If you're lucky enough to be on the east coast or thereabouts, you might know about the Tasty Baking Company, more commonly known as Tastykake. Their line of pies, cakes, and other sweet baked type snacks are the cream of the crop to me, and their Tasty-Klair is THE definitive most wonderful and delicious single baked product not only coming from their bakery, but from any other bakery anywhere.
So when I'm on one of those long, long tours (of my neighborhood) and need that extra kick in the ass to keep on moving instead of just riding back to park the scooter under the deck, it's off to a Turkey Hill convenience store or perhaps a supermarket if it's closer to where I am, to score a Tasty-Klair and a pint of chocolate milk. The milk I'm not so picky about and will drink about anything that's come out of a cow's teat and has a little chocolate syrup stirred into it.
Another great thing about this simple snack is that it can be enjoyed just about anywhere, although I prefer to have it in style, by a table if there's one handy, or at least in a comfy chair if one can be found. (More on that in a minute.)
Unfortunately, comfy is a relative thing. While some skinny teen girl might find the accommodations by this table at Sheetz to be amply spacious, my belly found it to be an unusually tight fit and I fear that the day might come when the consumption of one more Tasty-Klair might make the difference between fitting here and being out of luck.
God bless the good folks at Weis's supermarket in Duryea, PA for providing this outdoor snack time furniture in the summer. Notice there's even a coffee table there by my left knee to hold the Tasty-Klair between bites, and a parking spot right by the curb so I don't have to wander far from the scooter to plop myself into a chair that Goldilocks would call, "Just right!"
There I was this afternoon with a little time to kill when the urge for the mid afternoon Tasty-Klair and chocolate milk hit me like a ton of bricks. While I got them both at Sheetz, I wasn't going to sit by their hot aluminum furniture that makes me have to suck in my gut to fit. I thought for a minute about where might be a good place to find a nice chair in which to enjoy my well deserved snack. And then it hit me...
When I was a kid the local convent had a long front porch with a rocking chair for each of the nuns who lived there, some of whom had been my teachers in elementary school. While riding by on my bike in the evenings I'd often see and wave to the good 'sters who were rocking away as if each back and forth motion got yet another poor soul out of purgatory. While the convent and most of the nuns are long gone, there is a place, a magical place, a most comfortable space with that same line-up of rocking chairs that the good sisters once enjoyed. Cracker Barrel!
Okay, maybe I didn't buy my Tasty-Klair and milk there, but I didn't think anyone was going to mind me stopping by to enjoy my time with my snack on their spacious front porch, in one of their many rocking chairs. I was right. Not a single Cracker Barrel representative came out to ask me to kindly move myself elsewhere. It was a very enjoyable time that I spent there without a care in the world except to make the most of the experience. It was a delight for the senses with the various scents of the food being made on the premises, the sights and sounds of people and traffic going by, and the most delicious tastes of my snack items!
The next time you're out riding and riding all day and finding the need for something to eat and drink coming on like there might be no tomorrow, just do this. Grab a Tasty-Klair, a little jug of chocolate milk, and head for the closest Cracker Barrel porch. Your whole body will thank you for it. Well, thank me, maybe, for this sage advice.
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