Something I noticed in Vegas

My2Beauties wrote: OK, for those who don't know, I live in Kentucky, which is pretty much still considered the South even though we're located sort of in Mideastern US. Anywhoo - here, in good ole' kentucky, my tea is sweet, you have sweet tea and sweeter tea no exceptions! I like cheese on my salads, and I hate guacomole.

OK so, in Vegas not one restaurant had sweet tea! Not one! The waiter at the Outback on The Strip said I was too far out West for sweet tea - DO WHAT People out west don't like sweet tea? Secondly, we got a quick bite to eat at Wendy's next to MGM Grand, I ordered a side salad. "Excuse me where is the grated cheese and the cucmbers on my salad?" This is the girl "huh" There were only sliced carrots, lettuce, and cherry tomatoes on my side salad. At the buffet in the Excalibur, the grated cheese was down by the Mexican food and the soups - not near the stuff for the salad bar! What is going on here? Thirdly, we went to La Salsa Cantina - a really popular festive chain of restaurants in Vegas, very good food, but every freaking dish comes with guacomole. There were 10 of us there that night and only one person got guacomole, everyone one else said, please no guacomole is to touch my plate The waitress asks us where we are from, when we told her, she said Oh, everyone out West loves Guacomole, I knew you had to be from the South!

Just thought I would share this. What are some of the things that are sort of local to you guys, as far as food goes? I mentioned some of the above, as well as:

We eat peanut butter sandiwiches with our chili
We like Cornbread with our potato soup
I like spaghetti noodles in my chili
I put like 1 1/2 cups of sugar in my tea and my Kool-Aid, we love it sweet here

That is all I can think of for now, as I sip on my glass of sweet tea

Insanemomof3 replied: Weird, I live in Oregon, further west than Vegas obviously and I love cheese on my salads and usually get it. I hate guacamole and I LOVE sweet tea. Those people are idiots. LOL

kit_kats_mom replied: I was never able to get sweet tea, biscuts & gravy or grits out west. I missed them.

A&A'smommy replied:
AMEN SISTER!!!!

lol anyway I already knew all the stuff I married a man from the north So I have to make his kool-aid and tea with Less sugar. NOW his father is from the south and he makes THE BEST CORNBREAD I'm to lazy to make home made I like jiffy cornbread

MM'sMama replied: Whoa that's seriously crazy . I may only be as far west as Colorado but geez....I love cheese on my salads and I love sweet tea (part of why I love visiting my family in the south) and we can get that here. Thats crazy stuff .

ediep replied:
I have never heared of this!!!
but i do like sweetened iced tea.

BUT i was in Altanta at perkins and I ordered a bagel with cream cheese and the waitress looked at me and said "uuhh, we don't have bagels" I was like "WHAT???" she said "we have english muffins" I was like "in NJ/NY they are not the same"

Boys r us replied: That's why I hate going up north and out west..they just look at you like you're retarded when you ask for sweet tea!

ediep replied:
if you came to my house and asked me for sweet tea, I would be like "huh?, do you mean sweetened iced tea?" Maybe we just call it something different.... but its the same? Don't know?

Sunflower04 replied:
I would think it was sweetened ice tea too.

Jamielou replied: That is funny Im with you on the sweet tea and cornbread of course im from T.n. ...I hate Guacomole its disgusting to me....

amymom replied: I hear that sweet tea is different than sweetened ice tea. I have heard that it is in the way the sugar is added to the tea. But I have never been south to try the sweet tea, and keep forgetting that I want to ask someone for a recipe. So please does anyone have a recipe? I googled it once and got nowhere. Thanks!!!

jcc64 replied: No sweet tea here in NY. I'll make a deal with you Southern girls- we'll learn how to make sweet tea if you learn how to make a decent bagel.

And I totally don't get the spaghetti in the chili thing.

JAYMESMOM replied: Sweet tea is not a powdered sweetened iced tea.

It is tea made from tea bags and then sugar added.


I boil a small pot (5cups) of water with 5 tea bags. Let it sit once it boils for about 10-15 mintues.(depending how strong u want it) Poor it in a gallon jug fill up with cold water and add 1 - 1 1/2 cups of sugar.

It is kinda like sun tea.


My husband is from the south and I am a northern girl but always knew how to make sweet tea. He however will not drink powdered iced tea mix. There is one restaurant near us that serves sweet tea the rest don't he gets so aggravate because you just don't get the same tast as when you add it after it is chilled.

I love cornbread and fried chicken but I also love guacomole.

And cheese on a salad is a must!!! But you have to ask special up north here in Michigan.

kit_kats_mom replied: I brew mine with the coffee maker & I actually make a concentrate since we go through so much of it here.
6 family sized tea bags in the basket where you put coffee grounds normally & brew with a fill pot of water.
Add one cup (or more if you want) of sugar to a 1 quart container & pour hot tea over it. Stir until sugar is dissolved then fill to top with warm water. Let it sit out until it cools then serve with half glass of water filled to top with ice. It's kind of like Tea Syurup. Mmmmmm

AshleyRose replied: Now try going and living in Europe for six months PREGNANT!! Its almost a nightmare!! I mean, I craved everything I was used to, of course and they had NONE of that!! In order for me to make chocolate chip cookies I had to CHOP UP a chocolate bar to make chocolate chips myself!! Life is so different there. THe upside to living there was EVERYTHING was organic... there is no such thing as non-organic foods... its the law that everything is organic. Life was also much more simple.

But either way DEF no sweet tea, chili, all that crap. Going out to eat most the time you chose between pepper steak, some kind of chicken, or duck or something. The food is awesome but if your looking for food to remind you of home, you have to go to the "American Store" (there is only one and it is very small and far away and it is also a monopoly!!! ) where they charge NINE euro for a bottle of PAM!!! Or 10 euro for a bottle of Aunt Jemimas syrup. Want REAL chocolate chips? Get ready to dish out 7 euro for a small bag!!! WTH!! I was going nuts!! Isn't that crazy? NEvermind going to vegas... I was going out of my gourd with EVERYTHING being different but it opened my eyes to a new world, I suppose and I really miss being there now!

amymom replied: Ok I am off to make sweet tea. I will let you all know what I think. Thanks so much!

Kaitlin'smom replied: humm interesting about the sweet tea, funny I was making Ice tea last night and added the sugar before I chilled it...sooo much better than tring to add it after.

My2Beauties replied:
ACK - you don't put spaghetti in your chili! This thread is cracking me up!

Kaitlin'smom replied:
I dont either unless we were to eat at skyline or something

course I dont eat much chili either...


and peanutbutter sandwhiches with Chili????????

jcc64 replied: Why WOULD you put spaghetti in chili? Spaghetti is spaghetti, chili is chili. And what does peanut butter have to do with chili? Are you sure this isn't some bizarre behaviour unique to you, LeaAnn?
For the most part, I really enjoy Southern food. Love cornbread, love the greens, love sweet tea, and all the rest.

5littleladies replied:
EEWWW!!! I use 3/4 of a cup of sugar for Kool-Aid, and even then sometimes it seems too sweet.

As for the other stuff you listed-I just don't get it.

A&A'smommy replied:
WAIT I don't do that either that sounds kinda gross!!!

I have never done the peanut butter with chilli BUT that sounds good!!

AshleyRose replied:
yes that is a lot of sugar!! we don't even use sugar anymore because of our diet so I just make up the kool aid and add 2 packets of splenda to the glass and stir!!

About the other stuff (chili with sketti <thats my little name for spagetti, and the peanut butter... etc)I have def not heard of any of that.. but you can't really knock it until you try it... it just may be delish !!!

My2Beauties replied:
I guess it just is a southern thing then, everyone I know puts spaghetti noodles in their chili, well Brian doesn't though, but he isn't much on noodles or pasta. We have always done it! LOL! Oh and the peanut butter with chili, OMG please try it, they just taste so good together, everyone in the South loves peanut butter with their chili! YUM!

Kaitlin'smom replied:
I am wondering if it help with the spice from the chili???

well next time I eat chili, not very often, I might just have to try that

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Okay...I'm from the West coast...and NO I don't put sugar in my tea, but I'm not much of an ice tea drinker anyway. And I ABSOLUTELY LOVE AND HAVE GROWN UP ON eating guacamole!! My sis and parents both have avocado trees in their backyards...it's just an everyday type of fruit you eat in CA. And very healthy! I don't quite get the thing about cheese on salad myself...I like it, but it must be blue cheese or feta or goats cheese...I'm a food snob remember?? But a salad with no cheese is just fine with me too!

I do sometimes add spaghetti to chili...my mom does this. Now let me ask you this...DO you all know what tri-tip is?? It's such a west coast thing...I'm here in Colorado and when I ask the meat dept for tri-tip, they usually look at me like what?? We put salsa on tri-tip out west! YUM!

kit_kats_mom replied:
actually I think the spag with chili may be a mid western thing. My MIL loves nothing more than to pour a can of hormel chili over a mountain of noodles,...kinda grosses me out...probably why she does it!

My girllfriend, who is a bona-fide GRIT (girl raised in the south) has always eaten pickle spears with spaghetti & she swears every real southerner does so to prevent heartburn.

Speaking of pickles....deep fried pickle chips? anyone? mmmmmmm

moped replied: Let me tell ya - I have travelled a lot and there is no iced tea in the whole like Canada - it is very sweet and there is no such thing as unsweetened!!!!!

YUMMY

Peanut butter with chili????????

MommyToAshley replied: It's funny, we are only a few hours north of you here in Southern Ohio but no sweet tea here either. But I remember it from when we lived in Louisiana.

The Mexican restaurants here put guacamole on a lot of dishes, I always have to ask them to leave it off the plate...

ediep replied: this thread is so funny!!

I am in NJ, but I am 100% Italian-American and we would NEVER put spaghetti in Chili. We put rice in chili, and all pasta (spaghetti too) gets served with fresh tomato sauce and grated parmesian

do you have bagels?

about guacamole....they have it is mexican restuarants here and I don't really like it, mostly because its pretty fattening

JAYMESMOM replied: Okay for those of you in the south - what about pickeled eggs?

Not the ones in beet juice but pickle juice?

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I'm in Texas. We dont' have sweet tea where I'm located. South East of here in the smaller towns you can order sweet tea and I think there is one restaurant that serves sweet tea around here.

Deep fried pickles are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!

No spaghetti with chili or pb&j with chili around here.

I dont' like guacamole, but LOVE avocados. And not every place around here puts guac on everything. You have to pay extra for it at the mexican restaurant unless it comes with your dish. It must be b/c it isn't locally grown, kwim?

Oh yeah...cheese on salad is a MUST!! Any kind of cheese, really.

And, is chicken fried steak a southern thing?

Jamison'smama replied: Yes I think that Chicken Fried Steak is more of a southern thing--same with Chicken Friend Chicken --with lots of country gravy. Can't really find those except in the more southern type places up here in Ohio--(Chili's)

Up here no one eats Blackeyed Peas--I hear they were know as cow food---we eat it all the time in Oklahoma--even a restaurant called the Blackeyed Pea (where you can get great chicken fried chicken and even fried corn on the cob--yummy)

I had never heard of spaghetti in chili until I moved to Ohio and saw the Skyline Chili restaurants.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Excuse me...but what the heck is chicken fried chicken?? Here I am saying that my biggest pet peeve is not trying new things...but I would NEVER eat anything that is deep fried with some lumpy brown gravy on it!! Ick.

I would take a bagel over an english muffin any day!! And I would take water over sweet tea...I can't stand that much sugar!

DH gets so mad when they DON'T put guac on his dish. He hates going to Chipotle (do you guys have those chains?) and he asks for no beans, rice, and cheese...he just gets chicken...BUT yet he still has to pay extra for guac! It's crazy! I miss being in CA where avos were cheap!

3_call_me_mama replied: I was in a wedding last summer in Austin Tx and thoughtit was QUite odd that EVERYWHERE we went there was sweet tea served. (Thougth they just liked ice tea- but found out it is very different) Never added anything starchy to my chili or eaten it with pb. But i'm way up in the northe east (VT) so doesn't stirke me as I should. KWIM? I don't like guacamole (too rich tasting) and i t"think" tri tip is a cut of steak? and DEEP FIED PICKLES?! That one i will have to try. I love pickles.. but question... are they breaded? or just tossed in a Deep Fryer? And chicken fried steak is a big favorite of mine. LOTS OF peppered gravy YUM ! And we eat pickled eggs too (as well as pickled sausage!)

ammommy replied: We eat peanut butter sandiwiches with our chili ---this is the best combo in the world
I"m from Cincinnati, so spaghetti in chili is a no-brainer.
I was in Birmingham for a meeting once and ordered tea. Not realizing that it was sweet tea, I added sweetener After a good laugh, the waiter brought me another glass.

One weird thing that I do is put potato chips in my sandwiches. I love the crunch!

Josie83 replied: Lol! I don't drink tea but I haven't a clue what non-sweet (or whatever) would even be like. Everyone who has tea over here drinks it sweet. How weird!! xx

3_call_me_mama replied:
I do that too... tastes GREAT!

Josie83 replied:
Where in Europe were you? We have those things over here . . . you were obviously just in the wrong place in Europe xx

amymom replied: Ok so I made sweet tea. I liked it. It is better than ice tea. I want to try 'real sweet tea' though. Funny I was at the store yesterday and saw a can of Arizona Southern Style Sweet Tea. I hadn't tried the sweet tea I made yet and didn't buy the can. I don't know what I was thinking. I will have to go buy it and give it a try too.

maestra replied: I just saw this thread-

In Az you can't get sweet tea. You will get regular, unsweetened tea, and you can sweeten it yourself if you wish. But so many people here are health nuts.


And guacamole is very popular here, and most Mexican restaurants serve it with most everything.

As for adding spaghetti noodles to chili, I have never heard of that either. And cheese on salads- not usually if you order a "side salad" which is just really a small salad with some veggies in it. It depends where you go.

And I agree...this thread is funny!

5littleladies replied:

I love potato chips on my sandwich-I thought that was just a me thing though. It's nice to know I'm not crazy by myself.

Sarah&Mackenzie replied: When I went out to visit my aunts in California (I am from Illinois) we went out for lunch and I asked for a pop. The waitress just looked at me like I was from another planet. I said do you have coke or pepsi? They say soda out there.

ammommy replied:
I run into the opposite problem! I call pop soda and I remember once I went to a restaraunt and asked what kind of soda they served. The server looked at me kind of funny and said "hold on, I'll check". I'm thinking "what a moron. Doesn't even know if they have Pepsi or Coke." He came back and said that they carried schwepps I realized that he checked on the brand of soda water

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
Yep, when I moved to Colorado five years ago from CA, I had no idea what pop was. Most people here call it pop too and all the friends I met said it too...Don't people back east call ALL soda (pop)...Coke? I had a friend from NY and even if it was 7up or Pepsi, he said I'll have a Coke. Maybe that was just him??

Now I still don't understand the chicken fried chicken thing...is it chicken fried in it's own grease???? So chicken fried steak is steak fried in chicken grease or the other way around?? Strange. I'm sorry...but that absolutely makes me

Hey, my DH likes mayo with his fries...totally a Dutch thing!

ammommy replied:
I'm not exactly sure how to make it, but chicken fried chicken is heavily battered, deep fried chicken, usually in breast shape. Then, just to help clog the arteries, you drown it in gravy. Chicken fried staek is the same thing, just made with really inexpensive cuts of steak. Made well, the chicken tastes good but I just can't stomach it any more.

kit_kats_mom replied: Rae, chicken fried anything is just boneless cuts of meat that is breaded and fried in the same batter that you would use for fried chicken.
Chicken fried steak is usually just cube steak that is breaded and fried in oil. It's usually topped with white gravy & served with pipin hot greens flavored with ham hock, blackeyed peas & buttermilk biscuts.

maestra replied:
We say soda in Az too.....if you say pop, only the people who have moved here from other states will understand.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Yep! Cary explained the chicken fried steak perfectly! You're making me hungry talkin about greens and blackeyed peas. I love blackeyed peas. Brenda I can't believe they call them cow food up there.

Oh, and in Texas, we call everything COKE!