Comfort food

It's 12:30 a.m. and I'm not particularly hungry. I don't like to eat right before I go to bed. But here I am devouring a plate of hot sauce-slathered chicken wings and french fries.

They are the remnants of my massive takeout order from Casa di Pizza earlier this week. The yummy blue cheese they brought with my order is long gone, and I am now resorting to a store brand from Publix. It's not very good, but hey, what do I expect? This is Florida. Crappy blue cheese is a tradeoff for all this sunshine.

If you're wondering why I'm sitting here having this high caloric midnight snack, you're not alone. I'm also curious.

I'm sure part of it is my internal commitment to not wasting any of the food in my refrigerator. But beyond that, it just seemed right. After a few glasses of wine and a relaxing bubble bath, something about the chicken wings and fries just screamed a perfectly peaceful and comforting way to end my evening.

Now it's important to note that Casa di Pizza is actually a Buffalo place. They even have beef on weck and Sahlen's hotdogs, along with the best pizza and wings I've ever had during my time in Florida. Yes, I know maybe I'm biased. But I find the fact Casa di Pizza will bring these little tastes of home right to my doorstep incredibly endearing.

If you live in the area and haven't tried the place stop reading this now, Google the number and place your order. The pizza and wings are far superior to any other I've had in this area. In fact, for most of my time here I never really ate wings at all. They just weren't good enough anywhere to justify the calories.

I guess we all have those foods that for whatever reason remind us of home, and it's not so much the food itself as the memories it conjures that brings us comfort.

It's not like growing up in Buffalo we were all given chicken wings as pacifiers. But for whatever reason I find myself craving them some times, when I will just sit here nearly perfectly content as I taste the familiar flavors.