it takes a village...
...to burn the rival village to the ground. In another full season of change, my little hamlet has finally seen the arrival of the gourmet deli. It's doors have been opened for three weeks and it is a little slice of heaven. The cheeses stink to impress, not that any of us in town really know what a good cheese should smell like, but they stink and they don't stink like velveeta so they must be good. The meats are large blocks of fattening goodness sitting on beds of parsley in the display cases under the register. The meat names sound just as juicy as they taste; Pa-straw-me, ba-lone-e, eat-me, yum-e, fat-e, good-e.
The deal is you can make a sandwich any way you want it with any toppings and any side dish. I am not a fan of mayonnaise, so most side dishes are lost on me. However, I am a huge fan of mustard, which is the greatest gift from the gods that we little humans have ever known. Who doesn't enjoy a spice mustard and where would egg salad be without mustard, huh?
On the other end of the deli case is a bakery display. Fresh rolls, breads, cakes, cookies, donuts and... and.... eclairs. Yesssssss...... the devil's seed itself. Eclairs. Full of demon seed creamy filling, topped with a death chocolate and wrapped up in a flaky, smooth crust. What heart doesn't cry out for a well made eclair. (note: if you have not had an eclair, shame on you. stop reading this, find one, eat it and then come back and finish reading this, fool.) Wars are fought over such delicious, well made pastries. Napoleon wasn't really bent on world domination, he just wanted all of his favorite restaurants to be in his neck of the woods.
I love eclairs, side it with a hot cup of coffee and I am spent. They are such a weakness that I am purposefully not going near that deli because I know that my metabolism couldn't stand it. This really tears me up because I want to be more supportive of our new businesses. The neighboring town, long silent and grossly under-used for twenty years, has finally seen it's resurgence in vitality. Three new restaurants have opened there, all of them are divine and all of them can kiss my ass. Why any business owner would choose that dump of a town over my beautiful hamlet is beyond me and I am not going to support some crazy bastard if he, or she is too stupid to place their business a short drive from my house.
These two towns, mine and the one down the way, have never really seen eye to eye on anything. The neighboring town is in another county and suffers from a tax burden that our locals do not see, so we feel smarter and they feel like we have it too easy. Their town is one of two towns in America that are still run on a charter and so they are at the mercy of outsiders and other influences that they have no control over. We are self governed. Poorly, but still in control of our own destiny. At times we try to think of our neighbors as locals, we do this only to amuse ourselves and to take credit for their successes when we have failed. Case in point, their three new restaurants which are great to see, stunning to experience and too far away to be convenient.
In the long and short of it, the drive to the neighboring town takes 8 minutes. A nothing drive for you city dwellers and really, nothing at all when you consider how far away the nearest BBQ restaurant is. (two plus hours. A decent one, six hours) I make such a big deal out of my town and all it has to offer me and I love to think of this town as a simple place to live with just enough amenities to take care of the former city boy that lives inside me. Making such a big deal out of it, I sometimes forget all that I don't get and all that I do miss. I do miss the close proximity of friends and the access to various options when I do want something different. It's at these down times in my thinking that I wonder what it must be like to be raised in such a world where the only option for certain items is what you can see in a two square block area. Can a full life of opportunity be found in such a small area? I wonder if they know what they are missing when they have never seen what it is that they are missing.
With the arrival of the new deli, the eclairs made fresh daily and the coming of a new gourmet pizza place, I guess I should stop thinking so much about what I am not seeing and think more about what I am seeing. I would hate to think that I would burden my taste buds which are having the greatest orgasm of their lives with depressing thoughts about all the things they don't get to taste.
The deal is you can make a sandwich any way you want it with any toppings and any side dish. I am not a fan of mayonnaise, so most side dishes are lost on me. However, I am a huge fan of mustard, which is the greatest gift from the gods that we little humans have ever known. Who doesn't enjoy a spice mustard and where would egg salad be without mustard, huh?
On the other end of the deli case is a bakery display. Fresh rolls, breads, cakes, cookies, donuts and... and.... eclairs. Yesssssss...... the devil's seed itself. Eclairs. Full of demon seed creamy filling, topped with a death chocolate and wrapped up in a flaky, smooth crust. What heart doesn't cry out for a well made eclair. (note: if you have not had an eclair, shame on you. stop reading this, find one, eat it and then come back and finish reading this, fool.) Wars are fought over such delicious, well made pastries. Napoleon wasn't really bent on world domination, he just wanted all of his favorite restaurants to be in his neck of the woods.
I love eclairs, side it with a hot cup of coffee and I am spent. They are such a weakness that I am purposefully not going near that deli because I know that my metabolism couldn't stand it. This really tears me up because I want to be more supportive of our new businesses. The neighboring town, long silent and grossly under-used for twenty years, has finally seen it's resurgence in vitality. Three new restaurants have opened there, all of them are divine and all of them can kiss my ass. Why any business owner would choose that dump of a town over my beautiful hamlet is beyond me and I am not going to support some crazy bastard if he, or she is too stupid to place their business a short drive from my house.
These two towns, mine and the one down the way, have never really seen eye to eye on anything. The neighboring town is in another county and suffers from a tax burden that our locals do not see, so we feel smarter and they feel like we have it too easy. Their town is one of two towns in America that are still run on a charter and so they are at the mercy of outsiders and other influences that they have no control over. We are self governed. Poorly, but still in control of our own destiny. At times we try to think of our neighbors as locals, we do this only to amuse ourselves and to take credit for their successes when we have failed. Case in point, their three new restaurants which are great to see, stunning to experience and too far away to be convenient.
In the long and short of it, the drive to the neighboring town takes 8 minutes. A nothing drive for you city dwellers and really, nothing at all when you consider how far away the nearest BBQ restaurant is. (two plus hours. A decent one, six hours) I make such a big deal out of my town and all it has to offer me and I love to think of this town as a simple place to live with just enough amenities to take care of the former city boy that lives inside me. Making such a big deal out of it, I sometimes forget all that I don't get and all that I do miss. I do miss the close proximity of friends and the access to various options when I do want something different. It's at these down times in my thinking that I wonder what it must be like to be raised in such a world where the only option for certain items is what you can see in a two square block area. Can a full life of opportunity be found in such a small area? I wonder if they know what they are missing when they have never seen what it is that they are missing.
With the arrival of the new deli, the eclairs made fresh daily and the coming of a new gourmet pizza place, I guess I should stop thinking so much about what I am not seeing and think more about what I am seeing. I would hate to think that I would burden my taste buds which are having the greatest orgasm of their lives with depressing thoughts about all the things they don't get to taste.
posted by Daniel Loomis | 10:30 AM
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