dawn_felagund | I ♥ Hanover

April 2024

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Bobby and I went to dinner tonight at a Mexican restaurant in Hanover, which is a town in southern Pennsylvania, about twenty minutes north of us. I seriously think Hanover might be one of the weirdest places on the planet. It's very small-townish, and there are a lot of businesses that sell rather odd combinations of items. Once, in my glee over these bizarre establishments, I cackled that Hanover is like driving through a U.S. "main street" town in a very odd alternate universe. Here's a list of the funniest and most bizarre. Keep in mind that these are all on the main street! I sometimes wonder what wonders exist as one ventures deeper into the wilds of Hanover, PA.

Real estate and firewood. I guess it's handy to be able to buy your new home and the wood to heat it with. Bobby has a much more cynical view, given the current economy and, especially, the real-estate market: Can't sell your house?? We'll at least give you its value if we can sell it as firewood!

Dad's Auto Detailing, Ebay Store, and Pawn Shop. We just noticed the addition of the pawn shop tonight. I suppose you can go and get your car cleaned, unload some old Barry Manilow LPs, and buy a gun with the serial number filed off, all at the same time.

Erick's Record Shop and Mexican Store. I'd imagine this is handy if you want to pick up the new Fifty Cent CD and also have a hankering for a burrito.

The Hanover Spice Company. In need of a bottle of fennel, a dozen vanilla beans, or jar of fresh-ground cumin? Think this is the place to go in downtown Hanover for such items? Wrong! However, if you need a naughty DVD or crotchless, edible panties, you're in luck!

Close-out Store: Furniture, Clothing, Office Supplies, and Groceries. I'm not sure I'd want to buy close-out groceries. Bobby's grandmother buys food items from such a store. One time, knowing that we liked cold coffee beverages, she bought us each one of those bottled Starbucks frappucinos. Bobby and I were drinking them, and we both looked at each other and said, "Do these seem weird to you?" They were ... chunky. There was chunks of dairy product in them. We flipped over the bottles and discovered that the sell-by date was two years past!

The Funniest! Andrew Crooks, Certified Public Accountant. I'm sure this guy is a marvelous CPA. However, there's just something bad-sitcom-funny about having your taxes done by a guy whose name is Crooks.

The Grossest! Hot and Crusty Italian and Mexican Fusion Grill. I don't even want to imagine what "Italian and Mexican fusion" consists of. Nachos made with ground Italian sausage and ricotta cheese? Pepperoni burritos served with a side of mushroom-jalapeño risotto? Lasagna layered with molé sauce and salsa verde? As though that doesn't sound gross enough, "hot and crusty"? Really?? I remarked to Bobby that it sounds more like the slogan for a wound treatment center than a restaurant. "If it's hot and crusty, come see us!" Nor--having worked in a restaurant for six years--does the word "crusty" make me hungry. It makes me think more of a deep fryer in bad need of cleaning, or some of our experiments with leaving food under the heat lamp all night to see what would happen.

The Most Bizarre! Candynut Shoppe: Chocolates, Nuts, and Electric Shaver Parts. I'm really not even sure what to say about this one. I ... No, I really don't know what to say about this one.

Except that it's very close to Hot and Crusty!

I ♥ Hanover!

Current Mood: silly
Current Location: the dining room table in Manchester ... NOT Hanover!
Current Music: *silence*

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I love those! There is a storefront carpenter/craftsman in my neighborhood, who specializes in booking bus tours to Atlantic City. I don't recall that he even has a sign. Just handmade furniture and bus schedules for Atlantic City in the front window. I've seen tour buses parked in front before though. He puts leftover random pieces of wood in cardboard boxes in front occasionally with a handlettered sign saying "Free. Help yourself."

Ah, that's a good one too! I wonder if he's from Hanover? I can see the sign on Baltimore St: Handmade Furniture and Atlantic City Bus Tours.

I would be in trouble with free scraps like that. I love stuff like that. My imagination always goes wild, picturing amazing things I could do with them ... but I never do because, of course, I never have time!

I'm like you. I have a few of those planks of wood around my house. I have a couple on ye olden NYC steam radiators, which means I can sit things on the surface. (Makes them useful, since I rarely get any heat up here on the top floor!) Maybe he is from Hanover. (Sadly, he will probably go the way of many storefronts in my neighborhood, the more interesting and useful of which are rapidly being turned into trendy, chi-chi restaurants. Infuriating. What we really do not need is yet another expensive sushi place; but there are no longer any shoe repair shops on the main drag.)

I didn't think there were any shoe-repair places left period. But I know the pain of watching the quaint local places get swallowed up by ... whatever. Crap, usually. Less funny, while driving through Hanover (which is very much a main-street town, with stores lining the main drag), I noticed how many shops were vacant that, when we moved here two years ago, were still in business. And it was quirky, specialized stuff like a framing shop and a hearing aid store ... maybe if they had also sold ice-cream sandwiches or something similarly incongruous, they would have lasted! :(

The one shoe repair place that remains is Hanovrian, on a side street. It is a husband and wife affair--Shoe Repair and Seamstress. They are immigrants from Milan. He repairs shoes (rebuilds! replaces the complete soles and heels on boots, for example) and his wife is an expert seamtress, who relines coats, hems, all the standard stuff, and fits dresses, for example, that are sizes too large. Laura has bought vintage couture and designer label dresses (often two and three sizes too large) in Manhattan re-sale shops and this lady has re-made them to fit her perfectly for a ridiculously low price.

Meanwhile, our local Chinese takeout place (which I used at least once a week) closed in the last few months, along with a terrific Lebanese restaurant (I could have fed you there--they had wonderful vegetarian platters), both of which were long-time fixtures in the area when we moved here around ten years ago. The curse of living in a "hot" neighborhood.

The Hanover Spice Company did me in but good. Followed up by paroxysms of laughter at the Candynut Shoppe. Hot and Crusty sounds like the symptoms of an especially nasty venereal disease.

Okay, I thought my version of Hot and Crusty was gross but you outdid me here! :D And, apparently, you are brainsharing with

surgicalsteel, who said the same.

Also your icon belongs in Hanover, PA: It is very funny and yet disturbing at the same time!

Is the Candynut Shoppe right beside the Spice Company? Sounds like a place I'd like to visit someday. ;-)

They're fairly far apart, in Hanover terms anyway: a couple of miles, probably. Goodness, the combination of candy, nuts, naughty lingerie, and electric shaver parts makes my brain want to combust! :D

Real estate and firewood? Very random.
And what are close-out stores? Like outlets that sell goods which are (mostly) perfectly edible but have faulty packaging (Sara Lee, for instance - although idk if Sara Lee outlets exist in the US)?

I think half of Hanover is very random! :D

Close-out stores buy product from stores that are going out of business and resell it cheap. So it's no guarantee that close-out groceries would be past expiration ... but we've had enough bad experiences with my grandmother-in-law that I wouldn't take my chances!

I'm sorry, I'm giggling too much to make a comment on those. :)

Mission accomplished! :D

LOLOL!

Yeah, we have some of these too... Buck's 5th Avenue Culinary Exotica is my all time fave!

Culinary exotica?! Yes, that's good! I guess it fits the rule that adding an "A" to the end of an English word makes it sound more ... well, exotica. :D

Candynut Shoppe: Chocolates, Nuts, and Electric Shaver Parts.

*blinks* Brain won't go there. Need my bed.
*leaves giggling*

I know! It's hard to comprehend! I mean, who thinks, "I want to start a candy shop, but I don't think I'll make enough money, so I'll also sell ... electric shaver parts?!" Wow!

Clearly, this is a town that I must visit during my lifetime.

Yes, Hanover is definitely a good place for those with a keen eye and an odd sense of humor. I'm usually laughing uproariously half the time we're driving through!

Oh my gosh! This wa a great post! I enjoyed it greatly!

Chunks in your Frappucino?? Oh...my...God...EEEEEW!!!

Yeah I'm not feeling the Hot n' Crusty thing either. Not sure I want a fusion of Italian and Mexican, that sounds really gnarly. What a hoot that its near the Candynut Shoppe. Too funny! So is the Crooks thing! No, I doubt I would trust him either. That's like having a doctor with the last name of Bucher or something, eek!

I wonder how many little old ladies went into the Hanover Spice Company, looking for things to use for their pies or whatever they're cooking, and got the shock of their life! LOL!

Not sure I want a fusion of Italian and Mexican, that sounds really gnarly.

Gnarly is the perfect word for it! :D When I was a kid, my mom once tried to save refrigerator space by combining leftover Spanish rice in the same Tupperware container as leftover cheese ravioli in marinara sauce. The flavors mixed, and it was disgusting. So yes ... gnarly! >:^P

That's like having a doctor with the last name of Bucher or something, eek!

Lol! An RL friend of mine, growing up, had a dentist in his neighborhood whose name was Dr. Payne. It sounds terrible, like something out of a horror movie! "Come along, children, it's time to go see Dr. Payne! Mwahahaha!"

I wonder how many little old ladies went into the Hanover Spice Company, looking for things to use for their pies or whatever they're cooking, and got the shock of their life!

Perhaps anticipating that, the display windows are covered in pink foil with scantily clad mannequins posed just behind it! Creepy! :D

'Hot and Crusty' sounds like something that needs to be treated with antibiotics and reported to the state so they can do contact notification.

Erm. I was once my base's officially designated STD doc while in the Air Force.

Oh, and the Spice Company! Heee.

I told

pandemonium_213 that you two have officially out-grossed me with this! I thought my wound association was disgusting! Yuck! :D

Oh, now if you want to talk about gross, disgusting wounds, I can go there instead. Wanna hear about the time I picked maggots out of someone's scalp? ;D

Noooooo! There is a reason I switched my college major from bio/pre-vet to psychology! :D

I don't know. Maybe you're missing out on something by not giving the Italian/Mexican fusion a try. ;-)

I'm not sure I want to eat anything with shaver parts in it, though.

And you're right, that's completely bizarre.

Hmm... in the town where I live there's a shop that sells lingerie and school supplies.

Maybe you're missing out on something by not giving the Italian/Mexican fusion a try.

I have an idea! If ever you travel to the US, you can try it and report back to me. ;)

Hmm... in the town where I live there's a shop that sells lingerie and school supplies.

Oh, that's brilliant! Though that would cause a moral uproar over here! >:^)))

Not very adventurous, these days, are you?

Pfft.

And oh yes, I hadn't thought of that at all. *sniggers* You know, some people commented on how weird a mixture that is. But NO ONE even raised an eyebrow over it that I talked to...

Tee hee hee, now I'm imagining what would happen if someone in an 8k town in the US tried selling lace knickers and school notepads in one and the same shop...

Not very adventurous, these days, are you?

Lol, I guess not! Well, once when I was a kid, my mother--trying to save refrigerator space, I guess--put into a single Tupperware leftover Spanish rice and ravioli in marinara sauce. They took on each other's flavor and ... *shudder* Let's just say that was my first and last experiment with Mexican-Italian fusion! ;)

And oh yes, I hadn't thought of that at all. *sniggers*

You're not in a U.S. state of mind! Considering that the restaurant I used to work for once got a complaint because the delivery truck had a banana on the side and the complainant found it entirely too phallic ... yes, people here are bothered by anything and everything! Getting bothered over stupid shit is the #1 U.S. pastime! :)

Gah... chunky frappucinos. Not good!! Not good!!

However, this post was hilarious.

They didn't taste spoiled but ... *shhhhhuddderrr*

And I aim to convert the weirdest, funniest, and most bizarre moments of my life into entertainment for my flist, so yay! :D

I have to admit the Spice Company got me in. I found myself thinking "What in all the world Dawn thinks to be funny about a spice shop?" ... then I read the text. No words for that really. ;-P

And chunky dairy stuff, ewww, that's gross! At least it doesn't seem to have caused any... unwanted consequences. ;) It reminds me of the one time my mother was making a salad and I wanted to try the mozzarella, only that it wasn't really good anymore... I spit it all out again it tasted that bad.

It makes me think more of [...] some of our experiments with leaving food under the heat lamp all night to see what would happen.

Dawn, I'm having a bad impression of you now. Playing with food, really! ;-P

I have to admit, as a non-native speaker I first wondered what's so strange about the word "crusty" when speaking about food. Then I read your examples and thought about the German equivalent ("krustig" means about the same and also wouldn't be used for food, though "Kruste" is often used for something crispy on top of food stuff and hasn't the gross ring to it either) and it became pretty clear to me... who knows, they were probably going for "crispy" or so... (would that be okay with food?). ;)

At least it doesn't seem to have caused any... unwanted consequences. ;)

That is a good thing! We stopped drinking them pretty quickly since it was rather obvious that there was something wrong.

Dawn, I'm having a bad impression of you now. Playing with food, really!

Lol! Come on, it's the only way one can survive for eight to ten hours in a sweltering kitchen each day! ;) We used to have all sorts of fun. Leave burger patties on the grill all day to see what they looked like at the end. Trying to make fried ice cream in the deep fryer. Of course, I was the kitchen manager, so I was generally above these things ... *slow nod*

I have to admit, as a non-native speaker I first wondered what's so strange about the word "crusty" when speaking about food.

Yes, crusty is not a good food word, imho! Crispy would be great and is used for food all the time. Or flaky. Crusty, though, sounds symptomatic! :D

Also, I think it's weird that they feel the need to state in the name of the restaurant that the food is hot. Shouldn't that be a given?? It's kind of disturbing when it's not, sort of like how our local KFC has a sign on the wall bragging, "100% Real Chicken!"

[...] sort of like how our local KFC has a sign on the wall bragging, "100% Real Chicken!"

You know, that somehow reminds me of the time during the BSE crisis in Europe, when our local McDonald's kept bragging that everything they served was 100% German beef (because Germany wasn't yet affected by BSE then). It kind of became a running gag between my friends and me:

Strawberry milkshake: 100% beef!
Chicken nuggets: 100% beef!
Ice cream: 100% beef!
I guess you've recognized the pattern... ;)

Anyway, how did the fried ice cream turn out? ;-P

Oh, and a bit OT: When I first read the title of your post I thought "what the hell is Dawn doing in Hannover?" because I thought of the city with the same name (with 2 "n") in Germany. *head desk*

Okay, that was a late reply, but I couldn't resist somehow.

(dies)

How have i missed these places...?

They're right on Baltimore Street! (Which is itself very "Hanoverian," since Baltimore is an hour away and in a whole different state! :D)

Haha, wow. Names like that always amuse me. ^ ^;

Though i don't think we've ever driven through Hanover proper, or if we have, i've never noticed. It sounds like an interesting place, though. ;)

CPA Crooks is the best. He must be a distant relative of a bank manager here named DeFalco (which sounds like desfalco=embezzlement) or Dr Gatti, a vet on the radio who speaks about - what else - cats or an architect called Casas. I suppose Spanish lends itself to these ridiculous combinations more easily but we all seem to have a list of these to be produced when conversation gets boring.

Those are great! De[s]Falco is my favorite! Since a lot of English surnames actually began as people's professions, I suppose it's not so strange to have Carpenter work as a carpenter or Baker work in a restaurant.

I did point out to Lady Roisin another one: Dr. Payne. The dentist. O.O Near my high school, there was also a dentist, Dr. Grill. Grill being a slang term for teeth, particularly gold teeth!

Dentists! You've reminded me of the very best of the whole lot: Dr. Dolorini (dolor = pain) who nevertheless came to have a very successful practice. People have little imagination, I suppose, or bad toothaches.

Damn! That list makes me very sorry I never found the time to go to Hanover while I was still living in Pannsylvaina.

Other than the crazy businesses, you're not missing much! :D They do, however, have a very good Mexican restaurant.

# However, if you need a naughty DVD or crotchless, edible panties, you're in luck!Nor--having worked in a restaurant for six years--does the word "crusty"

Hmm some pizza commercials here have such slogans...

Do share with us when you venture in those wilds of Hanover, PA :D

About crotchless panties and crustiness!? *frightened!*

I did miss Bobby's favorite Hanover business: Texas Hot Weiner Lunch. Very Cold Connecticut Weiner Supper, who they put out of business. ;)

*falls over laughing*

*picks you up*
*dusts you off*

:^D

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