Comfort food is the prime subject today. Usually, it differs as we grow in years and in girth – or change health status.

For example, when I was a little girl, staying at Grandma and Grandpa (Johnny and Anna) Obenhin’s house on West Grant Street, my uncle, the late Ronnie Puetz, was going on an errand to the nearby Piggly Wiggly Store.

He asked me if I would like to go, too, and he would buy me a Popsicle. Of course I happily went; my first choice would have been banana and next in line would have been root beer. I can’t remember which kind was available.

Fast forward to 2008-2009 and I'm in the middle of breast cancer treatment and the second of four chemo treatments between Oct. 13 and Dec. 15. My throat was so sore I could hardly swallow and my tongue was so tender it felt like it had been readied for cooking with a kitchen tool.

In talking to my oncologist or his nurse, I learned I had "thrush," which is common during chemo. It was suggested in the cancer manual that ice chips or Popsicles be used to soothe tender mouths and tongues. So, I get the generic box of Popsicles with my favorite two flavors and the lime ones to get through so I can have the favorites. Today’s Popsicle sticks even have corny jokes on them.

Comfort foods from childhood meet comfort foods of the older generation. What a title for a movie, hey? However, Comfort foods have a fine print note: better do some extra exercising in order to burn those calories.

Illinois has provided me with many comfort foods. I can’t wait to get back to eat with each visit. Fried chicken and pork tenderloins top the list. Make that crunchy fried chicken and greasy pork tenderloins as frosting on the cake for Illinois visits. There’s another favorite, but we’ll save that until the end of this column.

Toluca has its wonderful Mona’s and Capponi’s restaurants. Wonderful fried chicken and the great spaghetti sauce for belly button raviolis and thin spaghetti noodles. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. Naplate is a great hideaway for some of the best fried chicken menus and Ottawa has a couple of wonderful places as well. Streator’s Buster’s and Chipper’s restaurants have great chicken in their buffets and one of the restaurants offers pork tenderloins.

When I was back visiting with my aunt Margaret (Obenhin) Puetz in Lostant, she took me to Moore’s root beer stand on Oglesby’s Main Street and they had the old-fashioned breaded pork tenderloins like they used to have at Streator’s root beer stand across from St. Mary’s School.

Aunt Margaret also brought me some fried chicken pieces from a place in Wenona (my plane flight was late) and then we celebrated her birthday at the Puetz family favorite: Verucchi’s in Spring Valley. I’d say Verucchi’s gives any restaurant a run for its money with fried chicken and family-style dishes.

I was a courier for GTE (now Verizon) out of Normal, a supply warehouse, for about 10 months before I moved to Phoenix in December 1995. I learned a lot on the road: where the rest stops were with restrooms, how to drive in areas where deer might come leaping out from the darkness, and where any of the small communities on my route would have two things: C and CC.

What is C and CC? Well, for some strange reason I figured once I moved to Phoenix I’d never again see pork tenderloins and I found that Illinois Casey’s stores had them. So, I’d locate a Casey’s and buy a tenderloin to eat after my route was completed. CC? Well, that was a Catholic Church, where I’d drive by in my truck and cross myself to help keep me safe on the route. I know, product of a small town like Streator and Catholic school upbringing. Hey, nothing wrong with either.

Well, it turns out that greater Phoenix, Ariz., does have some of my favorite foods. However, you have to do some looking. There’s a Pete’s Fish ‘N Chips, which has pretty good tenderloins.

Fried chicken? I came to Phoenix to visit in October 1995 to see what it was like and my sister, the late Carol Padilla, took me to the Horny Toad in Cave Creek, Ariz., a touristy area. They have great fried chicken. I take all Illinois visitors there, including my sister, Sharon (Padilla) Steffey of Prospect Heights, Ill. And if you don’t want to drive 33 miles north of Phoenix to Horny Toad, there are the chain Church’s Chicken restaurants.

The best foods that Illinois has to offer, for my taste, are your Kitchen Cooked Potato Chips. Whenever I visit family and friends, I always stop at Wal-Mart or Kroger’s and get the ruffled kind (good for older teeth) to pack away in my suitcase.

A female friend of mine (who wishes to remain anonymous) remembered chatting with me on the phone and I’d told her, with the cancer and chemo, my taste buds went south and I hoped I could once again enjoy the taste of Kitchen Cooked Potato Chips one day. So she sent me a box of three bags from Lori’s Mailboxes service. However, there was no card and no return address. I wondered and wondered who could have sent them?

Well, bless her heart, she called to see how I was doing and asked me if I received any Kitchen Cooked chips lately? See you the end of September my Secret Pal.

• SUZANNE (LEONARD) KOVALCIK was born and raised in Streator and now lives in Arizona. She can be reached through The Times by e-mailing paulc@mywebtimes.com.