I'm on the couch right now with a glass of Dona Paula Reserve Malbec and Lucinda Williams Radio on my LastFm. (If you haven't yet, do look into lastfm.com. It beats pandora by a mile). For dinner, I had two tofu hotdogs (a lovely pairing with the malbec, I assure you) and some rosemary lemon bread with the first fresh local goat cheese of the season. I am experiencing something near to nirvana at the moment. Spring is in the air. Everything has that fresh dirt smell that makes me itch to get in a garden. Mostly though, I think I'm just happy to be alone and away from work.
Honestly, people were going crazy today. We're between two holidays, which means we're particularly busy, but also it means that people are having to deal with their families and (I assume) the added pressure that comes with family gatherings. Which leads to exchanges like this one:
"Can I help you find anything?"
"No. I want Parmesan but all of these have too much rind on them and I have to cut so much of it off that-"
"Okay."
I said "okay" in a pleasant enough voice, and I was wearing a smile at the time, but I ceased to listen at that point and turned and fled into the kitchen. The thing is, the Parmesan is not more rindy than any real Parm anywhere else. What we have is true blue Parm, organic and imported. It's a DOC cheese, and you pay for the quality. If people aren't interested, they can go to another grocery store and buy the fake stuff. But rind is part of the deal, and most people can put it to good use. So anyway, yeah. I have learned an important lesson from Sven: Do not respond. Do not defend. Do not attempt to answer an unanswerable question. And it's working. She had nowhere to go after she said no, so I just walked off.
Did I mention how fucking delicious this wine is? Honestly. I don't know where it's been all my life.
In other news, I got my review at the Local Restaurant, and Harried Manager had nothing but great things to say. I made a few goals for myself which mostly include learning more about the wine and beer lists and teaching what I know to the staff. He put me in charge of picking the wines by the glass for the restaurant, which is glorious. I went to a huge wine tasting up in Stow3 last week, found a bunch of new things I like, and am moving to get some of them into both the LR and the LG. The wine salesmen seem quite happy to have me on board, which is great. Had another tasting at the restaurant before my shift started on Tuesday (that's where tonight's Malbec came from), too. Difficult to feel like working after tasting fifteen wines. I managed. I get a paid day off on Sunday, but the b.h. has a long and arduous day in store. Since it's supposed to be in the upper 70's, I'll likely take the dogs and go somewhere on a long hike. Monday is the Hold Steady show in Burlington. Woot! Now all I have to do is survive the next two days...
2 comments:
Mm, but when you've put your Parmesan rind in the minestrone as its cooking, you can suck it afterwards. And then chop it up for the chickens to eat.
I served a customer of Al's who asked me to cut the stalk end off the broccoli. I said I would, but I'd still have to weigh it and charge her. She wasn't very happy, but I explained that he buys it by weight, just as she does. Or, in that case, didn't...
Anyway, she said that she always did it in Tesco. I said that was between her and Tesco, but it was the same thing - they bought it by the full weight too.
Mind you - I'm not boring you here, am I? - a friend once airily said that she put her toddler in the seat in the trolley with a bunch of grapes to keep him happy while she shopped. It was evident that it had never occurred to her that she was actually stealing the grapes. And she's a nice woman. You wouldn't count the spoons after she'd been.
Oh, by the way, that lad is now grown up and almost sure to be in our Olympics team in 2012. Which isn't relevant to anything. Ahem.
Well done on your review, that's great.
The rind, the soup- I know!! But this woman did not look like the type to cook her own soup.
The broccoli story doesn't surprise me at all, nor the grapes. People are completely clueless. Every single day I see kids eating apples while they walk through the store, and I know they haven't been paid for. It makes me wonder whether the parents hand the slobbery, half-eaten apples to the cashier when they leave? I guess I'll have to ask a cashier.
Olympics, huh? That's neat!
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