Oh well

Today is June 3, and there's an election today here in California. But I failed to finish my proposition review. Frankly, I was not up to the task in reviewing what was left. I went to my polling place, which is in a Starbucks; if only it could have been two doors down from there which is my favorite bar, how much nicer would voting be if you could have a beer to go along with it? Anyway. . .voted, and got out of there.

But, I'm not here to talk about my voting experience, no. . .today, I decided to try the new McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Sandwich. Before moving on I must note two things about my local McDonald's- 1) as part of this whole "Southerninginging" of McDonald's, I could have also ordered a 32oz Sweet Tea to go along with my southern style chicken sandwich, but I hated sweet tea growing up, and I still hate it today (I don't like regular tea either, go figure), and 2) despite the numerous commercials and webpage (which I'm not going to bother linking to because it is just too annoying), the double cheeseburger at this particular McDonald's is not on the $1 menu, instead, it costs $1.39.

Back to the chicken sandwich. It's basically a rip-off of Chick-fil-A, but not anywhere near as tasty. It had three measly pickles, the bun was a bit too greasy and squishy, but not in a good way, and. . .either it had been steamed or had sat out too long, but the bun stuck to the bottom of the cardboard box that it was served in. The chicken was ok, but didn't have the same kick that you can get from Chick-fil-A; in other words, a bit more pepper. Plus, it was a bit smaller than the Chick-fil-A sandwich. So, would I order it again- maybe. At least there are no tomatoes on this one; every time I go to the local McDonald's and order one of their other chicken sandwiches it comes with a tomato, even though I specifically asked for no tomatoes. Needless to say, customer service can be lacking, but if they have the gall to charge $1.39 for a double cheeseburger, what else should I expect?

Speaking of cheeseburgers, I was surprised to read that a favorite cheeseburger place of mine from when I lived in D.C. has recently arrived to Southern California: Five Guys. Oh the many Sunday's when I would drive out to their Alexandria, Virginia location to get a double cheeseburger and an order of fries, whilst nursing a hangover. They also have a few locations in Alabama, where I have family- according to family accounts, their burgers are still good. Nevertheless, with franchising comes the risk of lowered standards.

I will be very interested to visit one of these franchised locations across the country and see if their burgers are still good and live up to my memories. That's always a challenge. Memory has a way of obscuring details, only focusing on the pleasant or terrible details of an event- and not putting the event in perspective. With sensory memories, such as food, things are never just ok- it is nearly impossible the match the first memory of something you associate with good, instead, the sense of excitement and eagerness to recreate that first moment often ends with a sense of disappointment. Events like these can never just be, they are compared and contrasted, and the memory of the past events can fool you into thinking something else. Food memories especially, at least for me.