Thank you, South.

When I first moved to Georgia, all I had to do was open my mouth and everyone knew I wasn't from around here.  There were certain words that were a dead giveaway; home, bone, phone, hockey, yeah.  I couldn't really even tell the difference between what was saying and what they were saying (though I *can* hear the difference now).  I scoffed at the "new" words I was hearing including reckon, fixin' to, a whole lot of "ain't", and lots and lots of references to hunting, fishing, and just general outdoor things (like muddin'). 

It goes without saying there was an adjustment period.  I'm pretty sure I've blogged about this before.  (At least, I remember blogging about this, but don't think that it happened on here.  Must have been Myspace...remember THAT place?  Ha!  Maybe one day I'll copy those blog posts over here.  Some of them were pretty good.  What was I talking about again?  Oh yes.  Focus, Jennie.  Focus.)

The reason I was thinking about this today is because I discovered some goodies laying on the table at the end of the hall up for grabs.  Among them was a small package of divinity.  Divinity is something I had never seen, heard of, and definitely hadn't tasted during my tenure in the Mid-Atlantic.  For those of you in the same boat as I was, this is divinity:

Aptly named, divinity is a small piece of heaven on earth.  Especially if you're a sweets lover like me.  (Well actually I'm a sweets & savory lover.  This is why losing weight is particularly difficult for the likes of me.  In case you cared.)  It's kind of like a marshmallow...kind of like fudge.  Maybe it's meringue.  I don't know what it is.  I think it's classified as candy.  It's a puffy, soft delectable treat.  And I don't care about titles so much as taste.

At any rate, there were five pieces of this sinful treat at the end of the hallway.  Now there are just three.  By the end of the day, we'll see how many are left.  (I can't blame it on anyone else either, I'm in the office alone.  Shucks.)

It got me thinking about other things I've discovered since moving southward.  You know, in addition to the muddin' and divinity.  I would be remissed if I didn't mention sweet tea, Zaxby's, pulled pork barbeque, and pecan pie.  Sure, we had some of those things in Maryland, but they weren't the societal norm.  The South also has nicer beaches, families that ask for God's blessing unashamedly before eating in a restaurant, "Yes ma'am" and "No sir", and cheaper gas prices.  So thanks, "South", for those things.

Conversely, I also realized that some things are strictly mid-atlantic in nature.  Who knew the south didn't have scrapple, pumpkin rolls, Herr's potato chips, gravy fries, or Tasty Kakes? 

I guess this is why people travel.  To discover all of life's different cultural (and more importantly culinary) subtleties.

I wonder what kinds of delicious treats they have out west.  Hmmmm....