1. Seafood
Sometimes I forget that not everywhere in the world has
free access to unlimited salmon, clams, crab, oysters, and so many other
fantastically delicious, healthy and soul-nourishing foods! We picked
up some crab meat from the seafood market downtown today for tomorrow's
crab cake asparagus bennies we'll be creating for lunch. I gasped at the
$29.99/lb price tag because for all of my childhood that I can
remember, I would frequently show up at my grandparents' house and be
handed an overflowing crab cocktail upon arrival, which I would devour
and beg for more as I watched my grandpa dig the meat from the shells of
crab that were very recently alive and stranded in his crab nets. Or
are they cages? pods? The point is, I've been eating crab cocktails and
razor clam chowder and home smoked salmon that someone biologically
related to me personally extracted from the ocean for most of my life,
and that's really something to be grateful for. Despite the fact that
I'm buying it for myself instead of enjoying it on a barstool in Pat
& Don's kitchen, or in a lawn chair under their shady tree out back,
there's nothing shabby about being a few dollars & minutes from
fresh crab cakes.
2. Cooking
I don't mean throwing together dinner because you have
to eat to survive...I mean that moment when the spark is ignited and
you're passionately spinning around the kitchen with 10 different
executions on deck and you start to realize that the dream you pieced
together the hour/day/week prior is coming to fruition and for that
moment, you are untouchable. If you don't know what you're doing, it
doesn't matter in that moment because you're just doing what needs to be
done however you can pull it off, and if you botch everything you've
attempted, you don't know it yet. It's a powerful moment, and it doesn't
show up every night, but when it does, it really makes me question my
desk job! I watched Ryan gracefully power this moment as he prepared our
(phenomenal, btw) Date Night Meal and it was pretty fun to see it from
an outside perspective. Cooking is fun. Really enjoying cooking is
really fun!
3. Online Shopping
I am not an efficient shopper. I average about
an hour a store if I'm not in an enormous hurry and more often than
not, I can't find everything I need in fewer than 4 stores. I refer to
my leisurely weekend trips as Shopping Adventures because it's what they
are. I'm not sure I even want to fathom how much time I would spend in
stores if I didn't shop online as well. I admit that clicking some
buttons and putting a book in your amazon cart is not as charming or
interesting as grabbing a latte and mindlessly browsing about in a
jungle of high rise bookshelves, but it IS cheap and easy, and with free
2 day shipping, it is kind of hard to argue with when there's something
specific you're looking for. I love supporting local businesses as much
as I can, but I also love supporting independent artists, local or not,
so Etsy has become my number 1 choice for quirky tees, kitchen towels,
purses, and even the occasional soy candle.
There are only 3 faves today because it has been a BEAR of a Friday and I
am finally getting very very close to the sweet reprieve only an
Anthony's Happy Hour can offer. Cheers, friends!
1) I too grew up on salmon and razor clams that someone I know had caught (I believe the term is crab pot, by the way.) After moving to the midwest where seafood is hella expensive, not to mention NOT fresh, I gave it up. That was even before I went vegan. Now I really can't imagine eating seafood. I liked it at the time, but I'm past it. I don't want creatures to die for my taste buds.
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3) I just had the most horrendous experience ordering online and now I never want to do it again. I don't care if it is cheaper, I want to go to an actual store (a small one, because malls give me anxiety) and ask them to order me the book I want or the cruelty free finger nail polish remover I need.