From one Everyday Gourmet to another.......

I want to let you in on a little secret.....Store brand and Tostito brand  tortilla chips are much better than some of those fancy schmancy  pricey so-called gourmet chips.

As I'm gearing up for another weekend of foodie activity......this time I'm taking my menus on the road.....I've been bouncing around with some ideas on what I need to pack with me, what I can just buy on site and what make-ahead foods I can prepare before we head on our caravan adventure.   If you know anything at all about me---you know I am ridiculously obsessive about  into putting together menus ahead of time.  It's just what I do.  I labor over each recipe---from the appetizers to what drinks I will serve to thinking through taste and texture sensations as it relates to the activity or the event. I even sketch it out down to the most minute details--what color napkins I will use, what utensils will be used and if there will be any type of table scaping.
And, I keep very detailed logs on all of this--from the  initial planning to how it all went to the guests who were present.  It's a sickness really.  A sickness that makes me very happy....and just a tad bit stressed. 

This coming weekend, we will mostly be unpacking and setting things up and doing all those things that go along with moving into a new house. So, I want to make sure I don't overcomplicate anything.  I have a bad habit of overcomplicating foodie events....or so my family tells me. 
In addition to not wanting to overcomplicate things, I have to also remember--I won't be in my own kitchen.  Nope, I will be in my son's kitchen.  He won't take too kindly to me christening his brand spanking new kitchen with my usual brand of creativity in motion messiness....
So, the other night, in preparation for a shopping trip, I was digging through some 'gourmet' foods that I stockpiled over the past two weeks when we were hosting other foodie events....I came upon the contents of a gift basket that one our out-of-town guests  from the West Coast brought with him.  He must have got the word that we love Mexican food because there were 4 different types of "Wine Country" salsas, three flavors of  some type of maragarita salt and 4 bags of various "Laurie's Gourmet Tortilla Chips". 
Too bad there was no tequila.
Because I sure could have used a yummy margarita after I taste-tested those chips.
NOT GOOD! 
I immediately went to my menu log and made a note---NO GOURMET CHIPS...EVER!

Perhaps all my years of eating store brand or Tostito brand chips have wrecked my pallette for the higher power of chips!
I might have been called a food snob once or twice in my lifetime but I assure you, I cannot be called a tortilla chip snob....