Thursday, May 21st, 2009
It has taken me forever to write this post. I don’t know why. I guess I thought it was never really all that important, but the more I think about it, the more I get bothered. Also, since when have I written about only important things?
I would say we haven’t been to Whole Foods in about two months. The last time we went there, I got extremely annoyed. Also, a few times before that, Laura got really annoyed. Both times were really annoying, but my “annoyance” meter is a little taller than Laura’s.
Let me tell you what annoyed me first. Okay, the prices at Whole Foods are high. We knew that when we started going there. I kind of let it go because I felt like I was doing something good for society, whatever that means (you know, the whole organic, green, blah blah blah). The problem is that I always felt like the store was ratcheting up the prices just enough for us not to notice the increases. That is annoying in itself.
During our last visit, we picked up a few items and put them in the cart. When we got to the produce area, I took it upon myself to go grab some asparagus. When I walked over to the asparagus section, I picked up a bunch and then looked at the price. It said $4.99 per pound. I instantly felt my face getting red. I put the asparagus down and walked over to get some “Silk” creamer. When I looked at the creamer, it said something like $3.89. This was for the tall, skinny jug. I put the creamer down and went back to Laura all ticked off. I said, “This place is a freakin’ rip off.” She didn’t dispute that. I asked her if we couldn’t get this stuff someplace else for half the price. I got especially mad at how much this store was trying to charge for a brand name item that costs so much less in other stores.
We paid for what was in the cart and haven’t been back since. I really hate the feeling of being ripped off.
What Laura was getting angry at was the people, meaning the other shoppers. I am sure you can visualize the totally oblivious fellow shopper that walks right in front of you while you are reaching for something off the shelf. These are the same people who cut you off on the highway and when you try to chase them down to “talk about it,” they scurry off like little rats. Needless to say, we felt like the other shoppers were a tad bit on the rude side. I guess we don’t feel too bad for not shopping at Whole Foods anymore.
The other day, we had to go to Wal-Mart to get kitty litter. Wal-Mart is the only place that we have been able to find that sells the scent-free stuff. Our little kitty cat is allergic to the scented stuff.
While getting the kitty litter, we grabbed a few grocery items. When we walked up to the produce area, I saw asparagus for $1.77 per pound. I almost freaked out. Now, I’m not an idiot. I know that organic food costs more than “conventionally grown” food (as Whole Foods likes to call it). $4.99 per pound is a little much of an increase from $1.77 per pound, organic or not. I don’t care what it is, I’m certainly not a fool.
I asked Laura what would be so bad about doing our food shopping at Wal-Mart from now on, as long as it was in the morning to avoid the crowds. She couldn’t find any reason not to.
Since we stopped shopping at Whole Foods, I have gone food shopping at Wal-Mart twice. Both visits were fairly pleasant. I haven’t been annoyed by any fellow shoppers and have actually found them pretty friendly and easy to talk to. I also especially like toying around with the cashiers, something I could never do at Whole Foods because they just don’t do that.
Remember that time I told you about our first visit to Whole Foods? It was the time I walked out of the store after paying $89 for one bag of groceries. Well, I went shopping at Wal-Mart yesterday and got half a cart of groceries for $87. Now that’s amazing.
It seems like I am ripping on Whole Foods an awful lot here. It’s just that I am still annoyed at how they tried to take me for a ride with their absurd prices. I haven’t even mentioned the time that I saw a container of ice cream for $8. I mean seriously. Someone would have to be a moron to pay that much for one of those shrunken down half-gallon sized containers of ice cream. It was a regular brand name too, so you could easily compare prices with another store. I came so close to taking a picture of it with my cell phone to post here. I really should have.
When I got back from my last visit to Wal-Mart, I pulled out a half gallon container of juice. I held it up and asked Laura to guess how much I paid for it. She said $4. I said, “Wrong. One dollar.” Now that is neat.
So, what am I supposed to do? Continue shopping at Whole Foods and get ripped off or contribute to the Wal-Marting of America? I know there are stores in the middle, like Stop and Shop, but I have never really been a fan. I actually prefer Wal-Mart over them. You never know when you might want to buy a kayak and underwear while you are food shopping.
You know, I am starting to feel pretty good about going over to Wal-Mart. The people seem fun and they don’t cut you off while you are shopping.
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Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
This is a humorous little story. Well, it’s humorous now that the whole little shopping ordeal is over, but it wasn’t earlier in the day yesterday.
Okay, my parents are coming up to visit. This is pretty exciting because they haven’t been to the house yet. Also, they are now southerners, so they totally forget what the North looks like…well, maybe not. Anyway, they will be here in just a few weeks and up until yesterday, they had no where to sleep.
We have been meaning to get a bed for the guest bedroom for about a year now. We really need one and every house should have one. We have already had two people stay over and they both had to sleep on the couch (one at a time). I really didn’t care that those two people slept on the couch, but I can’t expect my parents to sleep there. After all, they are very special people. You know, come to think of it…I’m still waiting for my father to come over and turn the lights on and off and on and off and jump on the couch all day. He used to threaten to do that to me when I was a kid. That’s right, he used to tell me that he was going to come over to where I was living and leave the doors wide open and the lights on all day. I guess he was trying to teach me a lesson.
Back to the bed. Buying a bed that you don’t need is probably one of the most annoying things a person can do. Beds are expensive and having an expensive bed sitting in a room that you don’t use is just ridiculous. Trust me, I thought of all different ways to get out of this. I considered getting a futon, considered getting a new bed for us and moving our old one in the guest bedroom and considered putting my parents up in a hotel. I know, I know, we needed the bed anyway. Putting them in a hotel wouldn’t solve the problem of housing future guests.
I put this project off for such a long time. It’s amazing; I am finally going to the dentist every six months, but I can’t find my way into a mattress store for the life of me. Well, yesterday was the day that we dragged ourselves out of the house and drove up to Sleepy’s in Manchester. We were just going to look, because I had a plan.
After college, when I lived in Atlanta, I wanted one thing. I wanted a real bed. I slept in some pretty bad conditions while at college and all I wanted was to sleep in a nice queen size bed with a Simmons Beautyrest mattress, just like my friend had. I liked his mattress. It had those independently pocketed coils and it was really comfortable. When I moved down south, one of the first things I did was to order that mattress. Well, 10 years came and went last year and that mattress began making our backs ache. We ordered a new mattress. Our new mattress is okay, but nothing special. It’s only a year old and is fairly comfortable.
I spent some time doing a little mattress research online before we went up to Sleepy’s. My plan was to go into the store, lay down on a good number of beds and then take off, only to buy one online. I had a hunch that I could get a bed cheaper by ordering it from 1-800-mattress or something like that. After all, I think I got the whole Simmons Beautyrest bed set from them for a little over $400 back eleven years ago. How much can they be now?
We walked into the Sleepy’s store and instantly found the Simmons Beautyrest beds. We layed down on a few of them and Laura picked out two she liked. Then, the sales guy came over. He started talking about the benefits of sleep and all that. I put my hand up to stop him before he even got started. I told him that we were only looking for a queen size bed set for a guest room. It doesn’t have to be all that great, but it does need those independently pocketed coils. I am simply hung up on them.
Oh yeah, I also told him my budget was $650. Yeah, that’s $650 I really did not want to spend.
He showed us a few of the cheaper beds. Actually, the cheapest bed set was $999 and it was pretty cheap. I thought $999 was a lot of money, but I guess it’s really not in the bedding world. Now, $8000 is a lot. If you spent a grand for a bed ten years ago, you were living like a king.
Somehow, my plan of just trying out a few beds and leaving was forgotten. I got all wrapped up in trying to negotiate a cheaper price for a cheap bed. Unfortunately, the lowest this guy would go was $999. There was nothing in the store for less.
As we were laying on all these beds in total comfort, the wheels in my mind started turning. I started picturing myself sleeping on a nice luxurious bed, like there were so many of in this particular store.
As time went on, I get the feeling that the sales guy and I were coming to some sort of an agreement about purchasing a bed set. I know he knew that I really didn’t want to spend much money, but he also saw my face when I was trying out some of the beds. I was very non-committal…I wouldn’t put my feet up. I would sort of lay halfway on the bed while trying to figure out if it was comfortable or not. There was a wide variety of comfort available.
You know, beds have come a long way these past few years. There are all sorts of pillowtop, folding, vibrating, shaking and some even have little arms that come out of the sides to rub your belly if you want. Okay, that last one was a stretch. Seriously though, some of these beds are really, really comfortable.
In Sleepy’s, there is this air mattress that the customer can lay on that is hooked to a computer. It allegedly calibrates something-or-other and spits out a piece of paper that tells you what “color” firmness or softness you are. I was a green and Laura was a blue. We were very close to one another. We probably would have picked those colors anyway because the firm mattresses are really hard and the soft ones are like couch cushions.
As time went on, we found ourselves laying more and more on the “Kingsdown- Sleep to Live” brand of mattress. There was something different about these mattresses. They provided some serious comfort. The sales guy was only too happy to discuss the benefits of the Sleep To Live brand of mattress with us.
As I lay on the queen size, semi-firm Sleep To Live mattress, I envisioned myself setting this exact bed set up in the bedroom…just not the guest bedroom. I mean, since our current mattress is only a year old, what’s the harm of sliding that into the guest bedroom and having us sleep on something new and luxurious? I mean really. The bad part was that the prices kept going higher and higher as I moved on to better mattresses.
I don’t know what came over me, but at some point in the day, I found myself asking the sales guy about the price differences between the king size bed sets and the queen. A few hundred bucks. Hmmm.
Okay guys, I am going to make a long story short and tell you that we now have a new Sleep To Live, king size mattress set, a new king size sheet set and a new bed frame set up in the bedroom…not the guest bedroom.
I always wanted a king size bed. We slept on it last night and I think it was nice. I can’t get past the part of how I feel like I don’t deserve to be laying on something so nice. I probably don’t deserve it; no one does. It’s bedding gluttony, pure and simple.
I will tell you that I did a tremendous amount of negotiating for this bed. I know certainly well that Sleepy’s is not selling too many bed sets these days and I took advantage of that. As I was going through my normal routine of chewing the guy down, he kept asking me if I wanted to finance everything. Finance it? I almost asked him if he was serious. Who in the world finances a bed? Where I come from, if you can’t afford a nice bed, you sleep on a not-so-nice one. What has this world turned into where companies offer financing for mattresses? Remember, I’m the guy who used to use a 5-gallon bucket as a chair and slept on some used mattress on the floor back in college. I mean, c’mon.
I’m back. I would offer up a picture of the new bed, but it is not made right now. Perhaps I will take a picture of it when we get a new headboard.
Over and out.
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Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
This is so cool. I bought my first LED house light this afternoon.
I had a small Home Depot list going on, so I thought I would do a little shopping today. This morning, I told Laura that I was going to head up the Glastonbury to get some stuff and she informed me that the night light bulb went bad last night. We like to have a night light in the hallway to avoid falling down the stairs when it’s dark. I put that on my list and off I went.
I knew that an LED bulb was the way to go, especially for this application. Since the night light is so far away from us when we are sleeping, the light the bulb gives off doesn’t need to be necessarily “pretty.” I think LED bulbs have a long way to go in that department.
The only thing I was concerned about was whether or not the Depot had any LED night light bulbs.
When I got to the store and the bulb area, I didn’t see any of the bulbs I was interested in. I actually had a 4-pack of the regular incandescent bulbs in my hand and was ready to stand up to put them in the cart, when I saw the little LED bulbs to my right. I think the 4-pack of incandescent bulbs were $3 and change and the 2-pack of LED bulbs were about the same. When I read that the incandescent bulbs had a life of 3,000 hours each and the LED bulbs had a life of 50,000 each, the decision was a no-brainer.
The really cool thing is that each bulb only costs $.25 cents per year to use. Now, you please tell me if that’s a good deal or not. I have absolutely no idea how much it costs to run a night light. I am sure there are some hours involved here because people don’t really keep night lights on all day long. Either way, $.25 sounded good, even if it was creative marketing.
Here are some photos of the LED night light bulbs.
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Eternalite LED bulb package
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Three LEDs in the LED bulb
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LED night light giving off blue light
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Today was the day that Laura and I chose to cruise up to Costco to spend hundreds of dollars. We haven’t been there since the beginning of February and knew this one was going to be a whopper. Shopping at Whole Foods and paying $80 for one bag of groceries was getting a little old.
On the way up, I told Laura that I was going to get gas before we went in, because after we do our shopping, I am in no mood to get gas. Luckily, today the weather was beautiful and getting out of the car to pump the fuel turned out to be fun…as the following picture shows.
Jay at Costco gas pump
I think Laura described me as “herbolicious.”
Half way through pumping the gas, I noticed the “Members Only” sign and just had to get a picture of it. Remember those “Members Only” jackets? How cool were they? Not really, I guess. Nevertheless, I felt it was necessary to have my picture taken next to the members only sign.
Also, if you notice, the gas is $2.06. That’s a far cry from the $2.49 I payed at a local station last week. Go Costco.
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Sunday, February 15th, 2009
Yesterday, I had to run out to Home Depot to get some stuff for a little project I was working on (I’ll tell you about it in the next post). While making my list, I remembered that I needed some saw blades for my reciprocating saw. Remember me telling you about that in the “Replacing The Exhaust On A 1999 Honda Civic DX” post? If not, you should go re-read that post. It is quite fantastic.
While at the Depot, after I did all my “project” shopping, I managed to make my way over to the tool aisle. I found the reciprocating saw blades and promptly put two nice metal cutting blades in the cart. I noticed that they were priced at $3.99 each. That didn’t really bother me because I had a bunch of gift cards in my wallet. I figured that $8 wasn’t too bad. Then, I happened to look up to see a nice Dewalt reciprocating saw blade kit for $25 and change. I said to myself, “That’s too much. All I need is a few metal cutting blades.” I picked the kit up anyway. The kit has 11 blades and one handy-dandy blade carrying “tough-case.” I did the math and just couldn’t help myself. I was sold on the carrying case. I am so bad. I rationalized it by telling myself that I was saving money because I was getting all those blades at so much less than I would if I had purchased them individually. You see? I actually “saved” money by going out any buying something. Incredible.
Here, take a look.
Dewalt reciprocating saw blade kit
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Thursday, February 5th, 2009
We went to Costco this afternoon. It wasn’t something we wanted to do, it was something we were forced to do. We were totally out of food.
I really hate it when that happens. We get so hungry that we eventually turn on each other. We start giving each other strange looks and odd things begin to happen. When one of us catches the other licking their lips, we get in the car. It’s terrible.
It was a good visit though. We decided that we should really start the shopping in the opposite direction of the one we usually walk. That way, we can put the heavy items in the cart first, without smushing all the delicate items, such as lettuce. We did this and it worked great…until we got to the register, where we were introduced to the opposite effect. The light items came out of the cart first and, if we didn’t do some shuffling, they would have gone back into the cart first. This means they would have gotten crushed. We shuffled some stuff and things worked out just fine.
One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Costco today was to buy some POM Wonderful pomegranate juice. Please don’t ask me what this new fascination with juice is all about. I wouldn’t have an answer for you. I think I just need to get it out of my system.
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POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
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Sediment at bottom of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
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Glass of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
When we were about half way done with our shopping, we strolled through the big juice area. I asked Laura if she wanted to go ahead so I wouldn’t bore her with my POM juice hunt and she readily took me up on the offer. Once she was gone, I started looking for the pomegranate juice. For some strange reason, I couldn’t find the POM. All I couldn’t find was the Langer’s pomegranate juice. I was a little disappointed, but thought I should at least get the Langer’s because it said “100% Juice” on the label. I read the ingredients and they were: pure pomegranate juice from concentrate, water, natural flavors, etc…I think that was it. I hesitantly picked it up and walked away. I was a bit sad because I wanted to try the POM.
On my way over to the produce area, where Laura was, I saw the other big juice area. This was the expensive one. The POM juice was sitting there staring me in the face. I hustled over to it and picked it up. Now, this was the real deal. The only problem was that the juice cost $9.99 for 60 fl. oz. I thought that was a little expensive. I began to put it down when Laura walked over to me to check out the juice. She has a very nice habit of humoring me at times like this.
I started telling her that this juice cost too much and I would just get the Langer’s because it was only around $6.50 for the same amount. She said, “Well, is it the same thing?” I said, “Sure it is.” Then, I started thinking about it. Was it the same thing? They were both 100% pure pomegranate juice from concentrate and both looked the same, but why the price difference? I started looking closely at both drinks.
I remembered back a while ago when I bought a Langer’s juice in Hannaford, where we used to live. I wasn’t in love with it because I thought it was a little watered down. Then, I thought back of the time I sampled the POM juice, which is what made me want to buy this stuff in the first place. It was more syrupy.
I picked up both juice bottles and looked closely at the bottoms of them. The Langer’s was clean, but the POM had about a half inch of sediment at the bottom. To me, this was the proof. I started thinking, “They may both be pure pomegranate juice, but what is the water content of each juice?” I had a feeling that POM had a lot more pomegranate in it.
In the photo above, the sediment is being mixed up. The bottle is clear, so you can get a feel for how thick this stuff is.
When we got back to the house, I poured myself a small glass of juice. I wanted another taste of this “Chinese Apple” goodness. I took a sip and was happy to find out that I made the right choice. It was as rich as I remember. Just FYI, pomegranate juice tastes kind of tart. I like it, but if you aren’t into tart, you might not like this juice.
Okay, that was my little pomegranate juice story. I hope you liked it.
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Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Okay, so listen to this. I received my Home Depot gift cards yesterday. I got a pretty decent amount’s worth. So basically, they have been burning a hole in my pocket ever since. So what did I do about it? Well, I ran over to Home Depot and picked up that RIGID 4 gallon wet/dry vac I was talking about. It’s going to be a big help during those “cleaning out the pellet stove” times.
RIGID 4 gallon wet/dry vac
Actually, I just cleaned out the pellet stove a few minutes ago. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was worried about ruining our regular house vacuum by sucking up ashes from the pellet stove. I mean, it’s not like there is a huge amount of them. I do empty the ash pan first, but there are still some remaining ashes hanging around. Those need to be vacuumed. I tried using the dust pan and brush, but that doesn’t have the best results on the floor tile grout. The ash kind of gets smeared in there.
The reason I got the 4 gallon wet/dry vac is because is was the smallest size RIGID makes. The reason I got RIGID, is because I like the brand. I have had decent luck with their other products. Also, this vac has wheels on it, so I can roll it around when I am vacuuming out the car and stuff like that.
The only thing I am worried about is the ash clumping up in the filter. After I used the vacuum a few minutes ago, I did notice the filter got a bit dirty. I banged it against the side of the vacuum and the dirt pretty much fell off the filter. I figure this is bound to happen with any type of vacuum I use, so I might as well use a wet/dry vac. Also, once the filter has been banged around for its last time, I can always pick up a replacement.
Now that I used up a little less than half of my gift cards, I think I am going to hold on to them until Home Depot starts selling trees and shrubs again. Then, I can head over there and go on a shopping spree.
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Sunday, January 11th, 2009
I now accept and eat the samples at Costco.
I completely forgot about this post. When we were shopping in Costco last week, I was all, “ooh and aah” about what I was going to write. Then, we left and I forgot all about it. It’s simple really…I just wanted to tell you about a change that’s going on in my life.
It takes a certain type of person to eat samples while shopping. My old self would avoid the whole “sample station” altogether. I have seen people bump, scratch, kick and scream to get at that food. Unless, of course, it’s a slow night. If it’s slow, the opportunity is there to have a wonderful morsel of goodness.
As we are all aware, samples taste really good. The store gets you when it counts; while you are hungry. What better way to sucker you into buying pizza bites than to hook you with a small dose when you know you already have to lay out all that green for the rest of the groceries? The problem is, samples are usually of the food you should never in a million years buy. Pre-made food is a no-no. I will admit though that these guys do a particularly good job at temping souls such as myself.
I’ll tell you how it happened. We were shopping in Costco a few weeks ago and I saw a sample lady standing all by herself. I felt bad, so I walked up to her and asked her what she had there. Her face lit up as she told me all about what she was serving. Since it didn’t contain meat, I accepted. Well, little did I know, I had just entered the sample underworld, a world my father had entered many years earlier. He just loves Costco samples and tells me stories of the science behind it. Stories now, that I listen to with great interest.
Jay and Dad
From that point on, every time we go to Costco, I look around to see what is available to nibble on. Laura doesn’t seem too interested, but then again, I am a little more pushy when it comes to these types of things. I also like to look at the name tags of the people handing out the samples to say hello to them. Oftentimes, they have had a long day and a bit of excitement from a tall guy with red hair wouldn’t hurt.
One sample I enjoyed during our last visit to Costco was “POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice.” It was thick, rich and wonderfully delicious. I also hear it’s good for you. I was just looking at its website and learned a little more about the pomegranate. I think I am going to pick some of this stuff up next time we go shopping. See, it’s working…
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Thursday, December 25th, 2008
I think that’s what it’s called. I burned the box last night after we put the beer in the refrigerator, so I’m not quite sure. What I do know is that there are 12 beers total, two of each winter classic.
This isn’t my Christmas post. Unfortunately, that will have to wait for tomorrow, since we just got back a few minutes ago. I wanted to quickly get on so I could write about two tasty new beers we tried last night on Christmas eve.
Okay, so we went food shopping last night. We thought that would be a good idea, because no one else on earth couldn’t possibly be out on Christmas eve. Wrong. It seems that everyone else was out. They were all at Whole Foods in Glastonbury. For the first time, we drove in the parking lot and had to actually drive back out and circle around to find a parking spot. We ended up parking at the bank next door. It was pouring rain, so we got a little wet walking over to the store. Yes, I know, this is just a continuation of yesterday’s post. I’ll get to the point.
Laura sent me over to get one of those boxes of clementines that seemingly are only available at Christmas. I thought that was a neat idea, so I agreed to the order. I was in the produce department already, which made hunting for these boxes all the easier. I walked to the back of the department, found some stacked 12-packs of Sam Adams Winter Classic beer, grabbed one and walked back to Laura. I didn’t even look at her. I just rested the box of beer on the edge of the cart and said that I couldn’t find the clementines. She really didn’t seem to mind because I think she had beer on the brain.
I asked a fine gentleman who was working in the produce area where the clementines were and he pointed over to the front of the store. We walked over, but since this post has absolutely nothing to do with clementines, I will move on.
When we got back to the house, Laura was kind enough to chill and open two bottles of beer. The first one was Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic and the second was Samuel Adams Holiday Porter. She poured half of each beer in two glasses and the other half in two more glasses. That way, we could both enjoy both types of beer.
Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic
Samuel Adams Holiday Porter
I must say, I really enjoyed tasting two different types of beer at the same time. It was like another mini tasting. I dug it.
Both beers were very good, but the Cranberry Lambic was a hint too fruity. If it just had a bit less sweetness to it, it would have been perfect. The Holday Porter was awesome…right up my alley. That’s my kind of beer. Neither of these beers were all too heavy, but they really hit the spot.
The beer, the sushi, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty The Snowman made for a wonderful evening.
Merry Christmas and be sure to stop back tomorrow. I am going to post all my pics of tonight dinner at the Mayflower Inn.
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Thursday, November 20th, 2008
We got about 20 steps away from the car when I noticed the Christmas lights on the trees at Somerset Square. “Oh yeah, can we go back to get the camera?” I asked Laura. I thought I would ask nicely, even though I was already headed back.
Can you imagine me out and about, not attached to my camera? If the shoe were on the other foot, I would probably be pretty annoyed by this point. When you’re 10 years deep with someone, you tend to let things slide a little. With my personality, a lot slides.
We did a little shopping up at Pottery Barn this afternoon. I went up to finish purchasing the office furniture. I made a little list. It was on my Blackberry…another annoying trait, I’m sure…Blackberry-itis. Either way, it came in handy. My list was this: small table, floor lamp, garbage pail and mouse pad. I knew I could get everything but the mouse pad at Pottery Barn. Perhaps I would pick that up another day. Can you believe I have had my hands on like 50 mouse pads in my life and have none to speak of? I worry that I am going to put a dull “circle” in my new desk from rubbing the mouse around directly on the wood. Either I get a big piece of glass for the top of the entire desk or I get a mouse pad. I think the mouse pad with do.
We went in to Pottery Barn and looked around a little. It’s always the way…when you go in for something in particular, you seem to wander around aimlessly for a long time. If you go in with no money in your pocket, you want everything in the store after 10 minutes. After a while, I decided that I really didn’t need another table, since the desk and cabinet I already bought still sit empty. Also, the wicker garbage can was $57. Laura’s response said it all when I told her the price. “What?” Okay, forget that one, I’m no fool.
I settled on a nice Chelsea Floor Lamp Base with a medium shade. It’s funny, Pottery Barn sells the lamp bases and the lamp shades separately. Sorry, I’m used to Home Depot.
We thought an hour was long enough in that store, so we left. We wandered over to Williams-Sonoma for some kitchen items I had on another list. Out came the Blackberry again. By this point, I began hiding it. I hate people with Blackberrys. Seriously. I don’t want to turn into that guy, but folks, it’s getting very difficult for me. There honestly are good reasons for using it.
I mainly needed things to assist me in making my next pizza. I have a killer herb pizza recipe and it is a true winner. The only problems I have are rolling out the dough, grating the cheese and slicing the pizza. Oh, that’s all. So, with that in mind, I picked up a rolling pin, a cheese grater and a pizza cutter. I also got a nifty french fry cutter that I have been wanting for the longest time. I make a mean sweet potato fry.
There, the items on my lists were all crossed off.
We left.
Half way back the the highway, I said, “Ooof, I totally forget to take you to lunch.” That had been my plan all along, but unfortunately, that wasn’t in my Blackberry. Oh well.
A few thoughts very quickly flew through my head…”Maybe I can get away with it and we can just eat something at the house,” and “Maybe we can quickly pick up some takeout,” and “Maybe we can just eat tomorrow,” but finally I thought, “Jay, stop being such a dirtbag and take the girl out to lunch.” Ladies, we all think it, I’m just the only one who has the guts to write it.
I tried, I really tried to get to Glastonbury in one shot. Nope, couldn’t do it. I must say, the roads around here are a little tough if you have no idea where you are going. I do use the GPS, but if you have absolutely no idea of what direction you are driving in, it’s very hard to get places. I haven’t been able to “orientate” myself yet. It’s the whole “84″ and “384″ thing that throws me. It seems like there are a bunch of “off ramps” that turn immediately into “on ramps.” Do you know the kind? I don’t think anyone handles them well. I do, but when I am driving on the regular highway and someone is trying to get off one and I am trying to get on one, it seems like we just drive side by side staring at one another until I force them to slow down and I miss the on ramp. I have done this a million times. I did it again today. You think I would learn.
Anyway, I was coming back from Manchester, trying to go to Glastonbury and ended up on the other side of the river. Go ahead Liz, laugh. I know you already are. I am sure you can also imagine my face turning red while I was cursing out all the stupid drivers who caused me to end up in this mess.
We made it to Glastonbury Boulevard at about 4PM. I really wanted to take my lady to Houlihan’s for a late lunch. We turned down the road and I started getting my swagger back. “Oh yeah sweetheart, here we come. I hope your taste buds are turned on because this handsome old man is…what, Houlihan’s is closed? Oh MAAAAAN!!!” We drove past a few other restaurants and finally learned that these places are dinner restaurants, not lunch and dinner ones.
Since we were an hour early, I had a few thoughts run through my mind again, but I won’t put you through that again. We thought that a little food shopping at Whole Foods would help pass the time. I also secretly decided to take her to Max Fish, instead of Houlihan’s. That was my little bit of trickery and deceit. We spent about about a half hour at Whole Foods and the next half hour walking around Somerset Square in the cold. The cold felt really good against my face, strangely enough.
To make a long story short, we ate at Max Fish. Here are a few pics of the event:
Christmas lights on tree
Max Fish in Glastonbury, CT
Inside Max Fish in Glastonbury, CT
Max Fish business card
I hope you don’t mind, but I am going to offer a short review of both Max Fish and Houlihan’s. Here we go…
When my brother and I left Houlihan’s over the Summer, I told him that I just ate one of the best meals of my life. It was really incredible. I went and told Laura about it and have been trying to get her to come back with me ever since. In the meantime, my brother and I went back to the restaurant and basically ate the same meals again. Since they were no surprise to us, the first time may have seemed a bit more satisfying.
This evening’s meal at Max Fish was delicious. There is no doubt about it. After we left and began driving in the car, I started thinking out loud. I thought, “You know, I just basically ate the same thing I ate over at Houlihan’s, but Houlihan’s was half the price. The Ceasar Salad over at Houlihan’s was actually better than Max Fish too. If I want to go out for a beer, I will go to either restaurant, but if I want to eat, I am going back to Houlihan’s. The tables at Houlihan’s were much bigger as well.”
There you have it folks, the strangest restaurant review ever given. And to think, it only took a half hour of reading to get to it.
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