A taste of home...

Growing up in Western PA, I spent many weekend nights hanging out at a restaurant called Eat N Park. We would go there after football games for ice cream or for breakfast after all night bowling. There aren't any Eat N Parks here in Central Ohio and I miss it. It's not a world class restaurant but I'm used to seeing them wherever I went.

The picture on the right is Eat N Park's famous smiley face cookie. I have a couple of smiley face magnets, a keychain and a smiley face cookie on my car. Nobody out here has a clue what it is. Sometimes, if I happen to notice the magnet when I'm getting something out of the fridge, I get nostalgic for home. To be honest, I never really liked the taste of the cookies, but they were a common sight back home and they remind me of my high school and college years.

Our friend R travels for work and he happened to be in the town I went to college in. He called me from the Eat N Park in town (he had heard me talking about it before). I asked him if he could get D and I a couple of cookies for old times sake. He said he'd try and I really thought he'd forget about it. I came downstairs this afternoon and sitting on the kitchen counter was a clear plastic container with 2 smiley face cookies. I hadn't even realized that R. had been in the house. D and I split one and I'm saving the last one. I still don't like the taste of the cookies but it took me back 10 years.

Thanks R. for bringing back a small taste of PA for me.