You were in Tustin and didn't contact M/tch, Sir Kraab, PDF2PS, myself, and assorted others?
Tustin, CA, heeb.
I'm glad to see you blogging things of practical and metaphysical moment, young Ben. In my extensive experience, there's a wide variation in quality between Whole Foods stores. In fact, during my recent secret travels, I went to a totally crappy one. Bad layout, limited bulk items, no fresh sandwiches, the list goes on!
I didn't even think to look at the bulk selection. But then I was just going shopping with my mom, not actually intending to do a thorough survey of the store. It was the stringy yucca that committed me.
Around here yucca is primarily used to make soap.
Around here yucca is primarily used to make soap.
How silly. It's good. Boil it and plunge it into a pool of garlicky butter. Yum.
A Salvadorean restaurant near where we used to live had a combo plate they called the "vegetarian huanaco" that included some incredibly tasty yucca root.
Tommy makes really good yucca fries.
Why anyone in Austin would shop at Whole Foods, even the Avenger-class flagship store, when Central Market is just up the road is beyond me.
I think I just swallowed my lip ring.
no fresh sandwiches
Whole Foods' sandwiches are pretty terrible. I was pretty surprised by this, I admit, because I'm easy to please, and it seems easy to make a decent sandwich.
Now I want a sandwich.
"vegetarian huanaco"
Vegetarian version of this?
"Tustin" is a ridiculous name.
Bayard Rustin
Sat in Tustin
Eating his curds and whey
Central Market is way better than Whole Foods.
"Tustin" is a ridiculous name.
That's why I liked it. It reminded me of a drunken contraction of Teddy Ruxpin.
11: If true, you'll live, trust me.
Rings really suck for lips, though, even CBR. The only thing I've found to reliably stay in a labret is a fishtail. Except my pair fucked up my gums something awful, so I had to get rid of them.
I've been to Tustin. It's not very interesting.
The only thing I've found to reliably stay in a labret is a fishtail. Except my pair fucked up my gums something awful, so I had to get rid of them.
Just as well. They would probably have started attracting flies.
I've been to Tustin. It's not very interesting.
Oh yeah? Well you aren't very interesting, bitch!!!
If true, you'll live, trust me.
What if it was a cyanide lip ring in case I'm ever captured by hostile apes?
It always sounds so daring and decadent to me when someone casually mentions a grocery store selling alcohol.
hostile apes
Are there any other kind who go about capturing people? Stockholm syndrome, much?
The fact that I am not very interesting is well-known and uncontroversial. I believe the same is true of Tustin.
Part of the excitement of the KaDeWe food floor is that space-wise, it's just the opposite of this WF. It goes on and on, but it's so cramped and twisty-turny, you don't know what's coming next. You go around the next corner, and... 30 barrels of different pickles!
21: Shoulda gone with titanium; all these new metals are just a fad.
Whole Foods' sandwiches are pretty terrible.
They vary a lot from store to store.
The fact that I am not very interesting is well-known and uncontroversial.
I was not aware of this fact. I would dispute it even.
Are there any other kind who go about capturing people?
Sometimes the nice ones get carried away with the bear hugs, and a little tickling is in order, to be released.
28: That's just because you haven't actually met me.
30: Perhaps you, too, just need a little tickling to be released.
Are you suggesting that teo is a damn dirty ape? I'd had no idea.
I've never met him in person. But from his interesting online persona, I've projected apeness.
Are there any other kind who go about capturing people?
Not since Solovar was assassinated.
when I write my "Wittgenstein on Successful Management" book
Ben, you must write this. If you don't start writing in the next year, I will write it.
The strength of the thread comes from the overlapping of many fibres, and that's why you've got to come in on Saturday.
That's a start. Now you need a bullet list of slogans where the first letter of each slogan spells something, like "energy" or "quality"
I can't evaluate its quality as W exegesis but the discussion of the self and the world in Ethics without Philosophy (mostly about the Tractatus and the notebooks whence it comes) would be a good way into having a good attitude and being a team player.
multiple other big-box retailers, none of whom have WF's yuppie cred, but than which WF is no bigger or boxier, just higher-falutin'.
This made me smile like a Grinch ruining Christmas. I love your motherfucking prose style in spite of myself.
You're encouraging him now?
none of whom have WF's yuppie cred, but than which WF is no bigger or boxier
Why the "but?" What sense does that make? Bigger and boxier would diminish yuppie cred, would they not?
"Ethics Without X" is a trend. For Putnam it was without Ontology. Other books are Ethics without God, Sermons, Character Traits, Reasons, and Principles. We're headed toward a lean and mean third-millenium ethics which without tons and tons of various shit.
I'm starting my next book, "Ethics Without Ethnics", right fucking now.
More broadly, X without Y, is always winning formula. Examples: Hartry H. Field "science without numbers" on nominalism; Or the creepy beardy guy who advertised on Bitch's site for a book called "God without religion" (I'm far more interested in "religion without god")
Strength Without Stupidity remains to be written.
Taxation Without Representation!
Am I doing it right?
How many still work when you vary the punctuation?
Raptor Without! Hide!
Ben! I comment without having read any of the comments thus far:
However, none of them will properly clean the yucca they serve you, so that you will find yourself munching on a bit of the little fibrous core that runs through the length of the root, providing its strength*.
Pretty.
Jesus. The last sentence of section 67 of PI makes me fall down on the floor of the tennis court.
I should probably catch up elsewhere.
Ogged is right in 41. It should be "but than which WF is no less big or boxy".
Oh, also, I was misled by the sectioning here, the first place I could find online with the text about fibres and twisting threads. I really meant to refer to this sentence: "And the strength of the thread does not reside in the fact that some one fibre runs through its whole length, but in the overlapping of many fibres.", not this one, which is actually the last one: "One might as well say: 'Something runs through the whole thread—namely the continuous overlapping of those fibres'."
I'm sorry to have written such an error-ridden post, everyone.
I like the real last sentence better, and will be using it in my management book.
Now you're just playing with words, rob.
Oh, also, I was misled by the sectioning
I'm speechless. Don't do it again.
Someone explain this whole "yuppies don't like big boxes" thing to me. What?
The bigger the box, the less yuppie cred. The ideal yuppie shopping experience would be a store that had one incredibly expensive thing in it, like a really, really unusual heirloom tomato, attended by a discreet salesperson in simple but expensive garments. And you'd need a recommendation to get in.
Yuppies dislike big boxes in direct proportion to their resemblance to WalMart, which is where poor people shop.
63: So true. The operative aesthetic is that of the art gallery.
Speaking of which, I walked to Old Town yesterday in the pouring rain (for reasons that remain obscure even to me), and I kept looking for a place to duck in to dry off but I didn't feel like I would be welcome in any of the fancy little boutique galleries and tourist traps. I eventually got to Walgreens and hung out there until the storm passed.
63: So true. The operative aesthetic is that of the art gallery.
Totally misread that as "anaesthetic." First comment I read on the thread, too. Boy did that get my hopes up.
65: the secret of all those boutique galleries is that the people who work there are desperately lonely, and willing to believe that even the brokest looking twentysomething is this close to buying a $15,000 pewter statue of a dolphin fucking a rainbow.
The anaesthetic of the art gallery would presumably be heroin.
67: True, and I don't even look particularly broke. In ordinary circumstances I would definitely go in and look around, and in fact have in the past. The point of the story, though, is that I was sopping wet, and they didn't look enthusiastic about me coming in and dripping water all over the elegantly sparse decor.
The Walgreens people seemed okay with it, though. Score one for big boxes.
Ogged is right in 41. It should be "but than which WF is no less big or boxy"
Ought it not be "nor boxy"?
Speaking of yuppie placed I hate, I finally figured out how to connect to the wireless at Flying Star, so I am no longer restricted to using the internet during work hours.
You all should be ashamed to shop at Whole Foods. Not only do they treat their employees properly, the food is ridiculously overpriced and often not very good. Even in the height of the season, I've never found a decnt tomato.
In New England they try to pass off produce from New Jersey as local.
In Vermont Hannaford's calls peaches from New Jersey Southern.
Not only do they treat their employees properly
Freud returns this slip to sender without comment.
Yes, but my Whole Foods just opened a beer">http://racked.com/archives/2007/08/24/new_beer_room_redeems_bowery_w.php">beer room.
75: Calm down, WD, and type that link again.
73: My local Stop & Shop has much better peaches and tomatoes than the Brookline Whole Foods. Sadly, it doesn't sell vegan chocolate chip scones.
objectvely: I took the "i" out to make it truly non-subjective.
Whole Foods has an iffy beer selection. So does Trader Joes, but at least it's cheap.
Then again, I'm realizing (being back east) what an absolutely unsupportably massive beer snob I've become.
78: you gonna hit that farmer's market at Mrs. Kennedy's Situation in October? Sounds promising.
Beefo Meaty, didn't you just get here? How come you already know everything about all this stuff I never heard of?
Mrs. Kennedy's Situation? Wha??
Sorry, that's what I call the Greenway. I was talking about this.
Which, now that I look at, is just f'in' Haymarket. Way to mess me up with the new name, producemongers.
absolutely unsupportably massive
Maybe you should switch to light beer and hit the gym.
I pride myself on not buying anything at Whole Foods that is available anywhere else, or that is even an expensive version of things available anywhere else. I go to Whole Foods and wander around and maybe I buy something that I've never seen before to see what it is (current selection, Muscatine grapes). Plus some cheese.
If you start buying romaine lettuce and salami and orange juice at Whole Foods, please, don't bother.
Objectvely Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold style.
84: No, it does look like something new, and closer to where I work than Haymarket. I should leave the building once in a while.
85: bet you don't think they should rebuild New Orleans, either.
Honestly, I don't have strong feelings on the matter. I really really miss visiting my friends in New Orleans, though.
Unrelatedly, I'm sitting on my porch and just heard a volley of gunfire in the distance.
Yeah I plan to visit my friend down there and really feel like I should make myself useful, to. Maybe I'll let some New Orleans blogger put me to work or some shit. O, blog ready karma!
That volley of gunfire thing sounds, like, non-optimal. Do you arm your kids?
Only with plastic and foam swords. Durham is famous for its lack of zoning. Projects next to mansion farms and whatnot. As long as it's in the distance and not down the street, it just blends in with the crickets.
They have mansion farms? That must take huge quantities of fertilizer.
Maybe it's the crickets doing the shooting?
I wonder how long until I meet someone who named their kid "Tustin". I give it 5 years, tops.
Any plans to visit Palm Springs?
In New England they try to pass off produce from New Jersey as local.
BG, if it's any comfort to you, in old England they try to pass off produce from Portugal as local. But WF sounds like a very bad place.
they have a zillion varieties of tapioca and rice puddings
Totally unnecessary, as Kozy Shack is the pinnacle of rice pudding. Or the store-brand stuff that tastes exactly like Kozy Shack, and is cheaper. I know this because a friend and I did a taste test.
Kozy Shack really is very good. I make an excellent tapioca pudding myself, but never actually get to make it anymore, for there is no one but me to eat it.
I would eat your tapioca pudding, redfox.
I would eat it right up.
So the trendy urbanized Flash-animated rice pudding is not the world's best?
I remain fascinated by a city so large and interesting that it can support a restaurant that serves nothing but rice pudding.
mcmc, I think that you mean the Brighton store.
The beer and wine guys at the River Street store are very good, and it's much cheaper than Harvard Provision company. State law only allows a single company to operate three stores selling beer and wine, so most of them don't carry it. The main booze guy at River Street has been with the company for more than 20 years and remembers teh Bread and Circus days fondly.
OFE, The regional president is frickin Lord Copper, totally clueless. The UK is now part of the North Atlantric region, and they had a lot of people from Massachusetts go to England to help open the new Kensington store.
In one of the weekly notes Da/ve Lan/non/ said "Welcome Fresh and Wild Team Members... Now that you're part of our region, you all have to be Red Sox fans too."
He then proceeded to write about the value of a certain kind fo Japanese work ethic which encouraged a baseball layer to play with a torn rotator cuff, because then it only hurt when he was swinging--but if he stood out entirely watching the whole game was painful. I shit you not. I sent it to my e-mail account, and can forward it.
Tweety,
It looks like it's operating as something like a farmer's market on NMondays, Wedensdays and Thursdays. Friday's and Saturdays, it's still people selling wholesalers' leftover goods.
The wine and beer section at the River Street store was absolutely awful for my liver and my wallet during the years where I lived literally across the street from the store (including the year while they were building it, which was annoying).
When I moved out to Amherst it was interesting that the WF out there was one of the 3 with a liquor license, but the TJ's wasn't, so we had to pick up cases of Chuck for our cheap-wine fix when we visited Cambridge.
and it's much cheaper than Harvard Provision company
Was this supposed to be in the past tense, or did the Pro start a new life somewhere I don't know about?
Kozy Shack is the pinnacle of rice pudding
...for people who have no idea what good rice pudding tastes like.
The odd part about it is, I can't figure out how they manage to ruin it. It's only got six ingredients--the same six as a proper homemade rice pudding. And yet it is so clearly inferior to homemade.
Upon reflection, I wish to dial back the harshness of my condemnation of Kozy Shack rice pudding. As a substitute for homemade, it has its virtues (I'm thinking of Dr. Johnson, a woman preaching, etc.).
mcmc, I think that you mean the Brighton store.
The one on Washington Street, anyway. I can't figure out where the boundaries are.
Kozy Shack! Too bad I'm on the tomato and peach diet. I would seriously love some tapioca pudding. In fact....
110: Yep, that's Brighton. Once upon a time there was a store in Brookline, but it's long gone.
The River St. store carries (or at least used to carry, or carries when it's available, etc.) Farnum Hill Ciders, which are well worth checking out. One of the consistently best hard cider producers in the region, better even than the very good and more widely available (in southern New England, at least) West County Cider. Farnum Hill's Summer Cider is a very good deal, as is the Farmhouse Cider, but everything I've had from them has been excellent. Haven't tried the Kingston Black, though, even when a salesman at Berman's in Lexington offered me a deal on a couple of bottles he wanted to move off the shelves.
Good lord, I used to go to the Bread & Circus on Washington St. in Brighton. How old am I??
You are in your early 30s ogged. You should check your drivers license more often.
But what does the number mean, helpy-chalk?
early 30s
Wait, early 30s? Aren't you closer to my and B's age?
I was just mulling over that "early 30s." 34 man, 34. It's getting late.
Shut up. I'll be 40 in January, and I just found out I can't even begin to think about buying a decent house.
34 man
Huh. I've been carrying about a misperception for quite some time, grandpa.
I can't even begin to think about buying a decent house.
You could if you lived some place with reasonable housing costs. Like here.
113: ogged, you're probably not that old. It's hasn't really been Bread and Circus since 1992. (The real Bread and Circus only lasted from 1975-1992.) They changed the name of all of the stores from Bread and Circus to Whole Foods in 2003, but it had been WHole Foods for a lot longer than that.
It's hasn't really been Bread and Circus since 1992
That can't be right; I lived around there from '95 to '97. Are you sure?
Name versus ownership. Whole Foods bought B&C in 1992, but didn't go all-out with rebranding them as such until 2003.
Too bad I'm on the tomato and peach diet.
Come again?
SHE SAID SHE'S ON THE TOMATO AND PEACH DIET, HEEBIE.
It's a sexual code, Heebie. If you want to know what "peach" means, look at the Georgia quarter and use your imagination.
The Play-Doh man's beach diet? Sonny, speak up.
At around 34, you start getting forgetful.
At around 39....I don't remember what happens then.
In a couple of months, I'll tell you what happens at 40.
At around 39....I don't remember what happens then.
Ask me at the end of November and I'll let you know.
Ask me at the end of November and I'll let you know.
I learned a few weeks ago, and it's no great shakes. Thenn again, it's pretty much all downhill after 25.
Ok, so I am year older than Apostropher and JL and two months older than BitchPHd.
People keep asking me about turning 40. I could care less. Once you are in your upper 30s, you are old as dirt.
I'm find out in early February. It seems appropriate that i have spent a lot of time recently fretting about my mortgage. Thats a good forty something activity. Next up: an obsession with lawn care!
Rob helpy-chalk:
I'm told that we also have to pick one or two body parts or body functions about which to regularly complain.
Once you are in your upper 30s have kids and a divorce under your belt, you are old as dirt.
134: oh, come on... some people get there by 22.
You could if you lived some place with reasonable housing costs. Like here.
Except that Mr. B.'s job is here, y'see. And by my standards, he earns a shitload of money; I don't even know if there *are* jobs that pay that much in places with reasonable housing markets.
People keep asking me about turning 40. I could care less. Once you are in your upper 30s, you are old as dirt.
I'm the opposite. 30 didn't bother me, 35 didn't bother me, it was all cool. Then I hit 39 and went fuck, that's almost 40, which really is "middle aged." I'm dreading my goddamn birthday.
we also have to pick one or two body parts or body functions about which to regularly complain.
Nooooooooooooo. I'm determined that this not begin until I'm at least sixty, even if it means I have to start an exercise program.
135: And it's an old and beaten 22, I assure you.
The tomato and peach diet: okay, not really, but this summer I pretty much gave up protein and cooking, and am living on tomato sandwiches and fruit interspersed with the occasional egg. I've lost 20 lbs, (and I guess I'm not supposed to care but yay!), but that's partly because my fucking doctor finally increased my thyroid medication by a couple of micrograms. I've decided that rather than complaining about some body part, I will complain about doctors.
In Elgin, N.D. ($34 / mo. buys you a home!) 40 years old is very young!
139: I love irrational dieting. I find my palate gets so picky when I cook for myself all the time that I occasionally need to spend a week eating from a choice of two foods, like cereal or raisins, soup or rice, or (this week's experiment) oatmeal or sushi. I'll be so excited for broccoli omelette when the week ends!
30 didn't bother me, 35 didn't bother me, it was all cool. Then I hit 39 and went fuck, that's almost 40, which really is "middle aged."
God, you people so seriously lack imagination.
Your lives post-40 are going to suck, apparently.
Your lives post-40 are going to suck, apparently.
Or, as noted above, post-25. We're soaking in it.
I thought it was my imagination that had me projecting all sorts of heinous possibilities onto the post-40 thing.
141: The all cereal diet--another classic.
B you're already pretty darn old. Can't imagine it'll change things much.
Yay for lack of imagination! I'm sure that the rest of my life will be *just like it is now*!
Not if you get knocked up again.