Phone call out of the blue
On Thursday while Myles and I were on our way to the Children's Museum, I got a call from my friend Kathie from New Jersey. Kathie and I worked together at Johanson (sometimes suffered might be the appropriate word). The best part of working at Johanson was our lunch crew. We would have a day every so often in which we would have Lunch, where everyone in our group would bring in enough to share. I would stop at Wegman's to pick up Rosemay Batard, one of the ladies who also worked at a grocery would bring in a bunch of Ice Cream, and Kathie would make a fantastic tortellini soup. We also got to hang out quite a bit outside of work. She was/is a huge fan/friend of the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, so we would meet in NYC to see some of their shows. A couple of times, once we had moved to Kentucky, we met her in Nashville to see some shows.
I got an email from her recently about her moving to Middle-of-Nowhere, Ohio, and I was quite surprised. I thought if she was ever going to move anywhere outside of New Jersey at this point, it would be to Nash Vegas. Then on Thuersday I got a call.
"Do you remember when you called me from the grocery store in Kentucky crying because you couldn't find any Romano cheese?"
Oh do I remember. I was in tears because I couldn't find any Romano cheese except the processed stuff in a can. The move to Kentucky from La-La Land (Newtown, not L.A.) was not going well and the grocery shortcomings in Elizabethtown were the Last Straw. The next day my coworker Carsten Bach helped me understand my cheese snobbery was unwarranted: "What is wrong with the stuff in the can? It never goes bad, and when you start to run out it grows back again."
Kathie continues: "I can't find any Ricotta cheese."
This is definitely an emergency. How can she make anything without Ricotta cheese? I felt her pain. We discussed options regarding the grocery situation. She has figured that she will just have to take monthly stocking up trips to Trader Joe's in Dayton, which is an hour away. We were able to catch up a little bit, too.
It was good to hear from her, even though it was because she was in a state of culture shock.
I got an email from her recently about her moving to Middle-of-Nowhere, Ohio, and I was quite surprised. I thought if she was ever going to move anywhere outside of New Jersey at this point, it would be to Nash Vegas. Then on Thuersday I got a call.
"Do you remember when you called me from the grocery store in Kentucky crying because you couldn't find any Romano cheese?"
Oh do I remember. I was in tears because I couldn't find any Romano cheese except the processed stuff in a can. The move to Kentucky from La-La Land (Newtown, not L.A.) was not going well and the grocery shortcomings in Elizabethtown were the Last Straw. The next day my coworker Carsten Bach helped me understand my cheese snobbery was unwarranted: "What is wrong with the stuff in the can? It never goes bad, and when you start to run out it grows back again."
Kathie continues: "I can't find any Ricotta cheese."
This is definitely an emergency. How can she make anything without Ricotta cheese? I felt her pain. We discussed options regarding the grocery situation. She has figured that she will just have to take monthly stocking up trips to Trader Joe's in Dayton, which is an hour away. We were able to catch up a little bit, too.
It was good to hear from her, even though it was because she was in a state of culture shock.
Comments
We're not quite well-enough versed in German to venture too far out into the economy for grocery shopping. Our last adventure was a bit scarring.