Monday, April 18, 2011

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.

"Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself." - Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891


Cravings. We all have them.




This past Saturday, the sandwich above was mine.


Cravings can take on many forms. Sometimes it's as simple as a desire for a taste of chocolate, easily satisfied with a candy bar or even some chocolate milk.

Sometimes cravings enter the realm of obsession, requiring a tremendous amount of time, money, and/or effort to placate oneself. Take, for instance this website: http://www.kleincast.com/maps/mcrib.php This is a user-driven website devoted to locating the elusive McRib sandwich around all of North America, complete with a map, a forum,(to share McRib-related stories, I assume) and a blog.

Some cravings defy logic. For instance, I love White Castle hamburgers. Much like the McRib, White Castles are horrible examples of food. They're of the lowest quality in almost every conceivable way: the meat, the onions, pickle, the buns...fucking horrible! Does the 30+ years worth of knowledge of this fact stop me from eating a sack of 10 every time I go to a White Castle...hell no! My internal organs feel like death an hour after finishing them, but the nostalgia, the fucking nostalgia!

Which brings me to this past Saturday. I wanted the sandwich pictured above with a vengeance. It's a Seafood Delight from Subway. I don't eat them very often, but when the craving hits, I will scour the landscape until one has been located. And only after I've eaten 12 inches of beautifully horrible fake-crabby goodness will I be satiated. This past weekend, however, it was just not meant to be.

Subway has discontinued the Seafood Delight here in the Madison area. I went to three different stores, all told me the same sad tale. No more fake crab mixed with mayonnaise and god knows what else stuffed between fresh baked bread with cheese and lettuce and tomatoes...I think I'm going to cry! Making matters worse, none of the other sandwich chains here in town make one either. Not Jimmy Johns, nor Milios, nor Cousin's, nor Silver Mine...nobody. My desires, short of going out and buying the ingredients and making it myself, would be left unfulfilled.

I settled for some mediocre seafood salad from a local Italian-style deli. It was a sad day, indeed.



5 comments:

  1. First off, I really shouldn't read this until I get back to the states... I miss food so much! Second, have you tried the Po Boys at New Orlean's Take Out?
    -Becki

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  2. It will be great to have you back in the states. Can't wait!

    As for New Orleans Take Out, I have eaten everything on their menu. I LOVE their po'boys, especially their shrimp po'boys!

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  3. When you got the sub-par seafood salad, did you eat it as is, or did you make your own version of the sandwich?

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  4. I ate the seafood salad. I would like to make my own sometime, but I would be sorely tempted to use real crab meat and make a proper crab sub.

    Hmmm...

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  5. Falbo's used to have a really good one but I think they pulled it eventually too....

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