Do you have to leave a place to realize you were a part of it? I didn’t truly feel like I was FROM North Carolina until I left for grad school in New York. Growing up, I didn’t realize I was There, and I didn’t appreciate it. But since then, I’ve dug further and further into Being From, mostly in food form. Southern Living and Our State magazines are my bibles and I live by their creeds and do and bake everything they tell me to. The recipes make me feel like I’m From Somewhere, like I didn’t just grow up in a strip mall with a Petsmart and a Michaels and a Kohls. Yesterday it was THIS AMAZING PIE: Atlantic Beach Pie. Apparently in the eastern coastal parts of North Cack, it’s bad luck to eat seafood and NOT eat lemon pie right after, which is my new favorite superstition. It’s basically a key lime but with lemon, too, and lots of fresh cream on top, and a CRUST MADE OF CRUSHED SALTINE CRACKERS. As a North Carolinian, I want to officially amend / upgrade this superstition. IT IS NOW BAD LUCK TO WALK THROUGH A DOORWAY, LOOK OUT A WINDOW, SAY A WORD, OR THINK A THOUGHT, WITHOUT IMMEDIATELY EATING THIS PIE RIGHT AFTER.