On Friday, I didn’t get out of the city as early as I hoped to.  Estimated arrival time at my destination was close to 8:30 PM.  I was hungry before I left the house – how would I last the 2 1/2 hours I had to drive without a snack?  Lunch was almost non-existent, and dinner was a long ways off.  Add to that the 34 C weather – and a drink would be handy too.

Recent hunts at local 7-11’s didn’t turn up what I was looking for – and the Mac’s located at the city outskirts made it the place to go.  Do you still call it a Slurpee if it doesn’t come from 7-11?  I guess it’s a Froster.  99% of the time I’ll go for simple Pepsi or Coke – but the ones at this Mac’s were the same colour as gingerale, so I opted for grape, the flavour of my childhood.  Damn, was that thing sweet.  I can’t believe I used to drink these!

The other flavour of  my youth is Old Dutch Salt and Vinegar potato chips.  My memory fails me – I have no idea how long it’s been since I’ve had these, but they didn’t disappoint.  They still have that mouth-puckering sourness that I love so much.  I have never had another brand of chips that can compare to these – and they’re almost as good as hand-cut, fresh-fried chips or fries doused in white vinegar and liberally sprinkled with salt (best when home-made or bought from a guy out of the window of a truck parked somewhere in the Kenora, Ontario area).  When I was growing up, no birthday party, barbecue or evening hanging out with friends was without bags of Old Dutch – S&V and ketchup chips were first choice.  I would have gotten a bag of ketchup, but I didn’t want to stain my fingers red as I set out on my road-trip.

 Get a bag of these chips if you can.  Enjoy them.  Think about the good old days.