Category: backstory

If I lived in Seattle or San Francisco there might be enough fresh and varied produce that I could be a vegetarian or at least eat a little better. But, as it stands, I live in Orlando and although you might think we could be a land of plenty there are only plenty of oranges and grapefruits and the occasional head of hydroponic lettuce. I have searched high and low to find locally grown and organic produce at some kind of affordable price. This weekend I finally found one of my personal grails – a fruit & veg shop.

Normally we do our grocery shopping at a combination of Walmart (for value), Publix (because I hate shopping at Walmart with entire branches of family trees and four carts per person) and Whole Foods (which is also known as Whole Paycheck where they have everything you want but where the prices are sometimes a crime). But this week at Weight Watchers (that’s a story for another day) I heard about a Fruit and Veg stand called Clemons. On Saturday afternoon we checked it out. It was like the heavens opened up and unleashed produce. The variety is good and the prices are great! They had almost everything I was looking for, from tomatillos to onions to beets to radishes. The prices cannot be beat in Orlando. The only thing missing was a good selection of chillies but I am hoping that perhaps they are just out of season. Everything wasn’t locally grown but it did play into the equation.

We went on a bit of a Christmas jaunt last night to visit Celebration, Florida. It is the little town that could. Disney built it ten or twenty years ago in an attempt to create an iconic town that had walkable amenities. It isn’t so much that as the real life Truman Show. It has a perfect little main street with perfect little cobblestones and candy shops interspersed with sidewalk cafes and of course, a Starbucks. The familiar county fair scent of funnel cakes and chocolate dipped rice krispy treats beckoning us and the open doors of the ice cream shop with their air conditioned rush of cool air and a big puff of vanilla and caramelized sugar entice you inside for a waffle cone to share with someone you love.

At 6, 7, 8 and 9 pm on the hour they have you screw your eyes shut and wish upon a star for the impossible dream – snow. By the way, it was 82 degrees yesterday.

But, by the magic vested in Disney they had soap bubbles pumped from the streetlights along Market Street and they faux sneauxed on the hour for ten minutes giving children, and me, great joy.

That’s really what Christmas is about. The joy that we get in our middle from knowing that he God of the Universe came to Earth to experience life and death. He knows where we are at because, in a manner of speaking, he’s been there. Glad tidings of great joy. Remember that joy in the small things even if they are as ephemeral as a soap bubble.

Cook free or die

Anthony Bourdain

You can bury a lot by calling it rustic.

Tyler Florence

Brian has been recently hospitalized for five days and treated for a few stones in his bile duct. It is all part of an ongoing problem called PSC or Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. Basically, his bile ducts don’t work right and are scarred causing a backup of bile into his liver which has cirrhosis. He needs a liver transplant and is on the UNOS list to get one.
If all of that isn’t quite bad enough consider the food he was given to help him get better.
1. Coffee. Forgive me here but is this really at the top of the health chart? It might soothe someone who needs it, ie me. But to someone who suffers from heartburn and is fighting to stay out of pain it isn’t very understandale. I drank every cup they brought him.
2. Carrots. He is allergic. We told them. They brought cooked carrots. They then quizzed me on why he wasn’t eating.
3. Fake mashed potatoes. I don’t really get this other than it must cost less to produce and be easier to make for the several hundred patients. They had a bad aftertaste that was something metallic. Not really home cooking at it’s finest.
On the upside. The rolls, applesauce, jello, salad and popsicles were alright. It’s just that they rarely asked what he would like from one meal to the next. I am sure that in terms of his dietary restrictions they were doing the right thing. Unfortunately they also were trying to just get him to eat under extremely rugged circumstances and feeding him food that was variously overcooked and cold by the time he was able to eat it. I cannot say I’d do better but I do not think I would do worse.