Food for thought

Reflecting on cultural diferences from east to west coast at yet another half-pint birthday party today with a man more than twice my age (whose daughter was only a few years older than my daughter... these parenting age inequities are so strange), I believe I discovered the key to our inherent differences!

There are no such things as good bagels on the west coast. There. That simple. Sure you'll say, but they have good sushi... Who cares I say... I can't get past the texture - gasp - I know I just lost total coolness points with some of you, but its kind of like sex, I think... there are some things that are easily enjoyed by all, but others that are extremely personal, and in many cases not worth the effort of aquiring a taste with regard to individual pleasure return...And in a meager attempt at self-defense, I do like sashimi, but I definitely prefer things that are "cooked", cured, or that have a harder texture... can't escape my intrinsic being, now can I?

Ok, we (they?) also have good tortillas and excellent (hmmm) strawberries that you can buy by the side of the road and eat until your fingers and lips are red with the juices. That's another thought for the day... As I interact lovingly with my food (Armenian string cheese, oh yes) and luscious strawberries whose skin is reminiscent of the loveliest pink vulva, lightly shiny, slightly tacky, pecked with tiny little bumps... one more thing I never could get the taste for, lucky for me, it is not a cultural expectation or else I would feel like a miserable failure.

But back to bagels. The absence of bagels can function allegorically for all the differences between east and west coast... Or even better, (Jenny, here is another little analogy for you, but no sexual politics here, yet) Bagel is to tortilla as East coast is to West coast. Ahem. Thicker, meatier, stodgier but with more substance... to free(r) form, flimsier, but perhaps with more ultimate possibility for creative accesorizing?

So for breakfast I solved the East coast Jew bagel dilemma (actually, I can't even conceive of eating a whole bagel anymore, sorry mom, though you are not reading this)... Handcrafted organic flour torillas transformed into a cream cheese, lox (smoked salmon for you west coasters) and caper quesadilla.

The marriage of east and west in all their vibrant and vacilating tradition.