A Delectable Experience

Among other things on my to-do list today:  Make a trip into Milwaukee.

First stop (long):

• Visit the orthopedist for a follow-up to my surgery from August '08.
  
• Fill out new paperwork, since the doc is no longer associated with the medical group here in WB
• Wait for the PA to come in for a pre-screening of my "problem" -- basically none.  Just want to discuss removal of hardware.
• Wait for radiology to make three pictures of my ankle.
• Wait for the doc to come in, look at the pictures, and talk with me.
• Discuss with the doc the "pros" (reduction of inflammation caused by hardware irritation; elimination of the discomfort caused by hardware) and the "cons" (possibility, though slight, of re-fracture at site of screw holes; recovery time in boot to protect ankle; time for incisions, one on each side, to heal)
• Decide to have surgery in early December.

Second stop (also long):

• Need some herbs and spices (in bulk) not available locally.
• Never have visited this place before.  It is located on the corner of two very busy streets in Wauwatosa.
• The sales area is small (approx. 15' x 15') and crammed with canisters, bags, boxes, covered with hand lettered signs, sayings, old pictures, stacks of cookbooks.
• It smells W-O-N_D_E_R_F_U_L .
• There are three customers in the store.  One of the customers, "Evelyn," is going to be turning 100 next week.  The owner-sales clerk insists on giving everyone, including me, a piece of candied ginger and we all sing "Happy Birthday" to her.
• When my turn comes I get my arrowroot powder, star anise, yellow mustard seed, cayenne pepper, and rosemary.
• Because I purchase more than $10.00 worth of products I receive a freebie:  Cinnamon Sugar, a mixture of cinnamon and sugar with a cinnamon stick in it.  The owner says that's what they give out as a Halloween treat.
• The label on the jar looks like it was typed on a typewriter, a colored border was added with a red pencil as well as some underlining in the text which reads:

"Kavanaugh Hill Kids Cinnamon Sugar.  Tasty on crisp new Wisconsin apples.  With China Tung Hing cassia cinnamon from the legendary cinnamon forests of Kwei Foo, home of 10,000 spirited cinnamon trees.  (Anna & Sophia & Angela & Teddi for Halloween 2007.)

• After negotiating a Y-turn in a very narrow alley, I nose my way, instead of backing out, into the busy intersection.

Third stop (not too long):

• Grecian Imports.  Here I hope to pick up canned fava beans.
• It is located in a strip mall.  No character to the store whatsoever.  Too many glass show windows.  Too commercial in appearance.
• But the elderly lady sales clerk speak with an accent.  She's arranging table runners and other linens as I come in.  
• The shop is filled with all kinds of Greek knick-knacks, sweets, T-shirts, miniature flags, etc.  
• I head for the grocery area to look for canned fava beans.  They only have the large ones.  Too bad!  I don't buy them, but I do pick up canned chick peas.
• From the deli I get black oil-cured olives and imported Greek feta (in a tub of water).

Fourth stop (and last):

• I arrive at Parthenon Foods.  I've been to this place before.  It is an ethnic corner  grocery store.  It is very small but packed with imported foods from all over Europe, but especially from the Mediterranean area.
• The owner's son is working today.
• They DO have small fava beans.  I buy ten cans.
• I discover that they have harissa in tubes from France!  What a wonderful invention.  You can use a little bit or a lot without the remainder getting moldy so quickly like when you open a can.  I buy two different kinds.
• I also buy two triangles of baklava.

I drive home through the cold rain, happy.  I feel I have been transported back in time or to another culture where everything is not so homogeneous, impersonal, and commercial.  It is good for the soul.