So, what is Cracker Barrel? My dad described it as "if you wanted to build an American restaurant in another country this is exactly what it should look like." We decided that Yuki and her mum from Japan and Minyung from Korea just had to try this all-American restaurant. So while in Houston, 4 of us Americans took them there. :D
Cracker Barrel has a country store attached to it which has lots of oddities including clothes, decorations for your house, music, toys and old-fashioned candy.
One of our favorite things about Cracker Barrel is the peg game that they have on the table for you to play while you wait for your food. You start with one hole open and jump pegs over other pegs. Each time you jump a peg you take out the one you jumped over. It is very strategic. The goal of the game is to have as few pegs left as possible. Our record when we went was 3 (except when I cheated and looked up on my iPhone how to play it. Then I got it down to 1. lol)
The food here is really amazing. Most of it is "comfort food" which is basically like the warm, creamy stuff that makes your stomach really full and makes you feel really tired. :) They bring out hot biscuits and rolls at the beginning. If you ever go, be sure to ask for apple butter to put on your biscuits. It is delicious!
My mom and I both got the chicken and dumplings. We couldn't eat it all!
This is the chicken fried chicken with some fried apples on the side. The apples taste like the inside of an apple pie. Yum!
If you are ever in the US, make sure to try this restaurant out! And then when your stomach is full, you can sit on the porch and rock in the rocking chairs! :D
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Is that a Libera shirt I see someone wearing?? I want one! (:
ReplyDeleteThey went to Cracker Barrel in 2008 too. (in the video of USA Tour 2008) I also love Cracker Barrel! That's just "America" I think! And foods were really great! Mum said Cracker Barrel's was the best among the foods she had in the US except Lauren's dinner.:D Thank you for taking us there.:)
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks again for giving me this peg game. I love this kind of game. I did the game a lot on the airplane back to Japan. And finally have found how to get it down to 1!:D
I have an idea now your getting an Idea of what "Pennsylvania Dutch" cooking is
ReplyDeletelike:). I'm familiar with it
as I do indeed fit into the classification of being "Pennsylvania Dutch".
Anybody born of German extraction could be safely called that if the lived in
the right areas of Pennsylvania. Being Pennsylvania Dutch, one does not necessarily
have to be Old order Amish or Mennonite even though those are the two groups
most associated with it.
The one thing my father never did was to teach my brother and myself the
language. Pennsylvania Dutch is a very badly corrupted with English and other
languages form of German. I might point out the Old order Amish still speak and
read the Teutonic German for worship that was in use when the first immigrants
arrived on American shores.
Terry
Ahhh looking at the picture of my lunch there makes me hungry! Cracker Barrel has delicious chicken fried chicken :D
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, yep it's a Libera shirt they were selling during the 2010 US tour.
There is also a larger version of the peg game called Hi-Q. It comes on a board and all the pegs on the board are in the shape of a cross. The object of the game is still the same (starting with one open hole, and jumping and removing pegs to end up with as few as possible - one left being the ultimate goal). I don't know if this game is still available commercially. Perhaps it can be ordered online.
ReplyDeleteEven though I have ridden my Harley over many roads in the United States I had never heard of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store/restaurant prior to reading about it in the Libera Blog. But, now I know I have been missing something that is very American. There used to be a restaurant in Ontario, Canada that I used to always stop at during my many trips that had little games like the Peg game on each table that always helped the time to pass quickly while you waited for your food. Skill testing games are just the best.
ReplyDeleteBtw Terry, you are a man who knows much and everytime I read an article that you've written I learn something new, you are amazing sir.
The next time I go to the U.S. I will make sure I go to a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store so I can see what I have been missing all these years. Thier food looks yummy and I know I could spend a whole lot of time in their store looking at all the things they have to sell.
Hi, Anon! I have one of those Libera shirts! I got it at the Libera 2010 tour. It's signed, too! :D Jenn's is blue. Mine is cream colored. Maybe I should put up a picture.
ReplyDeleteHi, Yuki!! Glad you liked Cracker Barrel and my mom's dinner, too. It was fun going everywhere on the tour with you and Mummy-san. And I figured you'd get the peg game. You're smart! :D
Hi, Terry! My mom is half Irish and half "Pennsylvania Dutch"! (Or German.) My mom, grandma and great-grandparents were born in Pennsylvania, too. She says she grew up eating that food, especially the apple butter! :D
Thanks for the info, Terry and Leslie!
Hi, Ian! Hope you get to visit Cracker Barrel next time you are in the US. Maybe they should build them in Canada. :D