More Bitching, Mostly

That picture has nothing to do with my post this evening. Publix had bouquets of roses on BOGO and I could not resist taking a picture of them. I didn't buy any. I rarely buy cut flowers but grouped together in a large mass, they seemed so luxurious and soft and the colors were fabulous. 
Of course they didn't smell like much. Certainly not roses. Still, I fell in love with them for a few seconds. 

So I made it to town. You'd think we were about to have five blizzards in a row, the way I shopped today. I'm a little manic about making sure I have basics on hand anyway. I've found that shopping at Costco only intensifies this slight obsession of mine. Because of the size of the containers of everything you buy there, when you get down to what a usual size of a product at a regular grocery store would be, you feel the need to go get more of it. 
Oh no! I'm down to a pound of cheddar! And look- we only have half a quart of olive oil! I best get to Costco!
It's ridiculous and also, so very American.

Before I went to Costco and Publix, though, I went to the Food Coop with Jessie. She needed elderberry powder to make a syrup for the kids to help ward off illness. I looked around and realized that the days of the coop are probably severely limited. Now that you can get organic foods at regular grocery stores for far less money, those little wilty bunches of chard for $4.99 don't seem so appealing. Of course they have products that the grocery stores don't have and they also sell things in bulk which I do like. I bought two bags of a type of cracker/chip that I fancy and that was it for me. 

So. Guess what we're having for supper tonight? 
Yeah.
Pheasant. It just means a whole lot to my husband for me to cook what he brings home. It really does. I've looked up recipes and I think I'm going to do a sort of wine, onion, garlic, mushroom sauce with sour cream to cook it in. He, too, had done a little recipe research and suggested an idea he'd found which was to brown the pheasant, then put it in a dish and pour cream of chicken soup on it and then bake it. 
Although I'm sure that would be tasty, it ain't gonna happen in this kitchen. I've picked a bunch of greens and we'll have a salad with it and perhaps some rice. I'll let you know how it comes out. I do know that pheasant is considered to be a prized meat, served on fancy occasions. I hope it lives up to its reputation. 

So it hasn't gotten nearly as cold as it's going to get today. The temperature has been slowly dropping all day long and will be down in the low twenties by sunrise. It rained all night and has been gloomy and windy and cutting-wet cold all day. And then the fun will begin! And by fun, I mean everyone in this part of Florida will be walking around wearing puffer coats and fur-lined boots and moaning about how crazy cold it is. A few weeks ago, I saw that it had gotten down into the sixties in Cozumel and people were going crazy! It's all in what you're used to, isn't it? 

So speaking of Cozumel, here's one of my pet peeves- I faithfully follow a few Cozumel groups on FaceBook because I love the pictures and news but what drives me insane is the number of posts of people who are planning on visiting the island asking the most inane questions. Some of these range from "Where are the best tacos on the island?" to "Where can I find a restaurant where the locals eat?" 
Okay. First off, there must be a hundred places on the island where you can get tacos. I've never had a bad taco in Cozumel. Even the ones at the airport are good. And what kind of taco are you looking for? Seafood? Pork? Beef? Vegetarian? What makes a taco good in YOUR estimation? Should it taste like something your Mexican abuela used to make you back in Phoenix or are you more of a Taco Bell kinda person? 
ARGGGHHH!

And where do the locals eat? Well, here's an idea- take a walk down a street that leads to a neighborhood and when you come to a restaurant that great smells are wafting from and there are lots of local people  eating (and it is usually easy to tell because so many places have outdoor dining), then that's probably a local restaurant. If the menu is only in Spanish- YOU'VE FOUND IT! 
Again. The choices are unending. 

I also cringe at the huge number of people who have looked up the ten-day forecast for the island before their arrival and want to know if when they say it's going to rain, does that mean it'll just rain for a little while or all day? And what will the ocean be like? Or even worse, asking how the weather will be months from now when they've got their vacations booked. Will it be really hot in August? 
What do you think? 

But the questions that bug me the most are the ones that show deep paranoia in the questioner such as, "If we get a taxi from Hotel So-and-So to Beach Club This or That, how much should the fare be? I think we might have been overcharged."

Really? Now I'm not saying there are no taxi drivers that would consciously rip off a tourist but come on! You are on vacation in one of the most beautiful places in the entire world and your main worry is that a taxi ride cost you more than it should have? How much are you spending on drinks every day, sir? How much are you paying per night to stay on the island? How much was your plane fare? How much was the Uber ride to the airport from where you live? 
Again- take a walk in one of the neighborhoods where the waiters and taxi drivers and hotel maids and cooks and shop keepers live and tell me that they're making a fortune scamming American gringos. 
I grew up in a tourist town and saw the way that people from out of town, out of state, acted and it was often appalling. I think I vowed then and there to be a good tourist who showed respect and did not think that the entire town owed them something because they'd spent a lot of money to get there. And never to have the gall to say, "Well, we don't do it like that where I come from." You would not believe the number of people who say this which makes me wonder why in hell that person would even leave the place where everything is done properly and the one and only way it should be done. Please. Don't be my guest. Go home. 

All right. I've gotten that off my chest. I'll probably never be president of my local Chamber of Commerce, will I? 

I guess I better go try to cook some pheasant. Wish me luck. I am definitely going to do my best and perhaps I will learn something from this experience. 

Let's all be cozy.

Love...Ms. Moon