So the sale wasn’t really the bomb diggity, but the food was great.Well over a month ago, I got an email from The Kid with a link to a giant clearance sale.  It was J Crew and Madewell, at the state fairgrounds.  The suggestion was to get Gramma and Grampa up from Greensboro and we’d all attend.

Well, I went to high school in the eighties, and am unrepentantly preppie.  I never met an oxford cloth shirt or a pair of deck shoes I didn’t like.  I owned two add-a-bead necklaces (lapis & silver and onyx & gold), and a Bermuda bag with about 20 different covers. So, I’m down with J Crew.  And I love Madewell.  We decided to go.

If we’d been in the market for an evening gown, a wedding dress, or a navy blue coat, we would’ve been at the perfect sale.  But, we weren’t.  Instead, we played “find the flaw” in the seconds, and competed to find the ugliest item.  I won with a knee-length coat (I think it was a coat).  The cuffs and neck were the scratchy gray knit of an ugly Grandpa sweater, and the body was perforated leather in a particularly phlegmy shade of yellow.

After our visit to the sale, we headed to the flea market.I really need to go to the flea market more often.  I had forgotten all about one of my very favorite vendors: the Italian Ice cart.

These are not your mother’s Italian ices; they’re my mother’s.  Coming from jersey, she knows the real deal, and has given me very high standards.  They are not the artificially colored, overly sweet, under-ly flavored cups normally found in NC.

They are very much like sorbet.  The Kid had creamsicle, Mom picked strawberry/kiwi, Dad went with green apple.  Everybody loved them.  The ices are all full of flavor and refreshing, but light.My ice was the unorthodox flavor of chocolate.  Most people outside of Jersey don’t even know ices come in chocolate.  But it does, and when done right, as this was, is a deep, rich, not too sweet celebration of cocoa.

I was then the recipient of great good fortune, all due to a highly uncharacteristic act by The Kid.

Normally my child doesn’t take the lead on eating samples unless we’re in Costco.  But we walked into a food stall which had pimento cheese sandwich samples.  My offspring partook.

Long ago I decided the only good pimento cheese is from Fresh Market.  They’ve ruined me for all others, I loudly proclaimed.

Until today; when I had a bite of The Kid’s sample.  My socks were fully and forcefully blown right off.The company is Heavenly Beezzz (not a typo, that’s how it’s spelled).  It is now and forever, officially the best pimento cheese ever.  The Kid thought so, too.

The coolest thing about it is that in addition to the regulation mild and spicy varieties, they have a third version using very sharp cheddar, for which we are huge suckers.

They also have lots of jams, jellies, and pickles.  And, in accordance with the name, lots of honey products, including creamed honey.  In this form, it makes a terrific spread on biscuits.  A schmear of this along with a little butter on a piece of toasted whole wheat and you would swear you’re eating a plate of French toast.They’re at the fairgrounds every week, or you can check out their website at WWW.Heavenlybeezzz.com.

Despite the disappointing sale, we had a blast.  I always forget how much fun the flea market is, until I go again.  And I’ll bet you do too.

So while the weather is nice, pack up the kids, put on some comfortable shoes, and take a trip to the fairgrounds.

And while you’re there, would you mind picking up a chocolate ice for me?  I’ll pay you for it.Thanks for your time.