Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Since day one of reading and participating in these food boards, I have acquired obsessions that were more a reaction to people's enthusiasm rather than to my personal wims.

In the beginning, I would read of Jim Leff's desire for Quisp flying saucer shaped cereal. I recall he didn't want anyone to tell him where it could be found, because he like the thrill of the hunt locating a box in random grocery stores. For years thereafter, I would scan the cereal aisles hoping to find my own box of Quisp. Last summer, I hit the jackpot twice: my first encounter was at Grand Food Center in Winnetka. As I scanned the aisles, the martian with the propeller on his head stared back at me. I felt like I won the lottery. I immediately bought a box and a gallon of whole milk to enjoy the experience to the maximum. Quisp reminded me of the much easier to locate Captain Crunch, but still after all these years I finally had one.

My second box of Quisp was found at Fox and Obel in the middle of a rack of whole grain cereals. While it was fun to find my second box in six years of searching, I felt this Quisp was more calculated marketing ploy than a true spontaneous find. I will bet the farm it was offered at Fox and Obel for the Jim Leff and Chowhounds aware of this obsesssion. Somehow this was not as thrilling as the Grand Food Center experience, I did not buy the second box of Quisp.

When I was maybe 10-years-old, my Mom bought a box of Appian Way Pizza, because it reminded her of her childhood. Appian Way Pizza was a treat in my Mom's household. My Mom and her brother Tom would carefully mix the dough, pat it out, distribute the pizza sauce and shake parmesan cheese from a small shaker can over it. They couldn't wait for it to come from the oven and carefully cut it for a 50:50 share. My Mom had just retold this boring old chestnut of a story last summer, when a few days later I found a box of Appian Way Pizza at Garden Fresh Market in Northbrook. Naturally, I called home to report it to my Mother who was screaming with delight, then I took a box home. Appian Way Pizza is now offered complete with Crust Mix and Pizza Sauce. Just breeze past the omission of the cheese, while it wasn't great, it was part of the Appian Way Pizza experience. I made the pizza with grated parmesan, then served it to my Mom. It tasted like Bisquik in my humble opinion. My Mom didn't rave about the taste, she was still stirred up by her memories from over 50 years ago. I heard her recounting the experience with her brother and laughing over the good ol'days fighting over Appian Way Pizza.

Gibbles chips may have been popular because they were made a little differently than those from larger companies. The label on a bag of chips explained their recipe.

The company used lard instead of other available oils. "Why? Because we believe that simple and natural is best. We at Gibble's are proud to use the same fine ingredients that made us a hit many years ago at our farmers market stand - chips so wonderfully good they're "Nibble Gibble-icious!" We want to be your potato chip!"

Fans agreed, and weren't the ones who bailed.

The potato chips had deep roots (no pun intended) in the Newville community. It was originally founded by Dot and John Greegor, who called the chips “Dot and John’s.” The couple owned other businesses in the area and the chip-making operation was eventually sold to Charles Heckendorn.

Heckendorn’s two youngest children, Kay and Ray, became the namesake for the kettle-cooked chips. They were the children on the beach pictured on the front of every package.

In 2007, The Sentinel interviewed former Kay and Ray’s employee, Ruth Stouffer, who remembered starting out as one of two ladies who peeled, washed, sliced and cooked the potato chips. Eventually, she moved on to become one of several women who bagged and shipped the chips.

"When I first started working for Ruth and Charlie (Heckendorn) one of my main jobs was to cook and stir the chips once they were placed in the tubs to be cooked," Ruth said. "I had to keep my eye on the chips so they didn’t stick together; keeping them stirred around was very important."

Ruth said she always knew when to take them out of the cooker by the color of the potatoes.

Evil Ronnie wrote:Cathy,

I frequently bought Gibble's when I lived in Virginia. Yes, they were very good, but so are Grandma Utz chips, also fried in pure lard.

http://www.utzsnacks.com/store/c-40-gra ... chips.aspx

Ray has over 30 chapters of "The Life and Times of Uncle Ray". He felt compelled to send a message to those eating his product. "If someone was ever contemplating suicide, drugs, stealing, or what ever life's troubles bring you, I want you to know that you are not alone". "Everyone has bad days and I want to be there with a message"