Perpetual Carouse

Last night I went to my favorite new grocery store. It’s independent, locally-owned, the produce is killer, and the prices beat the farmer’s market and the mega-chain “natural” food store. Awesome.

I’m at the deli case, trying to get some tamales. There are about half a dozen people standing around, but they’re couples, and all of them are already being helped. So I’m next. Yay!

Deli Lady: Who’s next?

Me: Me.

Deli Lady: [to the group] Everyone needs to take a number. [Points to number dispenser 60 feet away at the other end of the counter.]

Random Stranger #1: When did they put in a number thing?

Me: I don’t know. First time I’ve seen it.

Deli Lady: Who’s next?

Me: Me.

Deli Lady: Do you have a number?

Me: I’m next. Everyone else has-

Deli Lady: [to the group] Please take a number. Who’s next?

Me: Me! I’m next.

Deli Lady: What number?

Random Stranger #2: He’s next. Everybody else is being helped.

Deli Lady: Next!

Me: Ummm… that’s still me.

Random Stranger #2 & #3: [Chuckle under their breath at my misfortune.]

Me: [To no one in particular] I guess I’ll go get a number.

Deli Lady: Who’s next?

Me: I’m still next.

Deli Lady: Next!

Me: [Grabs number from apparently brand-new ticket machine. Number 5.]

Deli Lady: Does anyone have a number? Who’s next?

Random Stranger #3: [Laughing] I’m pretty sure he’s next.

Me: I’m number 5.

[Three workers return from the back where they have been putting together orders for the 3 parties ahead of me]

Deli Lady: Number 0?

Me: 5

Deli Lady: Number 0?

Number 1?

Number 1?

Number 2?

[The three parties ahead of me have now collected their orders and left. There is no one at the counter besides me.]

Deli Lady: Number 2?

Me: There’s no one else here. I’m number 5.

Deli Lady: Number 3?

Me: Still just me.

[Random Stranger #4 walks over]

Me: [To Random Stranger #4]Get a number. She’s real serious about the numbers.

Deli Lady: Number 3?

Number 4?

Number 4?

Number 4?

Number 5?

Me: I’m number 5.

Deli Lady: Good! How can I help you?

I don’t really like Starbucks. They’re a mega-chain and all that jazz, but the real reason I don’t like them because their coffee, in my opinion, sucks. I used to go there for those Frappuchinos that they sprinkle crack on top of, but once I got over that addiction, I’ve pretty much given up the ‘Bucks.

Still, it’s a hard thing, being a non-Starbucks person. There are, quite literally, at least five of them within coffee-break distance of my office, including a pair that are about 3 doors down from each other. They’re everywhere.

I may not like the coffee, but the lemonade iced tea is great. Plus you can get it unsweetened. I prefer the DIY approach with fakie sugar. Anyway, I needed to break a twenty for bus change. Whaddaya know, the easist place to go happens to be a Starbucks.

Me: Medium black iced-tea lemonade, unsweetened, please.
Starbucks Guy: We don’t have medium.
Me: OK, small then.
Starbucks Guy: We don’t have small.
Me: Are you guys out of cups or something?
Starbucks Guy: We have tall, grande and venti.
Me: [Not understanding the problem] Right. Medium black iced-tea lemonade, unsweetened.
Starbucks Guy: I just told you there is no medium. Tall, grande or venti.
Me: What ever the middle size is called. The...medium one.
Starbucks Guy: OK. What did you want.
Me: Black iced-tea lemonade. Unsweetened.
Starbucks Guy: What size?
Me: The middle one.
Starbucks Guy: OK. Grande black iced-tea lemonade, unsweetened.Got it!
Me: Yes. Thanks.
Starbucks guy: [Turns around to start pouring my drink.] Do you want black or green tea?
Me: Black.
Starbucks Guy: We don’t have any black tea.
Me: Nevermind, then.

The Chron's got pretty extensive coverage on The Eat Local Challenge. As I mentioned, we're going to be giving it a whirl starting tomorrow.

Already I can see some of the difficulties. Sticking to the budget is going to be the big one. The other is that there isn't really salt, pepper, flour, or a zillion other things I cook with all the time within a hundred miles of my kitchen. I was talking with a friend of mine, and he asked about restaurants. He pointed out that even restaurants that emphasize local products get a lot of stuff from far-away lands.

The way I look at it, this isn't an exercise in limitation. I'm taking it on as an opportunity to enjoy exploring the things around me, rather than fretting over where I'm going to find locally-produced cornmeal. It's rather telling that the most successful of the Chron's guinea-pigs were a retired couple who've been doing this for years, and restaurant-owners, although the less-connected, more time-constricted city-slicker made a good go. I don't have the time, or the experience required to spend my week hunting down every last ingredient. And that's fine for me.

As I mentioned to my friend, I'll be happy with an organic scone or loaf of bread from a locally-owned bakery. If the flour wasn't made in a shed in the back, it's not going to ruin my day. I'm approaching this whole thing as realistically as possible. We can't eat entirely locally. But that doesn't make trying to eat closer to home not worth working on.

Besides, anything that gives me an excuse to eat awesome cheese and drink good hooch can't be bad, right?

Shopping trips: 2
Total spent: $59
Remaining budget: $101

Today is Day 6 of the Challenge, and... we're going to go over budget.

Tuesday night, we both had dinners out that were at least semi-business related, and thus unavoidable. I also went to see Grant Lee Phillips, so I ended up spending $12 on a couple of beers. They were local beers, at least.

I made another shopping trip for a few things for Wednesday dinner/ Thursday lunch, and since we didn't cook Tuesday night, I bought lunch out. Michael got a free lunch from work, so I'm not counting it.

The money breaks out like this:

My Tuesday Dinner before Grant Lee Phillips show + beers at the show: $32
Michael's Tuesday Dinner: $24.50

Software for Wednesday dinner & Thursday lunch:
2 organic red bell peppers: $5 (probably local, but I'm not 100% certain)
1 loaf of organic local bread: $3

2 local/ sustainable carnitas tacos w/ chips & salsa: $11.50

That brings our total spent this week to $155.

Dinner last night was roasted red pepper, caramelized onion and Fatted Calf bacon sandwiches with Happy Boy greens from the farmers' market on Saturday. I had wanted tomatoes, but there were no local tomatoes to be found. Paying $5 for two smallish peppers totally sucked, especially since I know the non-local, non-organic variety would have cost about a buck at the Korean market where I usually buy them.

My lunch yesterday was also illuminative. I spent almost $12 for Traci Des Jardins' designer Mexican street food. The tacos were delicious, no doubt, but I could have had the exact same meal for about $5 from the taco truck a few blocks away. The taco truck doesn't use Niman Ranch pork, or local organic produce though. I also cheated, and used the excellent (and imported from Mexico) Valentina hot sauce on my lunch. Traci's salsa may be local and sustainable, but it's also somewhat lacking in the flavor and heat department. For twelve bucks I was going to enjoy those suckers.

We're left with five bucks in the budget. Five dollars would probably be enough to get us through the next 24 hours via a flank steak or something and the odds and ends around the house. Today is Dining Out For Life though, and some friends invited us out to Cesar for dinner. If it weren't a fundraiser, and just a regular night out, I would have postponed until after the challenge. It does raise an interesting point though, namely that this sort of conscious eating can make having a social life somewhat challenging.

Ironically in our case, it seems to have supercharged our social life. In an average week, we might dine with friends once... and yet somehow this particular week gave us four opportunities to eat out, only one of which was planned before the week started. I suppose we could have taken a more hardline approach to the challenge and declined these invitations, but we don't get to spend enough time with people as it is. The fact that all these occasions happened this week is purely coincidence.

So tomorrow we're off the hook, and I'm kind of looking forward to it. Not because of the food... we've had great stuff this week. I'm looking forward to not having to bean-count. We've definitely incorporated more local products into our diets than usual, and that's something I'd like to carry forward after this week.

The other day I was at the supermarket, and I couldn't help but pick up this strange fruit, apparently called a horny melon. I haven't tasted it yet, but some Googling tells me that it's supposed to taste like a cross between kiwi and cucumber.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around that particular flavor combo, but I'm certainly curious to see how it all works out.

[TasteSpotting #1621]

I hate most grocery stores. Maybe if they turned my local Safeway into a ride, I'd enjoy it more.

What happens when you miss something you really need?

In case you ever needed a Snac Daddy chicken wing server with hideaway bone pile, you can get yours today at Woot.com . Because really, who doesn't need "more bulky, single-purpose plastic stuff?"

Woot mostly sells electronic doo-dads and weird stuff for crazy cheap prices in a "one item a day" format, but their sister site Wine.Woot has pretty good weekly deals on wine, and if you find something you love, you just might be able to snag it by the case from Wine Country Connect.

First of all, if you can't remember the greatest of all California Lottery commercials in the history of California Lottery commercials, well... bummer for you.

Anyway, wine.woot has a big-ass (that's the technical cheesemaker term right there) wheel of supremely awesome Point Reyes Blue for $35 shipped directly to your door for all your blue cheesy pleasures.

That's quite a deal, and if I can figure out what the fuck to do with 3# of tangy blue goodness, I'm all over it. And, as the site helpfully points out, you don't even need to be sober to accept delivery of your cheese!

I can't leave this William Maxwell novel on the street, and yet I also want this goat cheese.

- Daniel Handler, on the ultra-portability of the new Amazon Kindle e-book reader

The Kindle is getting mediocre reviews at best, and it's riddled with DRM and other usability issues, but I was amused by modern dilemmas it apparently solves, namely fitting your book and your cheese into your backpack at the same time.

Bacon Salt: Everything should taste like bacon.

I can't say I disagree.

1. Ming Tsai is getting fat... but he's still a bad ass.

2. I get the idea of this challenge... being able to identify quality product is crucial for a chef. But... price is not the same as quality. Why are they showing the price of the respective items as an indicator of quality?