Things I miss

[MaggieTheCat]

So, it's been just over 8 months since I moved from Wisconsin to Texas. I love it here, but there are a few things that I do, in fact, miss about Wisconsin.

-My good friend D. Her and her husband were sort of my adoptive family, especially when my own family was being unbearable. She made the best waffles in the world, too.

-Trees. Sure, there are trees down here, but not nearly as many. Green is my favorite color. And I did miss the leaves changing color and just autumn (my favorite season) in general.

-Cheese. Nobody knows what real cheese is down here. Especially cheese SPREAD. I can't believe how hard it's been to find cheese spread. I've scoured the grocery store and the best I can come up with is this little wheel that's divided into 8 little wedges of "cheese." It doesn't even come in cheddar, though. And deep fried cheese curds? You know, the appetizer that you can get even in Chinese restaurants in Wisconsin? Yeah, those don't exist down here either. It makes me SAD.

-Friday night fish fry. The cuisine down here in Texas is AMAZING compared to where I came from. There is such a huge variety and most of it is delicious. But I still miss my Friday night fish fry, especially haddock. When I asked my husband the first time, he'd never even heard of it. Fish is not a real common thing where we are.

-My chiropractor. I had an amazing chiropractor in my tiny little hometown and I loved him (and his secretary, she was hilarious and super nice.) Fortunately, he fixed me up pretty good before I left so I was doing okay for a while without getting an adjustment. But the last few weeks, my neck and shoulders have really been bothering me and I've been getting a LOT more headaches than I was right after I moved down here, so I finally bit the bullet and called a chiropractor here to make an appointment. I'm very nervous because I had absolutely nothing to go on when I picked a chiropractor. None of our friends down here have been to one and there are no reviews online that I could find.

-My cat. I had to leave my cat behind at my parents' because my husband already has 2 cats and our apartment has a 2 pet max policy. His cats are wonderful and one especially loves me (he actually just came up on my lap and demanded attention for a while as I was typing this.) But I still miss my little guy.

That's all for now. I was thinking about including a list of "things I DON'T miss" but it would be much, much longer and probably turn into a really nasty rant, so I'll just stick to the happy memories for now.

[tacohuman]

what part of texas are you in? i ask because at least some of what you miss can indeed be found down here:

-Trees. Sure, there are trees down here, but not nearly as many. Green is my favorite color. And I did miss the leaves changing color and just autumn (my favorite season) in general.

texas, from central texas to the south and west, is semi-arid to arid, so the trees do tend to be stunted and sparse. however, northeast texas and large parts of the coastal plain are pretty heavily forested. granted, it's primarily pine, but the large trees are there.

-Cheese. Nobody knows what real cheese is down here. Especially cheese SPREAD. I can't believe how hard it's been to find cheese spread. I've scoured the grocery store and the best I can come up with is this little wheel that's divided into 8 little wedges of "cheese." It doesn't even come in cheddar, though. And deep fried cheese curds? You know, the appetizer that you can get even in Chinese restaurants in Wisconsin? Yeah, those don't exist down here either. It makes me SAD.

please don't generalize. i run a cheese shop. i work with cheese for a living. i know what real cheese is, though i wouldn't necessarily consider a cheese spread to be real cheese. there are some amazing creameries down here (pure luck being my favorite) that put out some amazing cheeses, though since they're small operations they just tend to sell locally.

as for cheese curds, i know of one restaurant that sells them, though i don't believe they're located all over the state. the restaurant is called culver's. cheese curds do exist here, just maybe not near you.

-Friday night fish fry. The cuisine down here in Texas is AMAZING compared to where I came from. There is such a huge variety and most of it is delicious. But I still miss my Friday night fish fry, especially haddock. When I asked my husband the first time, he'd never even heard of it. Fish is not a real common thing where we are.

there are friday night fish fries all over the place. i grew up going to them most every friday night. that said, they do tend toward catfish rather than haddock.


welcome to texas! glad that with these few exceptions you're enjoying my home state.

[AdminAssistant]

there are friday night fish fries all over the place. i grew up going to them most every friday night. that said, they do tend toward catfish rather than haddock.

This. I mean, I'm from Arkansas, not Texas, but Friday night fish fries (almost always catfish) are pretty normal. There are tons of restaurants back home that specialize in nothing but catfish and the fixin's (coleslaw, fries, hush puppies, pickled tomatoes, etc.)

And there aren't any in my particular corner of Kansas. (And don't get me started on what these people consider BBQ)

[MaggieTheCat]

We live in central Texas. It's not as sparse as the panhandle (we visited my husband's mother over Christmas and I don't think I saw more than 5 trees the whole time we were there) but it's still not as lush as Wisconsin. Particularly because I grew up in the middle of 80 acres of forest that my parents own.

Regarding cheese, well, there are some amazing cheeses in Wisconsin and I haven't found any that compare, yet. Granted I haven't scoured the city for a creamery or cheese shop but it's not like Wisconsin where you could walk into a grocery store and have 30+ selections of cheese. And regarding cheese spread, I wasn't talking something like Velveeta or Kraft or that whiz stuff that comes out of a can. I'm talking real, authentic cheddar cheese in a spreadable form. Something like this: Black Diamond Cheddar Cheese Spread

I've had that brand, in fact, and it's very good. There are lots of local brands in Wisconsin that are really good, too. What I should really do is just make my own. I have a recipe for homemade cheese spread using basically any kind of cheese you want.

Culver's Cheese Curds...I mean, yeah, they're okay. There's one where we live now and I've had their cheese curds once since I've been here. They're okay for a cheese curd fix. We had a Culver's back in my hometown and it was the closest fast food place to where I worked, so people went there all the time for lunch. So maybe I just don't like it as well because I've had it so often. Little local places like bars and taverns usually have the best cheese curds, though.

My husband hates catfish and the few times that I've had it, I haven't been impressed. Granted, I've never had a southern fish fry as described above by AA, so maybe I'd like it better if it was prepared that way. As a general rule, I don't like fresh water fish as well as salt water, which is why I mentioned haddock in particular.

Now, BBQ. Being from Wisconsin, my definition of BBQ (as defined by my mom) used to be some sauteed ground beef covered in BBQ sauce. aka sloppy joes. Boy did I learn my lesson the first time I visited Texas. I love a good Texas BBQ now. Never knew what I was missing before.

tacohuman, where abouts in Texas are you located? If we're ever in the area, I'll have to stop by your shop to stock up on cheese.

[tacohuman]

i live in austin, and work in the westlake heb cheese shop. we have around 200+ cheeses in my shop, so feel free to stop by and i'll be happy to help stock you up. i do still stand by my statement about cheese spread, though, and i wasn't thinking of kraft or velveeta, either. honestly, i try not to think of those at all. when you take a semi-hard or hard cheese and process it to the point that it can be spread, it can't rightly be called cheese anymore. cheese product, cheese food, sure. but not cheese. even the link you provided to the black diamond spread (and i love me some black diamond, especially the grand reserve. yum.) calls it a "cheese food."

as for the curd, i agree culver's is only ok. just saying that it is available. the problem with true curd is that it's meant to be eaten fresh, within a few days of manufacture. we don't have any large-scale factory cheese operations around here that could provide that amount of curd, so it has to be shipped in from elsewhere, frozen, and usually with citric acid added as a preservative. this obviously affects the flavor. most of the small-scale creameries keep their curd to make their own product.

[blas]

There is nowhere else in the States to get good cheese. Or dairy in general.

[tacohuman]

There is nowhere else in the States to get good cheese. Or dairy in general.

so it's safe to assume then that you've had cheese or dairy from every state?

[trailerparkmedic]

I miss snow (the amount of snow we got in Maryland--once or twice a year) and seasons and autumn with leaves changing colors.

Tacohuman, I LOVE your cheese shop. When we're in Austin I normally make my boyfriend bring me by so we can grab something for whoever we're visiting. Yum.

[CaroPhoenix]

Now I want cheese!

I don't care what kind o' cheese (though no pepperjack right now please).

My grandma (dad's mom) used to just eat slices of cheese as a snack. She'd go into the kitchen and slice a chunk off the hunk of cheddar she'd have in her fridge and carry it around the house until she was done with it.

*sighs*

Now I'm missing my grandma AND still craving cheese.

[blas]

It's safe to assume Wisconsin has the best dairy. Period. I wish California would stop with their little "Happy Cow" campaign. California has enough to be famous for and brag about, let us small town redneck Wisconsinities have our damn cheese and milk.

[the_std]

It's safe to assume Wisconsin has the best dairy. Period.

Uh, why?... Have any reasons behind that statement?

[dalesys]

There is nowhere else in the States to get good cheese. Or dairy in general.

Cache Valley, Utah. Dem's my roots.

I miss the Smoky Swiss... Riding with mom to the cheese factory and getting ultra-fresh cheese curds...

[blas]

I'm biased, sorry.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. There is nothing wrong with a little state pride.

I should not have made such a "!" statement and I am sorry.

[the_std]

Nothing to be sorry for, but there are lots of us on this board who have never been to Wisconsin and are just curious about why it might be so good to get dairy products there. Just looking for a little explanation.

[blas]

You will have to come visit and see

My best argument is that we do things a little more...simple than say, California. Many farms around here are run the way that they always have been (although newer technology has been incorporated, the old fashioned values of farming are still strong).....it may also be because I'm from a part of Wisconsin with lots of small rural farming type towns and lots of pride that goes with that.