Came across an interesting site last night. Philly Foods Missing many of these foods is one of the reasons I couldn’t stand living in Virginia when Mike and I were first married.

I went to college in central Virginia, 6 hours from my home in New Jersey. I loved living on campus and accepted that I would have to eat sucky college food, so I didn’t miss my regional goodies during my 4 years there. Living off campus was a whole different matter.

My mother kept the home in which I was raised until I graduated from college. My father died my freshman year and the house was too big and with an acre and a half of lawn, too much for my mother to take care of. I graduated in May 1976. My mother and I immediately went to the shore for the summer and when the summer was over we began our search for a condominium for her to buy in Philadelphia. Her closest friends still lived there and she wanted to be closer to them.

I loved condo hunting! I had lived in the same house all my life, so this was new to me. We finally found a brand spanking new duplex. My mother bought the upstairs unit, her friend from high school bought the downstairs. We moved in December 1976.

My mother’s condo was near the outskirts of the city….not city-like at all. The area was filled with newer ‘regular’ homes and wooded areas. But what I loved about it was that it was only 20 minutes from center city Philly….a far cry from the hour, 15 min. it took me from Jersey. I loved those few months I lived in Philly. There was so much more to do and see…nothing like the rural area I was from. I had spent much of my childhood in Philly visiting both sets of grandparents, but I had never lived there!

Mike and I were married in June 1977. He had been out of college 2 years and had an apartment in the city of our college. In August we left the shore to begin our new life together in Virginia. I loved being married…..but hated being in Virginia. For the first time in my life I had to grocery shopping. There was little in the stores I recognized. Different brands of food and none of the ethnic cuisine I was used to in the Philly area……they didn’t even have delis then!! I had to buy Kraft packaged cheese and Oscar Mayer luncheon meat. This is a CATASTROPHE for anyone from my area!!

And take out???? Forget it!! There was one hoagie place…..it was blasphemous to use the word hoagie….packaged cold cuts and cheese on a seeded (SEEDS on a hoagie roll????) hot dog bun, they had no clue how to make real pizza down there and I swear had I asked for a cheese steak I would have been served a T-bone between two slices of bread!!!

I knew I wasn’t going to like living in Virginia and told Mike BEFORE we were married that I had no intention of spending my life there. Thankfully he agreed and said we would be out of the south within 5 years….he called it the 5 year plan.

Mike realized how miserable I was in Virginia. I was too far from my mother, too far from the shore and the foods I loved……I wasn’t going to make it on grits, black eyed peas and okra!! My mother never made me feel as though I had to live near her, but at the time, I felt obligated since my father was no longer living. Looking back, I now know I needed her more than she needed me.

Mike started applying for teaching jobs in the NJ/PA area. He landed one quickly here in Bridgeton. We moved in July 1978 and have lived in this town ever since. We were living an hour and 15 minutes from my mother, an hour from the shore and I could actually buy what I wanted and was familiar with in the grocery stores! I was a happy little camper and still am…..this has turned out to be a wonderful town, full of small town friendly people and a great, safe place in which to raise our children. Virginia is a gorgeous state, especially near the mountains where we were…..but New Jersey is home.