. Except for maybe some sandwiches...I do like a good gourmet sandwich. And the picnic basket I just bought has a hot/cold section in the bottom of it!
And I try to avoid the candy bowls. I've put a fruit bowl on my desk in what might be a futile attempt to encourage good eating habits.
And by "completely jettison" of course, I mean "jettison if I don't have time after work today."
I'm a nerd.
And it's official. He's going to be late getting here tonight, so off I go to the supermarket! I'll definitely be getting pita chips and mozz. cheese. Trail mix, perhaps, but maybe not - he might have an allergy to nuts or something. I like the graham cracker/pb idea too...good thing I'm going to the store when I'm hungry. I wouldn't want to under-buy or anything!
I'll post the results next week :)
UPDATE: Snacks were totally store-bought. Apples, bananas, oranges, chocolate-covered pretzels, and granola bars. His requests: Nacho Cheese Combos and Cheetos. Let this be a lesson to me: keep it simple. No one is expecting gourmet.
Combos ARE the ultimate male roadtrip food. I too have experienced this. I wonder why that is...
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