Grocery Shopping

One of the things that has irrevocably changed for me since my move to The City is grocery shopping.  I live in a high-rise and I can no longer afford to have a car. That means I have a few choices:

• Order groceries online from FreshDirect 
• Schlep things in from Whole Foods in NYC
• Make do with what you can find in the local bodegas around Jersey City
• Beg a ride with a friend who has a car when they go shopping themselves or get them to loan there car to you.

Now Fresh Direct (http://www.freshdirect.com/) is a wondrous company that will bring you gorgeous food right to your door and wheel it into your kitchen for you.  The produce is Whole Foods Quality, meat is beautiful.  Frozen food arrives frozen, cold food arrives cold.  Diet Coke arrives cold too, so when I am OUT and it arrives, I can crack one open immediately and it's perfectly chilled.  You order your food online, pick a two-hour delivery window, they debit your bank account automatically once your produce and meat have been weighed and packed, and bring it right to you with a smile.

LOVE. 

There are only two challenges with FreshDirect.  One, I have to order two-three days in advance and I am rarely that organized.  Two, any brand loyalty you have developed over the years (I like HELLMAN'S mayonnaise, dammit) goes out the window as they only stock a limited amount of brands and sizes.  Want to buy Hunt's canned tomatoes? Too bad. Want the Taco Cheese Blend that Kraft sells in grocery stores? Sorry. You'll have to make do with cheddar or jack (or both and mix them yourself, sprinkling in some taco seasoning for effect).

Whole Foods is in Tribeca. For those of you not familiar with NYC, Tribeca is the "TRIangle BElow CAnal".  You may see me post about my "Mecca in Tribeca" from time to time.  There's a Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble (*with* Starbucks), AND a Bed, Bath and Beyond...all in the same building!  It's a few short blocks from the World Trade Center PATH Station, which is where I grab the train back to my apartment from NYC.

JOY!

The challenge with buying food at Whole Foods (other than being insanely expensive and completely organic) is that I have to carry it all by hand, and travel via the PATH Train.  So unless I come into the city with my Homeless Lady Cart, this involves only buying what I can carry several blocks and still look at my crackberry.

Now - the local bodegas around Jersey City (where I live) offer some interesting challenges of their own.  If you look up the term "bodega" - it's a Spanish term for winery. But in Boston or in and around NYC, they are little stores, typically with limited selection and almost nothing is fresh.  We have a lot of those.

Now called Tendershoot Farm

Luckily - we also have Tendershoot Farm. Sounds pretty, right?  Well - it's a bodega too - just a really good one. It's chock full of produce, cheese, dairy, fresh flowers, even fresh bread.  In the warm weather, those boxes outside are full of fresh flowers and potted plants.  And in a pinch - halfway through a recipe when I realize I don't enough chicken stock - I walk six blocks and get some, so it wins points for convenience.

I can buy fresh herbs like dill, basil and parsley here. But - I can't buy Tostitos or Doritos or Nestle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. The produce is spotty at times, but usually decent.  I can buy five kinds of kimchee, but I don't eat the stuff. I can't buy taco shells.  Oh - and there is no fresh meat.  Anywhere.  That - you have to order or bring in. Unless of course....

Option Four presents itself.  Now my friend B has a car, and even lets me borrow it from time to time.  He travels more than I do if you can imagine that, usually in Saudi or UAE.  But when he's here, we go to SuperTarget and a real grocery store and load up on things we can't get anywhere else, or are too heavy to lug. 

Now downside to this at all - except he's leaving for four months and leaving his car at his parent's house in Pennsylvania.  So - this weekend, after two weeks of traveling myself, I went shopping because there was almost no food in the house.

After Skipping Breakfast. Not a good plan.

I wandered up and down each aisle picking up things, I realized it might be quite some time before I could physically get back here.  So I bought several of each item that I can't get anywhere else.  Necessities like Nestle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, Ortega Taco Shells, Low Sodium Taco Seasoning, Hunt's canned tomatoes, Pillsbury puffed pastry.  Even found the elusive Taco Flavored Doritos (should have bought more than one bag of those) and diet coke was on sale!

Woo Hoo!

(Serious Checkbook Damage.  A non-holiday, non-party record actually.)

How lucky you all are, that you can go to a real store, when you want and find what you need.  Then again, how lucky we all are, aren't we?

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

"Hel-LO Me-CHELLE...."

One of my co-workers died unexpectedly last weekend.

She has left an amazing hole in our organizations's staff.  She'd been with us since 2005, and I told her once that her real title was "Director of First Impressions" because for the first year I worked there, she was our receptionist. 

She was the person in the office who made sure everything ran smoothly.  She did all the things behind the scenes that made it a nice place to work...a comfortable place to be.  She stocked oatmeal in the kitchen, and made sure we had enough coffee and utensils. 

She eventually moved up into the HR department to help with attendance processing and payroll, and I was forever getting emails from her to update my attendance records or approve the records of those who report to me...I'm really bad at that when I'm on the road.

Yet - she was always smiling.  I never once saw her in a bad mood. Ever.  I would always apologize that she had to chase me down...she'd just smile and wave me away.  Or say good morning with her beautiful Barbados accent and laugh at me as I blast through the door first thing in the morning and head straight to the soda machine for my EPDC.

She was a very devout woman, so it may be fitting somehow that she died at church. Surrounded by family and friends. I hope she never knew or felt anything.  People who hear this say "That's the way to go...".  And they are right.

She leaves behind a husband and four children that she referred to as #1, #2, #3 and #4. We never really knew their names. She also leaves behind 78 people who will miss her cheerful smiles every day.

I will always remember her as the originator of one of my favorite expressions. WTF is the acronym for a well-known interjection.  We asked her once, laughing, if she knew what it meant - just to see if she'd actually say it as she NEVER swore.  She looked at us with a twinkle in her eyes and perfectly straight face and said sternly - "Wednesday, Thursday, Friday."

Yes Ma'am.  It does. 

And from then on, it became the staff inside joke. We could say "Wednesday, Thursday, Friday" in front of anyone.  WE would know what we meant...and smile as we say "Oh, sorry - just going over my schedule in my head...". 

E and I were talking about her while we were in San Francisco.  How much we will miss her.  And all of the stories that everyone is sharing.  They all make us laugh. Or smile.  There simply are no stories about her melting down at the conference,  arguing with anyone or having a bad day. 

That....is the way to go.

My Dreaded Holiday.....

As a general rule, I love holidays. I love the tradition and the ceremony of them. They each have their own ritual of sorts, as major holidays tend to be tied to family and food. Menus are carefully developed over time, recipies are family favorites, and changes require a quorum and a two-thirds vote. If you think I'm kidding, you haven't met my family. Don't get me wrong - I love them dearly and the fact that we take our holiday meals together very, very seriously.

I do however, loathe New Year's Eve. I'd rather treat it like any other night, and just go to bed early.

Dubbed "Amateur Night" by chronic New Yorkers (I am not one, I'm too new to The City), it's the night where people who don't go out all year try to make up for all their couch-dwelling and drink everything they haven't imbibed over the past year in one nite. The city itself floods with people determined to stand ALL DAY in the freezing cold, with no access to food, water, wine or bathrooms in order to say "I was there". Did I mention the no bathrooms part? People I know who have done it, tell horror stories of frozen digits, vomit splattered shoes, sights of public pooping (not by dogs mind you). Yeah....sign me up.

The alternative was always to stay home and watch the classic "Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve". There was always another show, but it was for the "B Talent" or acts too cool for Dick and mainstream America. God Bless Dick Clark - but I hope they let him spend this year in peace with some dignity. I can't watch him make out with his wife again this year at midnight.

When I was younger, I would throw the New Year's party, and anyone who came - stayed. Those were the rules. That way, we knew everyone would be safe and off the roads. And I had a single friend, we never dated, but he was my New Years Kiss if neither of us was attached.

This year is what I like to refer to as a "Command Performance".  Family event at the country club, black tie, everyone there...No graceful way out. "C'mon - It'll be FUN!"

Right.

Single, dateless, missing someone who for some reason has opted out, at a black-tie event that I'm pressured to attend.  Sounds like the perfect way to start off the year. 

But looking back, it wasn't that bad.  Not my first choice, but I did have fun dancing with my siblings, and I've always loved dancing with my dad.  His friends even stepped in, which was very sweet. 

Yes, I would have rather been there in the arms of someone special.  Yes, I would have rather been kissing him at midnight instead of staring at the sky and praying that this next year would bring what I want most. 

But I don't get to dance very often anymore, and we did have a great time.  I just wish that when the event rolls around again at the end of the year, I have a date.

Our party hats at Congressional NYE 2010.