Snacks-a-plenty

45% of Americans make new years resolutions according to the Today Show this morning. That's a lot of people sitting around today staring at those 5 lbs of fudge rolling over their pants. I'm really not one for resolutions. I mean if you want something to change in the New Year then change it. Going around with a list of things to do differently sort of defeats the purpose of a new year. The old is behind. Those 5 lbs were gained. If you want rid of them, get rid of them; but don't go around talking about how you're going to stop eating this and start doing that. Such plans hardly get carried out.

Last night my family and I rang in the New Year with our neighbors. We have had this tradition since I can remember. Normally we play games or just sit around and talk. There is always plenty of food involved and it's all around an amazingly good time. Anyway I said that to bring up this epiphany that our neighbor had, Pennsylvania is the snack capitol of the world. Now I can not say if this is true, but I did like the sound of it.

When my mom's uncle was living in Florida and California, his mom (my Nana) would send him pretzels, because he couldn't get PA pretzels when he was living across the country. Since then Herrs, Utz, and other PA distributors have branched out. Unfortunately the really good pretzels and chips are still only found in PA.

Everyone does kettle-cooked potato chips now, but I remember as a little girl thinking that some people had potato chips that tasted a lot better than the ones my mom bought. Kettle cooked wasn't quite as popular then and my replace-ground-beef-with-ground-turkey mother was not into buying the greasier Utz kettle cooked chips. Boy were they tasty though. They are still the best kettle cooked chips I have ever tasted.

How did my home state and its surrounding area come to be the go-to spot for snack food? That's kind of like asking how New England came to be filled with textile mills. We just knew what was up in PA. Pretzels and potato chips kind of make the world go round.

For all of you who are still staring at those 5 pound rolling over your pants, I am sure snack food is the first thing you will cut out of your diet. I am warning you, that would be a grave error on your part. Sometimes you just have to have some Utz kettle cooked potato chips. Moderation. Eat a hand full, think wow that was tasty, and then move on. My problem (well I have don't often have those 5 pounds of rolls, but that's another story) is that I want some chips and then I eat some pretzels and some ice cream and I keep eating until I realize that really all I wanted was a few chips.

I really hope not a one of you are making a New Years Resolution. Too many people spend their lives making plans and deciding what they are going to do and how they can make their lives better and they never get around to actually doing anything. It is time to actually do something. Finding some potato chips from PA would be a reasonable start.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily