Just as I was beginning to debate (yes, with myself) about where each dish would fall in a top-ten list, I had a sudden, vivid recollection of the last time I made a major move. I was so much younger that, believe it or not, I hadn't yet developed the near-obsession I have with good food today.
I'm sitting in my seventh-grade English classroom at Sweetwater Middle School, having just moved to Lawrenceville from Raleigh a few weeks beforehand. The school system here is completely different than the one at the magnet school I've been attending in Raleigh, and all the material in my classes here is review from the past two years there. Needless to say, I am bored and utterly tuned out to what is going on around me.
Here's the weird part, which I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit because I'm sure some of you will think, “That's weird.” To bide the time until my next class, I start drawing, to the very best of my ability, the floor plan of my old middle school in Raleigh. To my 12 year old brain, my old school was far superior to this tiny place. It had three separate buildings, two of which had two stories and were enormous. The third was a later addition where such classes as dance and painting were taught. It did have trailers, like any middle school, but they housed not only French and Spanish classes, but also Russian, Japanese and German. I remember even explaining to a friend of mine how we needed a full 10 minutes for class changes because the school was so big that it was like high schools in Georgia.
But seriously, the floor plan?
And until today, I couldn't quite make sense of why in the world I would obsess so much over that. Now I think, just like my need to list in order of most importance my favorite entrees and desserts in Athens, I was trying to somehow quantify the experience of missing a place that felt so much like home. Then, most of my days were spent in that school. My most meaningful interactions took place there, and I discovered a lot about myself in the year and a half that I attended it.
Here, I have spent an unbelievable amount of time building friendships, studying, and even working in my favorite restaurants and cafes downtown. I know I've dumped obscene amounts of money and time into these places in exchange for the social interactions, and the incredible treats, they have provided. And I know it will be a very sad day when I start to crave Five Star Day's Chicken and Dumplings, and I have to scour a new city in hopes of finding anything that even remotely compares. Or anyone to call up at a moment's notice to meet me there...
I know there's no way to quantify the way that the past 11 years have turned Athens into the only place I've ever really called home, and I know this is just one of the many tricks I will try to play on myself to make it less painful to leave. But just for kicks, here's the list, or at least a rough draft:
Top Ten Foods I Will Miss in Athens:
(in no particular order, because I got distracted from that debate with myself)
Mirko's Tiramisu
Five Star Day's Chicken and Dumplings (also, Fried Green Tomatoes, Soul Chicken Pasta, Garden Club...)
Cookies'n'Company's Curry Chicken Salad on a Croissant (yeah, they've already closed, but I still miss it!)
The Grill's Fries and Feta
Cali'n'Tito's Tostones
Walker's Coffee (hey, coffee is food.)
Trappeze (everything. beer is also food.)
Casa Mia's Latin Sushi Roll
Ike and Jane's Elvis Donut (peanut butter, banana, bacon. on a donut.)
Chick-Fil-A (it's not just Athens, I know, but what are the chances of finding one in New Haven???)
1 comment:
this post makes me very sad!! food is one of my top ways to relate to a place as well..and i am sad that you won't be here any more.
Post a Comment