Trader Joe's

People of a certain socioeconomic class and background eventually become exposed to Trader Joe's. After yoga class they hear about it. At their daughters dance recital party it comes up in the conversation. "You must try Trader Joe's" we are told again and again. Finally, I gave in yesterday and went to this most discussed grocery chain. I do say the prices are fairly low. And there are lots of prepared foods, which surprised me. Some of them are a little weird I'll admit, like the Quinoa Duo instant cereal. The Trader Joe's cranberry juice is sour and should be diluted with water and mixed with something sweet. The breads look good and are cheap. I did like the "Trader Giotto's bruschetta". They have beer and wine too. Methinks they make a lot of their profits from liquor sales.

At any rate, it's a fun place to shop. The checkout man didn't like the way I packed my bag so he repacked it for me. They never did that at Shop-Rite.

Editor's note: This morning I was asked to join a recipe club. Here is the recipe I submitted  To think that yesterday I didn't know what bruschetta was and now I'm tossing it around like an expert:

Bruschetta Spanish style chilli

Ingredients:

A smidgen of salad oil

For a more Mediterranean flavor you can substitute olive oil

1 garlic clove    sliced

¼ cup onions   sliced

2 sliced cayenne peppers

Enough chilli powder and cumin to coat meat

¾ lb. ground turkey

½ a bottle Trader Giotto’s Bruschetta (bought at Trader Joe’s)

A smidgen of ground pepper

½ a cup dried garbanzo beans aka chick peas

Salt to taste (actually the bruschetta has a lot of salt)

Wash beans and place in water. Microwave until soft.

Pour oil into iron skillet. Heat. Add onions and garlic and stir a minute or two.

Add ground turkey. You can strain after a couple of minutes. I don’t.

Dump and stir in cayenne, cumin, chilli peppers. Sear meat.

After a couple of minutes you can stir in the bruschetta.

Add ground pepper.

Strain beans and add (a little bit of bean water can be added too).

Reduce temperature.

Stir occasionally. Make sure meat is cooked before eating. 

What keeps you awake at night

Today at work I was checking my email. I got a questionnaire from a professional organization. It asked what vendors I use and what kind of training I would like to be offered. The last question was "What keeps you awake at night?" 

I didn't know what to say. My first response was "hemorrhoids". I would love to read what other people said. Sometimes being cute can be an invitation to mischief. 

Dick Van Dyke marries

Chim chim cheree! You gotta watch those old Dutch guys 

St. Patrick's Day, Revisited

Were it not for St. Patrick, Ireland today could be a center for Zoroastrianism instead of a place with lots of Catholics. And so I reprint my classic blog on St. Patrick's Day. I sound grumpy. Hope you all enjoy your corned beef and cabbage. Thankfully, the days of green dyed beer seem to be behind us.

The Monkees

I wrote about the Monkees today on the sixties blog.

See a man about a horse

Recently I was at the doctor's office and the nurse practitioner was taking blood. I mentioned that the doctor mentioned he wanted to do a urinalysis. The n-p gave me a cup and said go into the bathroom and "letter following 'O' into a cup". I was quite shocked. I never would say the letter following "O" to a lady. Actually I prefer the old English term, "I'm going to see a man about a horse".

"Sir, take this cup and go into the restroom and see a man about a horse". Sounds more proper to me.

Fishtown vs. Belmont

Charles Murray has a new book that's getting alot of attention, almost as much as the "Bell Curve". In his new book, "America: Coming apart" he describes two typical towns, the upper class successful Belmont and the white trashy Fishtown. In Belmont everyone is married, lives in the suburbs, goes to college, attends church on Sunday and has good jobs. In Fishtown, nobody goes to church, graduates from college, or gets married. People might have kids but they don't get married.

In a way, this is true. Most of our bosses are married, have kids, live in the suburbs, go to church and have wives. When they come home, their clothes have been cleaned and dinner has been cooked by their spouses, or possibly their maids. The folks in Fishtown go home from crappy jobs (if they have jobs) to their cluttered dirty apartments and they warm up a tv dinner while guzzling a beer. Ideally we should all aspire to live in Belmont, but somehow Belmont doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

Editor's note: I like the part where he says that marriage civilizes men. I guess it's time to go out in the woods and skin a squirrel for dinner.