The sky was so blue, the air so crisp that I hung my sheets and towels and a few other things on the line today. When you have the choice of whether to hang laundry outside or dry it inside in a machine, it feels like luxury to take the time to carry it out, pin it up neatly and in a sort of order, and then bring it back when it's dry, folded and sweet-smelling in the basket.
Glen was on his way to Louisiana by the time I got up, of course. He wrote me that he was in a brand new billion dollar truck (NOT A TESLA) with a doctor and a dentist sitting in front of him. "I'm covered!" he said.
I replied, "Where's the psychiatrist?"
I know he's happy and that makes me happy and I've felt quite positive about life in general all day except for everything having to do with what's about to happen and what little I do read freaks me out and reminds me of the orange toddler's first term when I constantly thought, "Well, things can't get any worse," only to find out that the entire four years should have been labeled, How Low Can We Go? because there was no bottom to the baseness and idiocy and cruelty and...well. You know.
Aside from that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?
But in my tiny world things were okay except that I think I had an insanity episode. Not really insanity. Just more like a situation that, when over, I thought, what was I doing? What was I thinking? What was I saying?
Here's what happened: The little strip mall where I pick up my hormones has a few other stores in it. I'd talked to Jessie and she said that the little Indian/Asian store there had some nice things, especially fresh ginger and also, samosas. So I thought I'd just walk down there. I wasn't exactly sure where in the line of shops it was but I passed this place.
Did I do that?
No. I did not.
I started looking at the items he had for sale which, as you can see were few in number and many of them were different forms of the same food, especially those coming from the yam. He also had some fresh yams in a box. Not our sweet-potato yams but an African yam.
"Can I help you find anything?" he asked.
"No, no. I'm just...looking," I said. But he came out from behind the counter and started explaining what different things were to me. Those containers of red liquid down there on the left? Palm oil.
My only knowledge of any sort of African food comes straight from Alexander McCall Smith's series of novels about the Number One Ladies Detective Agency. And yes! Palm oil is very much mentioned! I recognized a few other things from Mma Precious Ramotswe's kitchen. And as he showed me his different products- breakfast cereals, sardines in cans, grapefruit drinks, Ovaltine, fufu, cassava, more yams in different forms, beans, spices, etc., I really got into it. I asked him questions. He answered them all. I told him about my mango tree. We discussed the American diet. ("So much meat!") I told him that I realized that much of the food we southerners eat here has its roots in Africa. He nodded. I mean, it was really fun and I enjoyed it all but I think that at some point, I just became stupid. Like, Mary, shut the fuck up. I believe he may have tired of me. I would have tired of me.
Finally, I bought a packet of spices and another small bag of what he told me were treats made for celebrations, especially Christmas. They were called chin chin. He said he would like to hear what I thought of the spices and the treat so, as soon as I bought the items, I opened the bag of chin chin. I offered him some but he politely declined and I tried some. They were different but somehow familiar too. I asked him if, when he eats chin chin, he thinks about what Christmas felt like for him as a child. He said he did.
Finally, our transactions were truly done and I gathered my courage and asked if I could possibly take his picture for my blog. He had no idea what a blog was so I showed him mine on my phone. I reassured him that I don't make money on it and that I only write it for my pleasure but he very, very politely said that no, he would rather not. I told him that was perfectly fine and it was but I wish I could share his beautiful face with you. He IS very much interested in an online presence and I told him I would give his address. He has recently moved from one location south of Tallahassee to this one.
The business is named Chez Blums International (named for his wife) and the address is 1350 Mahan Drive, Unit B-4.
I truly hope that people who may be homesick for the flavors of their grandmothers' kitchens find their way to him.
And yes, I know. This doesn't sound so crazy but I feel like in trying to show interest and be respectful, I ended up being a little bit ridiculous. Who was this fat old white lady wearing a child's outfit, asking all of these questions, and why? But you know, I wanted so badly to let him share with me what these foods mean to him and how they are part of the place he left behind thirty years ago to move here.
And when I left I got in my car, never making it to the Indian/Asian store, and ate a few more pieces of chin chin, I realized that I had the flavor of his childhood Christmases in my mouth.
Which is really sort of beautiful, in a way.
And now I think I am going to go make a quick soup of all the different leftovers in my refrigerator along with a can of tomatoes. Okay, not all of them. But many. I was going to make a Kung Pao Tofu recipe from the NYT's app but I have so many good leftovers that I need to make use of.
Happy Friday, y'all.
Love...Ms. Moon
P.S. I really want to tell this story.
Magnolia called me today. She asked me if I had grown up in a very small house. Two rooms and an attic. I said that no, the houses I grew up in had not been large but were not tiny.
Hmmm...
She did not want to hear this. She is reading "A Little House in the Big Woods" and was convinced that the book had been written about me because surely when I was a little girl, people had to grow gardens and hunt for their food. Right?
Oh. She was sorely disappointed to learn that no, when I was a little girl we had grocery stores where we could buy our meat and our vegetables and that we had cars and T.V.'s too. No computers, though! And the T.V's were a lot smaller. I said that the times she was talking about were more like a hundred or more years ago, not the sixty-something years ago when I'd been a little girl.
"Oh," she said. "Yeah. I guess you'd be dead by now."
"Yeah, I would be," I said.
Grasping her last straw to float her fantasy on she said, "But all of your dolls were made of corn cobs, right?"
Again I had to tell her that no, we not only had baby dolls like hers when I was little, we even had Barbie dolls.
All of my grandchildren have asked me questions like this which instead of insulting I find charming. August and Levon were shocked to hear that there were roads and cars to drive on them when I was a child, that we did not travel by horse-drawn wagons on paths through the forest.
I wonder what their grandchildren will ask them?
Who knows?
Not me.
How I hope your stately proprietor can make a success of his store.
ReplyDeleteYes. Me too. So much.
DeleteNot crazy or rude, just very interested. Thank you for sharing the encounter. I would love to see a photo of him but understand his reticence.
ReplyDeleteI love how grandchildren think we came off the ark.
I think I just got a little manic.
DeleteSigh.
Yes. Noah made room for us but not dinosaurs. Sad.
Echoing sparklingmerlot here, not at all crazy or rude and he was probably happy to have someone new to talk to about his products. Had a giggle at Maggie's questions.
ReplyDeleteI feel like maybe asking if I could take his picture made him uncomfortable.
DeleteSounds like a great visit to his shop! I am blessed - I live near a littlish bigger town (about 50,000 people?) and it has 6 Asian or International Stores - I have never been in the Filipino one (its on my way into town and I only ever go that way when it seems to be closed), but one I used to go to but got taken over by a very rude man, one is very much instant food central for Asian tourists only, one you are VERY AWARE that you aren't Indian by the glare from the tall Indian gentleman near the counter and the other 2 regular haunts - the Happy Family store because it has EVERYTHING asian, from sauces and tofu skins to noodle varieties you wouldn't even dream of and lollies and softdrinks to blow your mind; and NJs, which is Fijian Indian and the loveliest people you have never met. They have samosa and ginger in several different forms, even the Indonesian Ginger Chewy lollies that are seriously addictive. We get fresh ginger in the supermarkets over here - its grown locally.
ReplyDeleteTallahassee has over 200,000 people and I know of at least three Asian stores. All of them with friendly people working there. I'm sure there are more. I get spices and sesame seeds from them regularly and sometimes other things too. Sounds like you have some great places to shop.
DeleteOur grocery stores carry fresh ginger too.
I hope that gentleman succeeds. I'm glad your grandchildren feel free to ask all kinds of questions.
ReplyDeleteWell, none of them have asked me any sex questions yet which is probably good. We do discuss religion.
DeleteMy daughter when she was doing a project at school asked what it was like when I was young and the Romans were here I told her I couldn't remember and to ask her Gran.
ReplyDeleteHaha! That's great.
DeleteI love those kinds of questions and assumptions from kids. Grandma, what was it like before the invention of electricity?
ReplyDeleteYes! And you know, it was a natural assumption when she read about a family who had to grow and hunt their own food. We grow and hunt and fish for food too. I wanted to tell her that we even had Cheez-Its when I was little but I didn't want to break her mind.
DeleteI love my local Asian store. In Geneva you'd have your Indian store, your Thai store, your Japanese store and so on, but my local one here in France kinda mixes it up a bit and while they are Chinese they are great businessmen and carry a large line of African ingredients too - and like you I have little idea what they are for! I do see quite a few African customers carry whole sacks of rice out but the other ingredients are pretty strange to me. Mind you, being Chinese, they always, always have a whole gaggle of young men asking if you need help carrying your groceries to your car. I'm in heaven when I walk in that store!
ReplyDeleteAnd don't those stores all smell so good? The spices are wonderful. No one around here offers to carry your groceries to the car except at Publix and they offer every time. AND THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE TIPS! I guess that's good.
DeleteTheir grandchildren will probably ask, "Did you live in a time before computers?" And they'll have to say no, in fact, they did not.
ReplyDeleteI think your exchange with the African-food guy sounds perfectly reasonable. He was probably happy for the business and the publicity. I bet he loves telling customers about all his unusual (perhaps to them) products.
You're right- but god knows what people will be using when Maggie has grandchildren and how primitive our technology now will seem to them.
DeleteI didn't give him much business. But he did seem to enjoy telling me about what he ate as a child.
my work children are researching foods of the African diaspora for our black history program and doing lil ted type talks about the culture/food relationship. xxalainaxx
ReplyDeleteI love that! I hope they get to eat some food from the areas they are studying.
DeleteI like your African store visit, and the owner's dignity in declining a picture. I expect he enjoyed chatting with you -- he may not get many customers. I wonder if he ships? He may have potential customers too far to shop in person but interested in traditional African foods.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if over the river and through the woods, the horse knows the way, is responsible for some of the grandchildren ideas! It's hard for them to realize how long the decades are.
I have no idea if he ships. One of his children should help him get an online presence where he could offer that.
DeleteYes. I agree about the song. The book she's reading is a Little House on the Prairie book. Laura Ingalls Wilder no doubt has influenced the thinking of many, many little girls. Maybe some boys, too.
I suspect that he realizes that there will be many people who don't know the products he sells. Educating them will be part of growing his business. Suggest to him that perhaps
ReplyDeletehe make up cards with simple recipes, which will direct customers to spices, etc that he sells. Exploring new food worlds is fun but it is hard to find recipes for food you never heard of.
That's a good idea, Debby. I just looked online and there is a wealth of recipes that call for many of the things he sells.
DeleteMy kids (now 43 and 47) asked me when they were young how old I was when they invented electricity! (I’m almost 74). I think they were disappointed to learn we did have electricity when I was a child.
ReplyDeleteI imagine they are envisioning Thomas Edison inventing the lightbulb in our childhood parlors.
DeleteHey, Mary, I'm glad you shared your link.
ReplyDeleteMy US friend's kids were playing in a river, and her son found an old cassette in the bank. He asked her if it was a civil war relic...
Jo! Hey woman! How are you?
DeleteThat is so funny. Cassette tapes from the Civil War. The guys used to make playlists to listen to when they were loading their muzzles.
It's a beautiful image :) I'm fine thanks, nothing dramatic to report!
DeleteOK, that last bit about your dolls being made of corn cobs made me laugh out loud. My aunt, my father's sister, had a best friend who did live in a two room house with an outhouse.
ReplyDeleteI don't think your encounter with the African was crazy. I think it was , I was going to say sweet but that's not really it. Once you realized you were in the wrong store you took the time to learn about the different foods on offer and the culture behind them. this is something we should all do when face to face with something new. And I'm sure he enjoyed explaining it all to you, sharing it with you because otherwise he would not have done it.
I know. I can just see me loving on a corn cob doll. I would have too, if that had been my only doll option. Luckily, it was not.
DeleteI have lived in a very small house with an outhouse. It was...interesting. I learned a lot.
I think the African man did enjoy telling me about his products. It's like we were telling each other stories about ourselves from the perspective of what we ate as children. I kept thanking him for taking the time and having the patience to explain things to me.
We have quite of few stores that carry foods from different cultures - Asian, Indian, African, etc. in the Naperville, IL area. Since I have DiLs from different countries (China and Rwanda), I have had the chance to eat foods made there that are nothing like my Midwestern Illinois foods. Some I like very much and others not so much but it is always interesting to hear the stories and learn about the ingredients.
ReplyDeleteI think it's so great that your sons have married women from such far-away places and that you get to explore those cultures at least a little bit through the wives.
DeleteA shopkeeper that can talk about the exotic spices he carries is invaluable.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Korean grocery store called H-Mart and I've bought various products and baked goods just to try something new.
I'd likely buy more if someone in the store provided suggested recipes.
Maggie would probably have to ask her great-great grandmother for horse and buggy stories. She might well ask for a family tree.