Vacation

Listeners share their favorite food and snack memories from vacation. 

Want to share your story? Email us at [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:19):
Hello and welcome to Treatland.
This is the podcast where you,the listener, share your
favorite food memories fromchildhood.
We'll be playing your audioclips and reading your stories,
and we'll definitely be sharinga few of our own along the way.
Each episode has its ownfood-related theme.
If you like what you hear today,please subscribe to our show.

SPEAKER_10 (00:45):
So the first time I had coconut water straight from
the source, as in straight outof a coconut, was in Puerto Rico
in 2015.
And we stopped at one of thoseroadside fruit stands.
I mean, it was like beachside,but you see them all over the
island.
And you see this in Hawaii andyou see it in the Caribbean, but
we'd just never been to onebefore.

(01:05):
And so you pay for the coconut,they take a drill and they just
drill a hole right in the top ofit, and they stick a straw in
and you just drink it.
And it's this like subtly sweet,super refreshing, clear water.
And I don't know what I wasexpecting, but it's nothing like
coconut milk.
Like that's a totally differentproduct.

(01:26):
And so you drink all the waterout of the coconut, and then you
give it back to the standattendant, and they take a
machete and they slice the wholething in half, and they carve
out like a little piece of theouter, like the brown shell, and
they give it to you as kind oflike a spoon, and you use that
to then scoop and eat like thecoconut meat out of the coconut.

(01:47):
And it's like kind of soft andslippery, like a jelly-like
consistency, kind of like like areally melty gummy bear.
So, like maybe if you havetexture issues, this is
definitely not for you, but itis just really different than
anything else, and it tasteslike very subtly coconut, like

(02:10):
it's not a super strong coconutflavor, it's just like just out
of this world.
And I totally regretted that wedid not do this every single day
of the trip.
Why are we only doing this onthe last day of the trip?
So when we got home, my husbandactually went out and bought a
machete.
Like, I'm not even kidding.
I won't let that thing in thehouse.
It lives in the garage.

(02:32):
But for the special occasiontreats, when we decide that we
want to drink a coconut, becauseyou can buy them at the
International Grocery Store andjust the regular grocery store,
like now we have a machete, sowe can open it up, he can drill
a hole in it, we can drink themdrink the coconut water, we can
eat the meat and kind of relivethat experience.

(02:53):
I highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_08 (02:58):
So growing up, my family didn't go on traditional
vacations exactly.
We mostly stayed around myhometown state of Ohio.
And when we vacationed, it wasusually just for a day at a time
and mostly to theme parks.
As a kid, I was probably toomuch of a mindless little rug
rat to pay attention to thingslike the details of food itself.

(03:20):
But really, what I remember isthe experience around the food.
And that is what I carry with meto this day.
I'll never forget walking intomy very first theme park at
King's Island, walking throughthe ticket gates and looking
straight ahead at this mini butstill huge replica Eiffel Tower.
I remember the crowds and thesounds and the buildings and all

(03:43):
of my favorite characters fromSaturday morning cartoons moving
throughout the park.
But maybe what stands out to methe most is the aromatic smell
of greasy fries, savory burgers,sugary elephant ears, funnel
cakes, and of course, popcorn.
Walking through the park wasessentially just following your

(04:06):
nose.
But when you weren't screamingat the top of your lungs or
standing in two hour miserablelong lines, that's all you did
was search for food.
Without a doubt, though, even asI share this story, my favorite
food to this day will always bea basketful of bacon cheddar

(04:27):
fries.
The kind where the fries were alittle bit more like limp
noodles drowning in grease andcheddar.
I'll never forget wiping mygreasy, cheesy hands on my brand
new shorts, walking from rollercoaster to roller coaster while
listening to the sounds of metalwheels whooshing by on these
spiraling roller coasters.

(04:49):
But the only thing I couldreally think of next was ice
cream.
But it wasn't just Indie icecream.
There was this blue and whiteswirl ice cream that could only
be found in Snoopy Land.
Uh, this was the only part ofthe park where the lines for a
simple ice cream cone felt likewaiting for a ride.
Even now, as an adult with fourkids and a wife, I still get

(05:12):
excited for this ice cream.
It's this cake cone that isfilled excessively with this
indescribable blue and vanillaice cream that is smothered with
sprinkles.
Yes, I still order it the sameway.
And yes, I say it's for my kids.

(05:33):
It was always at the end of theday, just as the 90 sun started
to drop and the 100-degree heatfinally started to cool down,
that we began to walk away fromSnoopy Land and we headed for
our final ride, which was thewaterlog ride.
I'll never forget getting to thetop of that hill and then

(05:56):
smashing down with the waterspraying us like a hose and
rinsing essentially all thegrease and ice cream from the
day off of our clothes.
At least my parents could hopethat's what happened.
But by this point in the day, itis starting to get late.
My parents are ready to leave,but I had one last thing on my
mind, and that was making a stopto the candy store as if I

(06:22):
needed any more sugar.
The outrageously overpriced bagof candy somehow felt worth
every penny.
At least to me, because I didn'thave to pay.
But the candy at King's Islandreally did just hit different
scooping giant ladlefuls ofsour, sugary gummies into

(06:42):
plastic bags until one of myparents came by and told me that
I had had enough and theyprobably were spending too much
money.
Then came the sad long walk backto the car.
I remember being tired andsticky and somber, but carrying
these bags of candy like asouvenir.

(07:03):
Looking back at the lights onelast time before leaving the
park, never really knowing whenI was gonna come back again.
But to this day, I carry thesights and the sounds and the
smells of the tastes from thosesummer days at the park.

SPEAKER_05 (07:22):
In the eighties and nineties, family vacation for us
was a big deal.
It started in 1988 when we tookour first trip to Florida, and I
guess we loved it so much thatfor the next decade, Florida was
our yearly destination.
That first year we flew, but inthe years that followed, we
would all pile into the familyvan and make the drive from

(07:42):
London, Ontario, Canada, all theway to Florida.
Stopping for food at differentrestaurants and even gas
stations and truck stops wassuch an adventure for us.
In Canada, my sister and I wouldsee so many commercials for
treats, cereals, snacks, andvarious food items that were not
available to us in the GreatWhite North.
So it was on these trips that wegot to indulge in all that the

US of A had to offer (08:04):
fruit stripe gum, cherry coke, dip and
dots, Cheetos Paws, ButterfingerBB's, Doritos 3D, Keebler
pizzerias, Austin Crackers, andPB Crisps are just a small
sampling of the treats that wedesperately wanted to try, but
weren't available to us.
So on the long drive to theSunshine State, any stop we

(08:27):
made, we tried to find all thetreats and things we saw on TV
that we couldn't get at home.
By the time we got to ourdestination, the van would be
filled with empty wrappers andfood shrapnel from trying all
the tasty and sometimes not sotasty treats that we got to try
along the way.

SPEAKER_07 (08:43):
Wow.
Food memories and Vegas.
That's an easy one for mebecause you know I'm in Vegas
probably four or five times ayear, and I love going.
I'm not a degenerate gambler,don't get me wrong.
I just like going, and I do liketo gamble, so what the heck?
There are currently fourrestaurants out there that I go
to every time.

(09:04):
Peppermint, which is a fantasticthrowback.
It still looks like 1950s and60s Vegas.
It has great food in the loungearea with like a river running
through it.
You can eat in there too.
It's 24 hours, it's great.
My favorite two Italianrestaurants are out there: Don
Vito's, which is in the SouthPoint Hotel, and an

(09:24):
off-the-strip place called Costadi Amore, where you get a code,
you can go through the Sinatraentrance if you would call ahead
of time.
And then my favorite steakhouseever, the Golden Steer.
It's a little place off Sahara,and you can request booths.
People like Robert Goulet, DonRickles, all the old Vegas stars
used to have booths there, andyou can request sitting in one

(09:48):
of their booths with the goldname on it.
Steaks are fantastic too.
But as far as a memory, a placethat I really miss, and it used
to be in the place I called Homeout there for about 20 years,
the Stardust Hotel, which sadlyhas since been turned into a
resort world, it's a megaresort.
But it's one of the earlierVegas casinos at the time of

(10:10):
Stardust.
William B.
Steakhouse, named after WilliamBoyd, the person who took over
Stardust in the 60s.
William Boyd, or William B.
Steakhouse, just a littlefantastic dining.
Really missed it.
You've seen now too the littlestrawberries that they turned
into tuxedos with chocolate,little arms and eyes on it,

(10:35):
candy and stuff.
That was one of the first placesI ever saw those.
But everything in thatrestaurant was just impeccable,
from the cleanliness to theservice to the food preparation.
I really missed it.
That's probably my vagus, yes,my favorite vagus memory from a
restaurant standpoint.

SPEAKER_00 (10:57):
Hi everyone.
My name is Kevin, and I grew upin Indonesia.
If you grew up in Indonesia,some of the uh absolute best
childhood memories is not onlyin the classroom.
They happen right outside theschool kids.
So basically, from elementaryschool all the way through high

(11:18):
school, the street outside ourschools was a paradise of food,
snacks.
The moment the final bell rang,we just rushed out, line up to
find rows of street fender andstall lining the sidewalk.
Everything was so cheap and soaccessible and just incredibly

(11:39):
delicious.
Probably not the cleanest placewe eat, but at that age, who
cares, right?
For me and my friends, this wasnot just about getting a quick
bite.
It was our daily routine.
We hang out by the stores,laughing, gossiping, setting
some snack while waiting for ourdrivers or perhaps to pick us

(12:01):
up.
I will share the top four orfive of my favorite snacks that
I just cannot get enough when Iwas young.
The first one is Que Lacker.
It's basically this is basicallythink about like a thinner of
French crepe.
It's but it's it's you know it'sa street snack that's just so

(12:25):
unbelievably crispy.
The vendor would uh pour a thinlayer of rice flour into this
small rotating hot plate,probably about 10 inches
diameter.
Right before it's finishedcrisping up, they load it with
toppings like slice of bananaswith condensed milk or chocolate

(12:47):
sprinkles, right?
So many sweet stuff all in oneplace.
Holding it warm, freshly foldedlacquer, uh biting it into
shattering crispy edge andheating the warm sweet meal is
just pure heaven.
And the second one is anatomas.
Anatmos is basically if youtranslate in English, is golden

(13:11):
chop.
Think of it as a block ofuncooked dry instant noodle.
Yes, those instant noodles thatyou find in the market is a
block of that, but heavilycoated in different flavor.
Like the one that I love themost is the chicken and the
cheese flavor.

(13:32):
Have the fun with the ritualeating it.
So before you open, before youeven open the pack, you had to
cross the noodle block into tinybits inside the bag, and you
shake it up to distribute theseason and then pour out that
crunchy, salty goodness straightinto our mouth.

(13:52):
The crunchy was so loved andsatisfying to be honest.
The next one is chicky.
Chiki is basically I'm gonna sayit's quite similar with the
cheese puff that you find in thegrocery place around here.
And but the brand was just somassive during that time.

(14:14):
So anywhere we see a cheesepuff, we call it chicky, and
they had some pretty wild flavorback then, like chicken stock,
chocolate, and believe it ornot, there were some meatball
flavor standing around with yourfriends, your fingers stained
bright orange or yellow or brownfrom the seasoning powder.

(14:39):
That was a classic after-schoollook on the way home.
Then there was choke chokey.
Choke choke is basically themost addictive chocolate treat
of our childhood.
It's it's think about like it'sit's a simple, big, rich, milky

(15:00):
chocolate paste packed into along thin plastic tube.
I'm gonna guess it's about 10 to15 inches tube.
To eat it, you just have to beatoff the tip, squeeze the
chocolate straight into yourmouth.
We used to see who could suck itup the fastest, or we would uh

(15:23):
carefully roll the tube from thebottom to make sure we did not
waste any single drop.
It was so cheap and perfect shotof sugar to fill our afternoon
games and hang out with friends.
The last one that I want toshare that I just can't get
enough of it whenever I visit myparents, we call it sarabi.

(15:46):
This is a traditional IndonesianJapanese pancake that's made
from rice flour mixed with richcoconut milk and shredded
coconut, which give it thisbeautiful fluffy, slightly chewy
texture.
It's traditionally cooked overcharcoal in small clay pots,

(16:08):
which give it this wonderful,kind of like smoky flavor when
you eat it.
Most traditional syrabi is verysweet.
The vendor will pour goldenbrown coconut sugar and a red
right on the top and biting intoa warm sarabi with the smoky
flavor from the clay pancombined with the sweet syrup,

(16:32):
just it's just so delicious,just for us like having them
sometimes.
So, sharing this specificflavor, it's honestly like
opening a time capsule for me.
I'm going to visit my parentssoon, so they just represent a
time when life was just sosimple.
Afternoon were long, no cellphone, happiness could just be

(16:53):
bought for a few coins rightoutside the school kit.
Thank you for listening.

SPEAKER_10 (17:00):
2021 was our 10-year wedding anniversary, and we took
a trip to Washington DC.
We were staying north of theMemorial Mall, and I had, you
know, pre-gamed, scouted outrestaurants and like bakeries
and things that were walkingdistance from our hotel.
And the one place that I waslike super excited to try was

(17:20):
called Nino's Bakery.
And I had seen online that theyhad a black sesame croissant on
their menu.
Now, croissants are not usuallymy go-to, but I am pretty
obsessed with black sesame.
And if you've never had that indessert form, it's usually in
like a paste.
So they take black sesame seedsand you toast them or roast them

(17:43):
until like they're superfragrant, and then you grind
them up into a paste, usuallywith like a little bit of sesame
oil or like another neutral oil,and you know, maybe some honey
or some sugar, whatever yoursweetener is.
So a black sesame croissant thenhas that just like you know,
black sesame butter, if youwill, like slathered inside of

(18:06):
it, and it's kind of this likeearthier, savory version of like
peanut butter or tahini.
It's just amazing.
So I tried this black sesamecroissant on our last day of the
trip, and I just was likeobsessed with it.
And since it was the last day, Icouldn't go back for more.

(18:26):
But fast forward to 2023, we'reback in DC with my parents.
I had planned us a trip, and allthe trip I had hyped up this
bakery, but they were only openlike a couple days a week for a
few hours in the morning, andour only chance to go, once
again, was on our very last day.
And I had scheduled that day asmost of the trip, like down to a

(18:51):
T.
So we only had a small windowthat we could get to the bakery
before we needed to be at thenext place we were going.
And this time we were stayingsouth of the National Mall, so
we had to take an Uber.
And of course, DC traffic wasawful, and the clock was
ticking, and I'm in thebackseat, just like, please just
let me have this black sesamecroissant.

(19:12):
Like, I just want to get thisthing so we can, you know, move
on with our day.
And we finally get there, andI'm just like, Woo-hoo, here we
go, like, gonna have it again.
Jump in line, just as I get upand I order it at the counter,
and the woman is like, oh no,like the person in front of you
bought the last one, and likethat's all we have.

(19:35):
And I was just like floored andstanding there thinking, this
stinks and this is a first worldproblem.
But like, I've been thinkingabout this croissant for like
two years.
So I'm standing there in shock,and my mom starts doing the mom
thing, and she's like, Are yousure you don't have any more in
the back?

(19:55):
Like, we came all the way fromOhio, and I'm like, Mom, it's
okay.
Like, there's there's nothingthey can do, they can't just
like magically make more appear.
Well, then this woman walks overto me.
She'd been standing by the door,and she says, Hey, I heard what
happened.
Like, I live here, I live downthe street from this bakery,

(20:16):
like I can come get theseanytime.
Sounds like you're from out oftown.
Please take mine.
Just, you know, buy me achocolate croissant and we'll
just swap.
And I was so overcome with hergenerosity.
So we bought her a chocolatecroissant.
I thanked her profusely.

(20:37):
We took a group photo outside.
I ate it, and it was warm andnutty, and everything I
remembered, it was just amazing.
And it the whole rest of the dayand that trip was just like
elevated by this like reallysmall gesture, but it was really
just like an incredible way toend the trip.

SPEAKER_02 (21:00):
We used to travel through Las Vegas to see my
grandfather, but then we'd alsotake a family road trip to
California and Arizona, and wedid we did this a couple times
when I was younger.
One of the times when we weredriving back from California to
Las Vegas, we were driving lateat night.
It was probably like 10 or 11 atnight, I want to say.

(21:22):
So we were coming back fromCalifornia and going back to Las
Vegas, and I believe we weredriving through maybe the Mojave
Desert or Death Valley orsomething late at night.
We found this radio station.
And if anyone knows Art BellCoast to Coast, the radio show,
he'd have call ins that werepeople seeing sightings of

(21:43):
aliens and just weird phenomena,and he'd have interesting guests
on all the time.
And I'm not 100% sure it was ArtBell's show, but it was
something very similar to thatthat we found on the radio in
our rental car he had on someguy who like was a Professional
clown and took it like extremelyseriously.

(22:03):
And the guy was kind of the hostof the radio show was kind of
like mocking the guy.
And my brother and I, and my momand dad, we were all laughing so
hard, like laughinghysterically, like late at night
in the car, driving through thedesert.
And we just like found this soentertaining.
And we were all really hungry.
And like, kind of as a latenight snack, we ended up finding

(22:27):
a Taco Bell, which I had neverhad before.
I don't think we had it in NewYork at the time, but in
Buffalo, New York.
So we found this Taco Bell andwe got the drive-thru.
And my brother and I got thesekids' meals.
I think I had a steak fajita andmaybe like hard shell taco.
And then also they gave us thoselittle cinnamon twists, which I

(22:52):
don't know what they're actuallycalled, but that was the very
first time I ever tried TacoBell, and the very first time I
ever tried those little cinnamontwist things.
And so, like my brother and Iwere in the back of the car,
we're like laughing.
We were driving and eating andlistening to the show, and it
felt like one of the bestmoments of my life, just because

(23:13):
we all were in such a gigglymood, and the food tasted really
good.
And I don't know, I just lovethat memory so much.
That one's almost more aboutjust the feeling I get than the
food itself.

SPEAKER_01 (23:27):
What's up, guys?
This is Garrett from Born to BeRad.
Thank you for having me on onceagain.
And this time we're going totalk about food that we ate
during trips or when we weretraveling.
But we used to go down toFlorida quite a bit because my
grandmother lived there.
And every time we did, we did goto Disney.
And I can remember like theearly 90s at Disney.
They had this like, I think itwas called the Handwich.
It was at one of the parks whereit was basically like a cone

(23:49):
made out of bread, and they'dfill it with things like tuna or
like ham and cheese.
It was different, it almost feltlike you were eating like a meat
ice cream cone.
It was wild.
And I can remember that like itwas yesterday.
Eating that thing, walkingaround that hot sun and feeling
so cool, like having your yoursandwich in a cone.
I guess that thing's been longdiscontinued, but it's always

(24:11):
something that you know remainsin my brain from being a little
kid at Disney in the 90s.
So hopefully that was a littlebit different than the normal,
you know, snacks that people aregonna talk about.
But I figured I wanted to uhtouch upon that because it was
super unique.

SPEAKER_06 (24:27):
I'm from Buffalo, New York, and growing up my
family did not have a lot ofmoney.
We really did struggle.
I think we're kind of lowermiddle class, so vacations, as
you can imagine, were pretty fewand far between.
And when we did go, we alwayswent to the exact same two
places.

(24:48):
We went to Hamilton, Ontario,Canada.
Don't ask me why.
Every summer.
And then maybe a little bit moretowards late fall, early winter,
we would go to the San FranciscoBay Area of California to visit
my mom's side of the family.
And whenever I would go to theseplaces, I would always be

(25:08):
excited to check out what kindof food options, specifically
fast food options that they had.
Like obviously, as a child, mypalate was a lot less
sophisticated than it wouldlater become.
And I think for most children,it's pretty common to be pretty
excited by the prospect of fastfood.
You're going through thedrive-thru, getting the food
served pretty quickly, and thengenerally accompanied by plastic

(25:31):
spinny or plushy sort ofaccompanying items.
So that was always fun.
But also in Buffalo, and I thinkI said this in another story,
that we didn't really have agreat deal of variety when it
comes to fast food.
I think we only had McDonald's,Burger King, and Mighty Taco in
KFC.
And then in 1994, we finally gotTaco Bell.

(25:54):
So when I would actually comeout to California in the
earliest days, Taco Bell wasexotic to me.
So that should kind of tell youwhere I was at.
But this story in particular ismore about my uncle.
Now, my uncle is probably he wasthe baby of the family.
He's my mom, he was my mom'syoungest brother.

(26:16):
I think he was about 15, maybe17 years younger than she was.
And he was only about maybe 10years older than I was at the
time.
Maybe maybe like 11 or 12 yearsolder than I was.
So he was always the cool uncle.
He rode a motorcycle.
He had a girlfriend from Hawaiithat he lived with.
He would take me on themotorcycle rides and stuff, so I

(26:36):
would always like to hang outwith him.
He was a cool guy.
But I remember one time I stayedwith him.
And I just want to preface thisby saying I know that there's
been a long-standing heateddebate about whether or not
pineapple belongs on pizza.
And up until this point, I thinkI would have completely agreed
with the absolutely not side.

(26:57):
Well, one of the nights that Istayed with my uncle and his
girlfriend, they ordered twopizzas from Round Table Pizza,
which is a place we also didn'thave in Buffalo.
I think we got one pepperoni,which obviously obviously
everyone's gonna love.
And one Hawaiian.
And the Hawaiian, of course, ischeese, ham, and pineapple.

(27:21):
And my uncle's girlfriend,Lavelle, was sort of egging me
on to try it and being a child,somewhat pig-headed at the time.
Like, no, no, I don't want to bethat.
I'm pineapple on pizza, yeah.
But she was sort of goading meinto it in a somewhat, like, you
know, like sort of needling me alittle bit, but in like a kind
of a loving way.
Oh, come on, try it, come on,try it.

(27:43):
And then eventually I did.
And obviously the slice is uh isshaking as I moved my hand up to
my mouth to try to take them theprobably like the most minuscule
bite imaginable, because I'mterrified of these pineapples on
pizza.
And I took a bite of it, and Iabsolutely loved it.
And actually, to this day, Istill love ordering pineapple

(28:04):
and ham on pizzas.
I I uh definitely attribute thatto Lavelle and those days back
when I was a child, uh learningnew foods and broadening my
horizons.

SPEAKER_04 (28:18):
Thank you as always to Retro Vault for letting me be
a part of today's episode ofTreatland.
So for my nostalgic memory slashstory on vacation food uh
memories, what comes to mind forme is a beautiful, lovely

(28:39):
restaurant out in Rio Grande,New Joycey.
And it is a seafood slashItalian bar and restaurant, but
they're also known for having anarea, like an arcade area for
kids, as well as a store, uhlike a huge candy section, of

(29:02):
course, baked good, you know,some little bakery stuff.
And then on top of all of that,as if that's not enough, there's
an oddities slash sort ofantique sort of history little
museum area.
And the place is absolutelyhumongous, especially going
there as a child, it almostfeels like to the point that you

(29:24):
could get lost.
And for a restaurant that's youknow, most restaurants are kind
of, you know, one one kind ofsize.
So to see one like this isabsolutely impressive.
And they're very well known fortheir food, which is phenomenal.
It's family-owned and it's beenaround forever.

(29:44):
It's one of those places thatlike just feels like it popped
up out of the dirt, out of thesand, and it's just been in
Jersey since the beginning oftime.
But they keep it nice, they keepit clean, and it's super
inviting, and it just has thatwonderful family atmosphere.
You know, when you go onvacation, you want to go
somewhere really special whenyou decide to go out to eat.

(30:06):
You know, it was of course goingout to eat anywhere was was a
big deal or a treat.
But when you're on vacation orin vacation mode, you know, then
it kind of goes to an evenhigher level of like if you're
gonna go out to a restaurant.
And this is certainly one ofthose types of places.
I mean, like, definitely higherend, but still fairly priced and

(30:28):
definitely affordable foranybody.
But there's just so much to dothere, like I said, from getting
candy to playing games tochecking out the oddities.
And I could go on and on, eventhe oddities, even those are
crazy.
There's like two-headed animals,goats, and cows and stuff, and
that's freaky to see before,during, or after eating.

(30:49):
So it was always funny, youknow, accidentally wandering
into that section while, youknow, get just getting up to use
the restroom, and like, youknow, you still got half a
burger to eat or whatever, andnow you're like looking at this
two-headed, you know, sheep orsomething, and yeah, it's just
everything about that place waswonderful, frightening, weird.

(31:10):
If if you've ever been, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
If you haven't, you just gottacheck it out.
But it's just it's such a uniqueexperience.
And when I think of vacations,and specifically thinking of
like food, I'm always tryingsomething new when I go on
vacation.
So it's tough to think of like anostalgic kind of consistent
memory, but my family wouldalways go out of the way to make

(31:34):
it to Menzies, you know, nomatter who I went down the shore
with, whether it was my dad'sside, my mom's side, you know,
uh aunt and uncle, or like afriend of the family.
It just seemed like a lot ofpeople knew about Menzies, and
it was sort of that familyrecommendation that would get
passed around, and it was justgreat.
It was, it was just a reallyawesome experience.

(31:55):
I mean, the food, like I said,I'm like struggling to remember
the food because so much of theother stuff just really stood
out to me, especially as ayounger kid going there, even a
teenager.
I mean, I always enjoyed thefood, it was always really good,
but I gotta say, just you know,the atmosphere of that place is
unlike anything I've ever quitebeen to.

(32:15):
And I just always remember theworkers being so friendly and
nice, and everybody just, youknow, working really hard
because it was a humongous,gigantic restaurant.
So anyway, it is still around,and once again, it is in New
Jersey.
It is in an area called RioGrande.
Uh, I forget the uh the exactaddress, but if you Google it,

(32:36):
you'll find it.
So hopefully I didn't talk toolong, and that's my story.

SPEAKER_09 (32:45):
I've been living nomadically for the past five
years, most of it spenttraveling by car around the U.S.
So many of my food stories aretravel stories.
My favorite food experience,though, I don't know if it's my
favorite, but one that I thinkof fondly, is when I am on road

(33:05):
trips going from one place tothe next, I'm vegetarian, so
there's not many fast foodplaces that I can partake in.
However, McDonald's and BurgerKing and Wendy's do offer fries
and ice cream cones.
So my favorite thing when I needa little snack is to go get
fries, an ice cream cone, and aDiet Coke through the

(33:28):
drive-through.
And it's the best feelingbecause it feels sort of an
indulgent little treat.
And for the first four years ofmy traveling, my beloved sole
pet, Audrey, was with me.
And Audrey was the best foodbuddy you could ever imagine.
She would eat half of the friesand half of the ice cream cone
with me.

(33:48):
The second part is I havestarted traveling
internationally as a nomad, andmy first stop was Japan.
And I'm sure everyone has heardstories of Japan and they're all
true.
It's all amazing, it'sincredible.
And yes, the 7-Elevens areeverywhere and they are
fantastic.

(34:08):
They literally have cuisinethere, they have gourmet food in
their 7-Elevens, but my favoritething were all the amazing
little desserts that they had inlittle bags.
I would get like five or 10 ofthem at a time and just carry
them around and eat themthroughout the day.
It was fabulous, especiallybecause if you go to Japan and

(34:29):
you're a vegetarian, they havealmost no vegetarian options
anywhere you go.
So 7-Eleven was often mybreakfast, lunch, and dinner.

SPEAKER_02 (34:38):
Two of my favorite vacation memories involve my
family.
And the first one was going toJamaica.
And I was in fifth grade, Ibelieve, and I had a miserable
school year.
But for my birthday, which wasaround spring break, it was
actually just a spring breakvacation.
But for me, it was going to landon my birthday, which was kind

(35:02):
of exciting.
So we planned this trip to go toJamaica, and my brother and I
were super excited.
And the hotel we stayed at wasan all-inclusive hotel, and we
had never experienced anythinglike that before.
That was a first for us, andalso we'd never been anywhere
that was tropical like that.

(35:26):
So it was just really exciting.
By the pool, every single daythey had entertainment, they had
games, like pool activities,people winning prizes.
They had like a guy on amicrophone, like a DJ all
afternoon and evening.
And it was like a 24-hour party.
And they also had a snack barthat was right near the pool in

(35:50):
the stage.
And you could go up there andget whatever you wanted.
And my brother and I were justall about food.
We were a little bit chubbygrowing up, and the idea that we
could get anything we want atany time was mind-blowing to us.
And we were ordering grilledcheese, french fries, ice cream

(36:11):
cones, and then an hour latergoing up and ordering chicken
fingers and french fries and anice cream cone.
So we were eating like multiplelunches per day when we were
there.
And I remember for whateverreason the grilled cheese
specifically stands out to me.
And I think I was taking thegrilled cheese and dipping it in
ketchup and the french fries andketchup at the time.

(36:31):
And I think that was like justlike a weird, interesting memory
I had.
The thing that stands out mostto me about this vacation was
the night of my birthday.
We had a dinner at the resort.
At the end of the dinner, thechef brought out a cake.
I mean, I was like kind of pickyabout desserts and stuff.

(36:52):
And I see this cake come out,and I could tell it was not your
typical like white frosting andyou know, happy birthday written
on it, or sprinkles.
It looked like a spice cake.
And I don't know, I just I wasconfused by it and not super
thrilled that this was gonna bemy birthday cake.
But the chef brought it out, putit on the table, and I'm like,

(37:15):
well, it's cake.
I'm gonna at least try it.
And the taste of this cake isjust like buried in my mind
forevermore because it was soincredible.
It was like a spice cake, but ithad pineapple, and I'm pretty
sure it had some kind of rum init, possibly coconut, and
possibly some like nuts, and areally, really yummy, like cream

(37:38):
cheese style frosting.
And I've looked it up in recentyears, and it's actually called
a hummingbird cake, and it hassimilar spices to what you'd
find in like banana bread, likemoist and had the little bit of
spiciness, and then the creamyfrosting.
And it was so good.
And I think the pineapple in itreally added to that tropical

(38:02):
vacation feel.
Like everything about this cakefelt appropriate for being in
Jamaica on my birthday duringspring break with my family.

SPEAKER_06 (38:13):
There's one other quick little story that I'd like
to add if there's time.
And this one's a bit morerecent, probably only about
three years ago.
So at the end of 2023, my friendJoel, his partner, and I went on
a trip to Europe.
It was about two and a halfweeks.
Tried to hit as many cities aspossible.
I think we hit seven cities inabout two and a half weeks.

(38:35):
Now, this is this is close toChristmas.
It was definitely December.
And I remember one of the bigdraws was every single city had
its own take on a Christmasmarket.
So they were like these sort ofpop-ups, like sort of like a
farmer's market, but moreopulent.
I mean, like there's like veryclassy.

(38:58):
And they had baked goods, theyhad artisans, they had like
baked goods, they had peoplemaking different different takes
on different foods.
Unfortunately, I didn't reallyeat any food at these, so I
can't really give you anyexamples of that.
But what I can give you anexample of, which was one of my
favorite parts of the trip, andactually something that that

(39:19):
will always be re reminiscent tome of Christmas, is the
Christmas punch that was made atthese Christmas markets.
Now, a lot of them were verysimilar, but they all had their
little differences too.
And I think that I I think Itried one at every single city.
It was one of my favorite thingsto get.
It was always after walking along day.
It was it was pretty cold mostof the time, windy.

(39:41):
So it was pretty wonderful toget to the Christmas market and
just like, oh I want to try oneof these punches.
It has a little bit of a kick, alittle bit of alcohol, get you
loosened up.
But I think my favorite one wasin Bratislava, Slovakia.
That was also my favorite city.
But I believe it hadblueberries, it was sort of a

(40:04):
this viscous sort of punch, itwas delicious.
I think it had cinnamon in it.
Just the right amount of kick.
And to me, that will always bethe taste of Christmas.

SPEAKER_10 (40:12):
Have you ever heard of a Pim's cup?
This drink always brings me backto a trip to Cambridge, England,
where we were visiting our swingdance friends, Colleen and
Patton.
Now, for some background, I'm atotal sucker for British
detective shows.
So I was like already besidemyself just to be there in
England in the first place.
And on our first night, the fourof us watched an episode of one

(40:35):
of the shows that had beenfilmed right there in Cambridge.
So to keep that like vibe going,we went out to a local pub
because that's what you do, andthey ordered us this massive
pitcher of Pim's cup for ourtable, and it was so delicious
and so refreshing, and it justfelt so perfectly like English
that I decided I had to makethis when we got home.

(40:58):
So the base of this drink isPim's number one, which is this
like dark amber colored, likegin-y, well, gin-based liqueur,
but it doesn't have like a superstrong gin flavor.
It's infused with some kind oflike super secret proprietary
blend of like herbs and orangepeel, and it has this like I
don't know, unique earthysweetness to it, and you mix it

(41:22):
with a citrus pop like Sprite orlike I prefer ginger ale or
maybe lemonade, and then yougarnish it with diced fruit and
cucumber and like mint, and youjust like shove it all in the
drink, kind of like a BloodyMary, but in the drink and not
on top of the drink.
And the result is this just likedelightfully refreshing summer

(41:44):
beverage, and it kind of remindsme of like a cold version of
mold wine because it has thoselike warming spices and some
citrus and just like a littlebit of bitterness from the clove
and the juniper, since it is agin.
But when it's all mixedtogether, it's just like really
light and refreshing.
When I make it at home, I like Isaid, I use ginger ale, but I

(42:07):
cut the sweetness and the sugar,so I kind of do like half a can
of ginger ale and half a can ofsparkling lemon or lime water
along with the pins.
And it's always a hit at summerparties because pretty much no
one has ever heard of it.
Like you rarely see it in barsor even restaurants.
Patton actually passed away fromcancer in 2025.

(42:28):
So whenever I mix up a drink, Ialways kind of think of it as
like a quiet homage to him andthat great like vacation time
that we all spent together inEngland.

SPEAKER_02 (42:44):
Thanks again to everyone that submitted their
stories.
If you would like to share yourstory with us, please email us
at treatlandpod at gmail dotcom.