Do your marinades, condiments, and sauces have character? I’m not talking in terms of flavor, I mean are they an actual character?
I was riding in my friend’s car last week on our way home from a movie when we started talking about our favorite marinades and grilling sauces. She loves Original State Fair Spiedie Sauce. We never knew how to pronounce it, so we just called it “Speedy.” We both loved it. As soon as summer would roll around, we would get our grills ready and start stocking up on good old Speedy. Then, one day we discovered State Fair Lemon Garlicious, a different marinade made by the same company, a lemon garlic one! We started calling that sauce, “Speedy’s Friend.” This marinade became my favorite one. Another time we discovered a third sauce, State Fair Chicken Bar-B-Que Sauce. This sauce was quickly dubbed, “Speedy’s Friend of a Friend.” (For the record, neither of us liked this one.)
Now that I’ve introduced you to the three sauces, let’s get back to last week’s car ride. We were hungry, talking about what each of were going to make for dinner that night. This food discussion led to talking about Speedy, Speedy’s Friend, and Speedy’s Friend of a Friend. During one of my comments, I referred to Speedy as a “he.” My 
friend wondered out loud if other people refer to their marinades as he or she. We both agreed that Speedy is a guy. I was surprised that I also had a very clear view of what I thought Speedy looks like. I view him as a short, stocky man, maybe with a mustache, looking a bit like Luigi from Super Mario Brothers. My friend viewed him as a tall, athletic guy. We both had very vivid images of what he looks like. But we could accept the other person’s visualization.
We didn’t agree on anything with Speedy’s Friend. I feel Speedy’s Friend is also a guy. He is tall, wears a baseball cap (either blue or yellow) and he is younger than Speedy. They are friends. He walks with long strides, while Speedy has more of a quick waddle, with his arms pumping as he moves. My friend feels Speedy’s Friend is a female. Very quickly, we both started talking at the same time, trying to convince the other about the gender of Speedy’s Friend. My friend feels that Speedy’s Friend is a female because it is so lemony and lemons can be delicate. But I feel the flavor isn’t so much lemony as it is LEMONY! I mean, this marinade is full of flavor. It’s bold. It’s strong. I think it can be lemony as well as being male. My friend was just as sure in her choice of Speedy’s Friend being female. This discussion went on for several miles, with no compromise in sight.
Today I saw my friend again and she brought up the Speedy discussion. She said she had shared our conversation with her next door neighbor. This neighbor also uses the marinades, so she is familiar with them. She agreed that Speedy is a male and she also felt he was short and stocky. Woo hoo!
Next came the moment of truth. How did the neighbor view Speedy’s Friend? She agreed with me! Yep, she also felt Speedy’s Friend is a male, a tall, younger male. Yippee!
Last night, I shared this discussion with my sister. She also uses both of these grilling sauces and very quickly came up with her interpretation of each marinade’s gender. She felt Speedy was a male because this marinade separates and looks all disheveled when it sits in your refrigerator. This is in contrast to Speedy’s Friend, who doesn’t separate. Kelly, my sister, felt that Speedy’s Friend always looks “put together.” It doesn’t separate as much and always looks presentable. In Kelly’s opinion this makes Speedy’s Friend a girl. She did not have physical descriptions of them, maybe she will come up with that later. I promise I will share Kelly’s interpretation with my friend.
Have you ever thought about the character of your favorite marinades, grilling sauces, or foods? When I found the Rob Salamidia website (the company that makes Speedy, Speedy’s Friend, and Speedy’s Friend of a Friend) as I wrote this post, I saw all the other sauces, rubs, and spices that they have. Now I want to try more and see what other characters they have! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
If you haven’t tried these sauces and marinades I highly recommend it. Invite Speedy’s Friend over for a yummy chicken or pork dinner. You won’t be disappointed! If you have tried these before, let me know what your interpretation is of their character.
disclaimer: No marinades, seasonings, or grilling sauces were harmed in the writing of this blog post.
———————————————-
This post isn’t 1000 words long, it’s short by about 200 words. Bummer!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: 1000 words, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The rests of my read-a-thon updates will all be in this post.
Nan's Corner of the Web 