Hey hey, a weekly update that is actually… WEEKLY! I had some interesting encounters last week, so I have a few “stories” to relate. Makes it easier. ** Disclaimer: “Interesting” is a very relative term, your mileage may vary. It doesn’t take much to qualify as interesting in my world these days, so take that into consideration.
In “general news,” we tried another BBQ restaurant last weekend. There is a place called Hog Wild right in our little town that I’ve been meaning to go to since we moved here. (“Here” as in California, not just Placerville. I spied it pretty shortly after our move.) It gets raves from all the locals, and I finally got an opportunity to try it out. I’ll give it an overall B-. We got a large sampler platter, and chose brisket, ribs, and pork. Our side choices were beans, mac & cheese, and slaw. All three sides were fantastic. The beans were especially good, if not what I’d usually expect with BBQ. There were “ranch beans,” which I happen to like. On the meat platter, the brisket and pork both held up. If I was gonna nitpick, the brisket could have used a better trim, it was pretty fatty. Solid though. Now the ribs, not so much. I’d say they knocked the lunch from a high B+ to a generous, low B-. Wow, they were tough. I’d say they needed at least another hour on the cooker, maybe two. The owner dropped by for the standard “how is everything,” and my mind was fairly racing with how to bring up the ribs. I almost just came out and asked him to try one. I mean, I have to think something went wrong there. But, I settled on my standard “It’s great, thanks.” I didn’t want to seem ticked off or anything, because I wasn’t, but I was indeed curious if he thought that was his best effort. In truth, we likely won’t be back anyway so I figured it didn’t really matter, let it drop.
After that mixed-review of a meal, we popped by our regular haunt, Bones. While exchanging pleasantries with the guy next to me, I mentioned our lunch, to which he responded with the usual local gushing about how good it is. I agreed, and we chatted barbecue a bit, and then I mentioned my favorite place up the hill. With a rather shocked look on his face, he informed me that he had walked in there once, and turned right around and left. The reasoning? They didn’t have hot links. His actual quote was, “How can you call yourself a barbecue joint and not serve hot links?” Well, that effectively ended our conversation, as I really just didn’t know how to respond. “What the @#($% is a hot link?” came to mind, but seemed ill advised. I’m making great efforts at “fitting in” out here, and felt that might be a large step backwards. Seriously though, what is it, and why would you feel that the measure of a BBQ joint? I will admit, I am curious. And, sure enough, when I brought up the pic of the menu I’d taken at lunch, it was right on there. I guess it just didn’t register while I was scanning for actual meat. I guarantee though, next time I see one, I’m ordering it, if only out of sheer interest. Who knows, maybe I’m really missing out on something.
In other heart-pounding excitement, I went to the Safeway on Saturday. This is only notable in that I do not frequent the Safeway. Nope, I’m strictly a Holiday guy, with meat purchases coming from the local butcher shop. I’m sure most would agree, visiting an unfamiliar grocery store can be quite a challenge. Nothing is where it should be. I don’t think I am exaggerating to say I looked for bay leaves for a solid 30 minutes. The sum of this time was spent furiously pushing my cart in a big circle around the store, reading each of the signs at the end of the aisles. Every lap got a little slower as I paid increasing attention to each one, making absolutely sure I wasn’t missing “spices.” After at least 4 laps, I became convinced it just wasn’t there, and switched to Donette’s tactic of just going up and down every aisle. I guess I have to grudgingly admit it to be a superior method, because I did indeed locate the bay leaves. But the question remains, why aren’t spices on the signs? It’s at least a good 1/4 of the entire aisle, why not point it out? (Luckily, my frustration was quickly replaced with pure horror when I saw the price of a few bay leaves. I also began to question if spices are labeled at ANY grocery store? Maybe I just know where they are at my usual one? Great pondering.) After overcoming that monumental achievement, it was on to the true purpose of my trip; Okra. I’ve found okra generally hard to find out here, and I figured that since Safeway is the largest store around, my odds were best there. On the plus side, I was able to quickly locate the proper aisle, thanks to the prominently placed “frozen vegetables” label on the sign. On the downside, I couldn’t find okra. Now, in truth, I don’t even really like okra. But, I was making gumbo, and gumbo should have okra. Granted, I usually just leave it out, or forget to put it in if I DO have it. I was particularly determined to have it this time though. After about 10 minutes, a nice young stocker came over and asked if I needed help, likely due to me slamming the freezer doors repeatedly. Why yes, yes I do, I need OKRA. His expression clearly revealed he didn’t know what that was. So, for some absolutely fascinating reason, he felt the need to inform me they DO have brussel sprouts! Much like barbecue guy, that comment ended our conversation. I just couldn’t come up with a response anything short of sarcasm, and he seemed genuinely pleased with his proposed solution. ** Final update, as I was feverishly scouring the store for diced tomatoes, which also weren’t where they should have been, the young man tracked me down and did indeed hand me two bags of chopped okra. He’d inquired of his manager, who found it in the back. Why was it in the back instead of the freezers? I’ll leave that mystery for another day.
