Bobber - your story reminds me of a girlfriend of mine that moved from CA to TX a few years back. After having lived in TX for better than 5 years, developing the local accent and adapting to the cuisine, some shopkeeper refered to her as a damn yankee. She pointed out that she'd been there quite some time and had adopted all of the local customs. He replied that perhaps she'd been there long enough not to be a damn yankee, but she'd always be a yankee!
As a sidenote - personally, I think he was incorrect as I don't think Californians actually qualify as yankees!
TQ - a dinner almost as good as tri-tip!