Recharge

 Being back in New York is like plugging into a giant energy grid. If you are even slightly ADD this is ADD central, your brain gets pulled in so many direction.

The grocery store is mind bending. I remember that last year I was horrified at the entire aisle of salad dressing, now I’m just fascinated. I mean seriously, what does it take to make a little salad dressing? Can you imagine how much more real estate you would have in your fridge, then we could all buy smaller refrigerators with teeny tiny carbon footprints. You could save the planet by making your own salad dressing! See, this is where my mind goes when I enter the Shop-Rite. It takes FOREVER for me to get out of there.

Now, ordering up food is another story. What a decadent luxury. Sure it’s expensive, doesn’t taste as good as either making it yourself or going out. But, I can simply answer the door and I have a meal! With Indian food!  Rachel Laudan has made a case for releasing women from the kitchen, not because it isn’t necessary or satisfying, but because it takes up time from doing other things. Sorry Rachel, I’m not presenting your case very eloquently.  I’m always the champion of running into the kitchen and kneading the bread, but on occasion to sit back and let the nice deliveryman show up…its pure heaven to embrace the Laudan Principle!

I’ve been haunting the Chinese vegetable markets since I got back. They’re light years cheaper than closer options and yes, you have to be picky but there is no prejudice against the misshapen vegetable. All shapes and sizes are welcome at the Chinese market.

Libations are a trade off. The wine selection is fantastic, but so are the prices. It seems so wasteful to keep opening a new bottle of wine. It’s time to start a ‘sfuso’ movement. Sfuso is when you buy wine in bulk at the vineyard, then bring it home and put it into your own bottles.  You buy good wine at a very reasonable price and you re-use your bottles. Makes sense to me but I don’t think the US wine industry is ready, but it would be good to start raising our voices and glasses in this direction.  Let there be sfuso stations in places that don’t have local vineyards, this way the government can still get a cut and everyone is happy. Picture a sfuso station at Trader Joes…see, now it’s starting to make sense to you.

It’s good to be back!