I am not, as a general rule, a junk-food snacker. My snack choices are more idiosyncratic: canned tomatoes, jarred spaghetti sauce with an incongruous glug of good olive oil, or, in a pinch, tomato paste straight from the tube. But this is not to say I am a junk food-frowner: on occasion I crave a Double-Stuf Oreo, and nothing is more comforting than Kraft, supplemented with chunk-light tuna and half a can of sweet, gray-green peas.

But the one thing I dream of is Marie Callender's spaghetti with meat sauce. This is very hard to find on the East Coast, despite my best efforts. I did first sample it while staying with my grandparents in California, and it was readily available in Chicago where I went to college, but according to the website, I should be able to track it down around here. Still, I haven't been able to. Despite being a "TV" dinner, this spaghetti takes a long time to prepare, whether boiled in water or microwaved, in its two separate plastic pouches. It is sweet with corn syrup and heady with salt and garlic powder and comes with a spongy, chemical-buttery piece of garlic bread, which at some point was switched to a "Texas toast." I love this meal. I drench it in olive oil and shower it with fresh parmesan (high-low, I guess) and scatter it with parsley and it is, hands down, one of my favorite comfort foods. If you have any leads, please let me know.