THURSDAY THE LONG WAY: SIDEWALK PRETZELS

Thursday highlights food from out of the way places, food memories that have formed the way I view food, both cooking it and eating it. These memories may be inspired by recent meals, the food-media, or anything at all.

There's a slightly cooler breeze kicking up and it's getting to be that time of year when the sweatshirt is a constant companion. It means Fall is on the way and with that comes one of my favorite New York City food smells, one that takes me back to being a kid-- pretzels being sold by sidewalk vendors.

Now I couldn't tell you the last time I actually stopped and bought a sidewalk pretzel but that's not the point. These days, mustard or not the pretzels always seem dried-out and crumbly, not something you'd be nostalgic about (for soft, moist, buttery pretzels you'd probably be more inclined to go for Auntie Anne's chain-store pretzels). But it's not so much about the taste as the smell. It's a mix of charcoal, cold city wind, and warm bread. It's musky, dry and inviting. It reminds me of weekend excursions into the city as a kid for the Thanksgiving Day Parade when my parents would buy me one.

It's a smell I look forward to every year, mostly from October through December and March through April, when I'm enjoying the cooler weather but not yet suffering through what seems to be the endless New York winter. It's something that makes me smile, a few fleeting seconds of olfactory happiness.