Wanderers

[thør]

What is your one impulse meat buy?
Mine is landjaeger!

Alaska Sausage has landjaeger by the piece, hanging in the store. I often pick up a piece when in the store to buy some kippered salmon bellies.

Butcher Block #9 is where I purchase birch syrup cured shoulder bacon. They have a nice selection of charcuterie that's made in-house and I'm often temped to try something new.

 

[spacekowboy]

LaJolla is ideal for location to my office but...uppity is right. I have a bad habit of wanting to be away from downtown wherever I am. So, who knows where we will pick. I loved the optimism one of my offspring had over a house on the beach but doing the math it would be so far out of my price range that we’d be better off in a tent on the sand. Ha.

The beach is a nice place to visit. You don't want to live there though.... unless you want rotten wood and rusted everything.

 

[y=mx+b]

Neci.

...or Wings.

 

[AlotLikePsyche]

Holy shit.

 

[y=mx+b]

What?!
Where!?!

 

[thør]

A little on our local shopping scene.

Sinny, I know you usually enjoy reading Julia O.

 

[AlotLikePsyche]

^^I saw that guy naked (on the internet) once. It was memorable.

 

[Amoebah]

Dood finally wiped the cum off his mouth.

 

[Wings]

Neci.

...or Wings.

Now I know why I felt compelled to check the board. My hormones went into overdrive.

 

[Wings]

The beach is a nice place to visit. You don't want to live there though.... unless you want rotten wood and rusted everything.

That’s super true. I’ll do what I always do: research and then leap

 

[Not Normal]

Now I know why I felt compelled to check the board. My hormones went into overdrive.

Like a spidey sence.

 

[Wings]

Like a spidey sence.

It sounds a damn good thing I don’t shoot webs out of there.

 

[BotanyBoy]

LaJolla is ideal for location to my office but...uppity is right. I have a bad habit of wanting to be away from downtown wherever I am. So, who knows where we will pick. I loved the optimism one of my offspring had over a house on the beach but doing the math it would be so far out of my price range that we’d be better off in a tent on the sand. Ha.

The hustle and bustle has a certain appeal, it's the happinin' place.

Yea, the housing prices here have just been skyrocketing for years now. I even read an article in the SacBee recently about how crazy CA's real estate markets have gotten. I'm sure you'll do your due diligence though, idk about now but I lived in Poway when I was down there and it was relatively affordable, MiraMesa too.

Shit....kinda miss SoCal, watching the F/A-18's and Tomcats blast outta miramar all like..
https://media.giphy.com/media/xT4uQy0MfHTQSdCca4/giphy.gif

 

[Not Normal]

It sounds a damn good thing I don’t shoot webs out of there.

As if anyone caught by your feminine wiles could escape.

 

[Sinny]

Meat snacks FTW. I always grab some from the butcher, and never go in intending to do so.

Meeeeeeat snaaaaaaaaackkkkkks. Few things in life satisfy me more than a hunk of good cured meat.

Maybe the question is, what's the balance between shop-to-live vs live-to-shop? Between only wasting the least effort on resupplying vs the thrill of shop-till-ya-drop? The balance varies if we're shopping for necessities vs fripperies, and just how do we decide what's necessary? *MUST* I have those shoes, that steak, or another 'ukulele?

Lovely Pecos, New Mexico, was an indigenous trade center, i.e. a continental flea market, with traders from California to Florida to the Maritimes to the Northern Plains to central Mexico, gathering to buy and sell stuff and deal with the locals. Shopping. Till they dropped. For centuries.

Remember, "trade" means shopping. Now we conduct much trade online, and not just for inedibles -- I order various foods that can't be had within my driving distance. Y'all may have Amazon drones airdrop fresh tamales to your doorstep. But I want my hands to physically feel avocados, tomatoes, grapefruit, breads, 'ukuleles, etc before I buy them. Trade/shopping can't be totally roboticized.

You bring up such an interesting point about shopping and trade. With Amazon (aka The Company That Ruined Seattle) entering grocery delivery, what will grocery shopping become? Will convenience trump quality and the touch of an avocado? In 7 years, will we look back at this thread and squawk? Five years ago I would have said you were crazy if you suggested I would not enjoy shopping for food. Today, I am ready to pitch it to save an hour a week. This is a weird place for me to be. What's next?

I create my list online for the local grocery store. I add things as they sound good or if they are on sale. I try to put things together to make meals. Just before I submit my list, I delete most of the junk food and add last minute ideas. Then I select a day and time and drive to the parking lot of the store. They do the shopping and bring the bags to my car. I just have to struggle getting the groceries into the house. For a person that has very limited mobility, this is a wonderful service. It helps to minimize impulse buying that I used to do when I went into the store. I can leave directions about items like "furthest date possible" for dairy products or "not quite ripe" for bananas. For the most part that helps to get what I would choose if I went in myself.

I was considering mobility and food the other day. We have seen an explosion of restaurant delivery where I live (we only had pizza and a random Chinese restaurant delivery in Seattle up until 5 years ago). I was talking to a disabled friend with MD about how it has opened up her dining options vastly. She has so many restaurants she can try now that she couldn't before because the restaurant had crap disabled parking or it was on one of the hills. If you don't mind my being nosy, has the ability to order your groceries and have them brought to your car changed you in other ways beyond ditching junk food and impulse buys? If I put myself in your situation as I did with my disabled friend recently, I would be resentful, I think, of what a chore something like feeding yourself can be when it is tough to access food.

 

[Sinny]

I'm a buyer, not a 'shopper.' I make my list and pretty much stick to it.

I get it. After reading the thoughtful answers in this thread, I do wonder if my need to push myself quickly through the store is also killing my love of cooking.

Might've made a list on Post-It-Note a few times in my day, but now it's all in my head. I just get what I need, feel what the wants wants and then my favors plops in a few extras into my basket. It's all measured on what I can or will carry.

Living in this city with no car and all mass transit means your arms dictate the sack weight. Often I pack for stacking the pantry so for the month over time so's I don't have to make trips later.

It is so different here on the West Coast with our car addiction and shoddy public transit. I rarely have to plan my trip based on what I can carry because I will always bring my car. I would be in way better shape if I had to carry groceries and walk everywhere. This is yet another reason to push our city government to work on public transportation here. I kind of relish your experience in some ways.

Weight and capacity constraints are real. Back in my urban pedestrian youth, I took a rucksack shopping, and schlepped home what I could bear. My shopping list was always short and cheap. And I had better ways then to spend my frantic time than wandering aisles at A&P or Safeway.

A car and worthless time free me to poke around diverse retailers. And we crave novelty even during regular food-shopping, seeking something new every time. The same old stuff is the same old stuff. Yes, you can live on it. But why?

This last part makes me want to get out of my shopping rut.

 

[thør]

Meeeeeeat snaaaaaaaaackkkkkks. Few things in life satisfy me more than a hunk of good cured meat.

Indeed.....yet,

Roadhead might disagree.

 

[Sinny]

I never make a list when I'm at my butchers (or the fishmonger). The supermarket requires a list.

the loose leaf tea shop is a browse with the nose (they have smell pots).

Whiskey (or wine) is dictated by the wallet these days (and no it never used to be)

the Beer shop is a random browse...

and a lifetime away the Tobacconist was done on size. Those lovely fat Cubans!

This is exactly the answer I imagined you would give. I owe you a note or two.

No list and I don't wander.

I'm a ramblin' man

Now I will be nosy and ask - do you meal plan? Wing it? Or do you have a familiar food pattern and you know precisely what to buy? I am curious how no list and no plan might translate in the kitchen when it comes to meal prep.

Alaska Sausage has landjaeger by the piece, hanging in the store. I often pick up a piece when in the store to buy some kippered salmon bellies.

Butcher Block #9 is where I purchase birch syrup cured shoulder bacon. They have a nice selection of charcuterie that's made in-house and I'm often temped to try something new.

Oh! Kippered salmon bellies. I looooooove those.

 

[Sinny]

A little on our local shopping scene.

Sinny, I know you usually enjoy reading Julia O.

Her writing is so palpable. The details about the chef craving the perfectly ripe pear and how Alaskans will spend $5 on a perfect piece of fruit and the author who bribes produce workers with muffins..... Just wow. That was a terrific read. Thanks for sharing. I think I would last one winter, and only one winter, in Anchorage. Or I would end up killing someone for an avocado.

Indeed.....yet,

Roadhead might disagree.

Ha!

 

[thør]

Her writing is so palpable. The details about the chef craving the perfectly ripe pear and how Alaskans will spend $5 on a perfect piece of fruit and the author who bribes produce workers with muffins..... Just wow. That was a terrific read. Thanks for sharing. I think I would last one winter, and only one winter, in Anchorage. Or I would end up killing someone for an avocado.

She's a great writer.

I've known of people from the bush eating a watermelon out to the skin, The bitter rind and all.

Buying avocados is a bitch up here. It's a crap game as to if they will be decent or nasty.

But, I believe you could make a winter without a big problem. I don't think you're that spoiled.

 

[SissySalina]

Always start with a list but normally add to it as shopping goes along. Make the list on a sticky note and stick it to the cart handle when get the cart.
List are not total listing of everything needed, just for starters.

 

[Hypoxia]

The beach is a nice place to visit. You don't want to live there though.... unless you want rotten wood and rusted everything.

You have just described my times in coastal California towns. Don't forget the moldy books and clothes, soggy matches, and snails.

You bring up such an interesting point about shopping and trade. With Amazon (aka The Company That Ruined Seattle) entering grocery delivery, what will grocery shopping become? Will convenience trump quality and the touch of an avocado? In 7 years, will we look back at this thread and squawk? Five years ago I would have said you were crazy if you suggested I would not enjoy shopping for food. Today, I am ready to pitch it to save an hour a week. This is a weird place for me to be. What's next?

IMHO ubiquitous automated shopping will work in fairly compact cities and 'burbs filled with wage slaves and desperate contractors but not so well in the boonies or for folks with time and curiosity. Oh sure, we *could* wire in an order for so many cans and packages of uniform stuff. Then we'll suicide because bored. Fuck me, exploring specialty markets is FUN!

Buying avocados is a bitch up here. It's a crap game as to if they will be decent or nasty.

We lived near dad's folks' suburban farm. Fresh walnuts, poultry, produce, yum. Mom's folks were in the next town over. Strawberry and rhubarb bushes by by their back door, and grandma made many pies. An avocado tree in their yard, with good-sized juicy ones. For free. You may die of envy now.

Later, we were at a guest house in Chichicastenango Guatemala. I lounged in a lawn chair in the middle of their shaded yard, viewing distant mountains. A guest sitting at the edge of the lawn advised me to move out from under the big avocado tree. Then a two-kilo beauty fell, just missing my head. I moved.

One gets spoiled by nearby fresh avocados. Yum.

But I digress. Wandering through an open marketplace isn't like ordering online. Think of haggling for every onion, chicken, and battery you buy. You appreciate why servants in wealthy households do the market chores. And you appreciate cheap street food.

 

[thør]

yada-yada

I lived without avocados for a long time, so, I can continue without a problem.

 

[Hypoxia]

I lived without avocados for a long time, so, I can continue without a problem.

Life without avocados is barely worth living. Note the suicide rates in low-avocado-consumption areas. Tragic.

Residents of Los Angeles are Angelinos. Residents of Buenos Aires are cariocas. Residents of Antigua Guatemala are Panza Verdes, "Green Bellies", because avocado binging. Very low suicide rates. Coincidence? I think not.

Duke Snyder retired from baseball to raise avocados. Good move.

 

[where_is_RUTH]

You have just described my times in coastal California towns. Don't forget the moldy books and clothes, soggy matches, and snails.

IMHO ubiquitous automated shopping will work in fairly compact cities and 'burbs filled with wage slaves and desperate contractors but not so well in the boonies or for folks with time and curiosity. Oh sure, we *could* wire in an order for so many cans and packages of uniform stuff. Then we'll suicide because bored. Fuck me, exploring specialty markets is FUN!

across the pond here we now have a thing called dark supermarkets. Not open to the public. ASDA (your walmart but without the guns)(no wait if you are under 21 then it doesn't have guns anyway)(no wait that's someone else's thread, this is just for Amazon bashing) run a huge warehouse set up as a supermarket, with uniformed staff walking the isles picking up your hyper-processed-food and some apples. it's then placed in small plastic crates and run on gantries to the delivery van section. Imagine an amazon factory, just for food.

I don't buy my books from amazon because I actually like books.
I don't but my food from Asda becuase I actually like food.