D205: Decadence

I so wanted to stumble upon Daikon radishes Sunday at the Farmer’s Market. No such luck. After I got home I realized I’d forgotten to see if the Russian woman or the Vietnamese man had dill. These were two foods I wanted to explore. But, I really wasn’t with it at all and I was completely and utterly uninspired. Okay, I was a tiny bit inspired with the seedless grapes for $2.50/lb and the figs looked voluptuous for a second week in a row. Otherwise, zip . . .

See, every once in a while I get a hankering for things that I grew up eating – the comfort foods. Real food just looks boring and unappealing to me. Happily it doesn’t happen too frequently. And mostly I just take myself in hand and say No. So, after thinking about it on Sunday I decided I would instead follow this inclination and celebrate it – rather than succumb to perfectionism, food shame and fat phobia – all of which has plagued me in my life. In keeping with this format, I decided to stick with a couple of *d* foods, donuts and dogs (hot dogs) and make it a series of events, a positive adventure. Oh yes, I worked last week for a surf shop and earned a few extra bucks, so I can afford my donuts and coffee.

Monday morning would mean going to the two historic Donut Shop(s) on highway 101 that I’d wanted to check out. And since each donut shop is next to a post office, I can pick one and finally buy some one cent stamps plus mail off my used Brita water filters thanks to the campaign by Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish. Yea!

My method of doing errands is like I used to shop. Go, do and return home. I don’t saunter, meander, kick back, explore or wander around as much as I might. In this decadence mode I want to waste some time and watch the world around me. I may also try and read the novel I picked up last week, Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.

The hot dog is trickier. I really don’t want to eat one away from home. I remember meat on the street when I lived in Manhattan. When I was racing around meeting clients, I would frequently grab a hot dog with mustard, sauerkraut and dill pickles from a Sabrett cart. We used to kid about the burning question, where do the Sabrett vendors go to the bathroom? My daughter became a vegetarian. Despite my bad habit of getting mustard on my suits, blouses . . . hot dogs are a fond memory of NYC.

More and more I can gross myself out when I think of meat, the reality of meat and how these animal parts are questionable. Hot dogs and canned meat are more suspect than the rest. Ya know? The living conditions before slaughter are also a reality that I find harder and harder to feel indifference.

Oh yeah, I should report that I wrote this prior to my adventure and it lived up to my expectations. I felt like crap after all that sugar, but I recovered with something sated. I even picked up some hot dogs. I was shocked that the grocery store wanted $3.50 for the plain white buns. I skipped these. At home I no longer have my toaster oven so I had to heat the hot dog in a fry pan. I put it on my cold tangy tasting rye bread with a brown mustard. It tasted just fine - but Sabrett's it was not.

Dill image
Sabrett image

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