A food picture's worth a thousand noms.

Somewhere along I-90 west of Cleveland, there's a whimsical candy shop whose name eludes me. (There were no windowless vans to be found so my aunt and I deemed it safe.) Inside, we found what you might expect from a shop on the side of the highway: tacky souvenirs and postcards, chocolate-covered everything, and some maple syrup from the "Kingdom" of Vermont.

SoCo has been known to lead overindulgers down a pretty rough path. Then again, so can NoCo (IHOP/WaHo/Denny's/Bob Evan's itis, anyone?).

But it's not really a matter of which half of the country treads the rougher path to (dis)comfort. The question at hand is "SEER-UP" (sɪrəp) or "SIR-UP" (sɜrəp)?

Which regional variety do you suppose is best with pancakes? 

....Were I to tote both kingdoms' offerings to an neutral breakfast location, could their joint consumption repair north-south relations? (Keep in mind that Waffle House has ZERO locations in VT and IHOP has only ONE so we might have to resort to McDonald's -- depressing, I know. But we have to be impartial in this imaginary scenario.)

In other news, I've decided that the abbreviated "SoCo" is particularly fitting, as this product is So Costly that I cannot justify owning it -- this 12.5 fl oz container was nearly $30. I will be hanging out with Mrs. Butterworth, thank you. (In all honesty, I won't even spring for a big name. I am, however, pretty big on store brands -- Dr. K and I are pretty tight.)