the Diva Platform

We had to make a quick trip to Pittsburgh this week to attend the funeral of Sir’s dad.  It was a little unexpected, but we were glad we went (and if you need a guy to do a eulogy, I might be able to get one.  Sir’s younger brother did an amazing job and was incredibly cool and collected throughout the speech.  Heck, he even improvised–the priest almost forgot the eulogy, and the brother said he’d hoped divine intervention was playing a role).

I also got to check something off my master “to do” list:  Visit a Giant Eagle.

I’d heard of Giant Eagle grocery stores before, and really, they’re just another grocery chain, with “Giant Eagle” instead of “Jewel” plastered on the Peanuts fruit snacks.  But they’re in Pittsburgh, and I’m not, so visit them, I had to.

I didn’t even think about it until we were on the road, and then I had one of those “a ha moments.”  ”Giant Eagle!  Can we go to Giant Eagle while we’re there.”

The Boy was nice enough to humor me.  ”If we have time and can find one,” he said.

Oh, we found two!

I wandered the aisles, looking at all the East Coast brands that we don’t get in Chicago:  Heluva Good cheese (which apparently is in Illinois–I just don’t buy enough cheese to notice it).  Tastykakes.  Pittsburgh Pretzels.  Herr’s chips.  I loved how the pierogi was enough of a food group to make it on the aisle label, e.g.–Aisle 7: (frozen foods) Entrees, French fries, Pierogies, Pizza, Sweet Goods.  Perhaps they were arranged alphabetically, but I’d like to think that pierogies were a better seller than pizza, therefore getting a better billing on the sign.

I was curious as to why beer wasn’t sold there, and Pennsylvania seems to have some wacky alcohol laws that we didn’t have time to get explained to us.  We wanted to find Three Stooges beer.  We went to a Giant Eagle that advertised “wine and spirits,” thinking that beer was included.  Apparently, to buy beer in Pittsburgh, you need to either go to a bar, or you go to a “beer distributor,” (i.e.–beer store).  We went to the latter and discovered that the distributor only sells cases.  Thank goodness for variety packs!  They didn’t have the Three Stooges, but we did get some microbrew, which we’re looking forward to trying.

Now we have a little bit of Pittsburgh in our house, and it’s kind of nice.  The Tastykakes aren’t horrible, the pretzels are good, and I understand the Giant Eagle just a little bit more.

Mama sent me this story a while back because this is my kind of guy:  Whenever he travels, he goes to the local grocery store because he likes to be able to get some local foods.  On any given day, I do like going to the grocery.  On vacation, it’s on my “absolutely must do” list for a number of reasons:

1. I like seeing how other people live.  Part of this stems from often wondering, “Am I doing life right?”, but it’s also good to know these things for writing reasons–should I want to set a story in Florida, I’m familiar with Publix.  Germany?  Kaufhof and HL Markt and Aldi.  Austria?  Spar, Billa, and Hofer (which is Aldi).  Japan?  Valor.  You get the picture.  I also like going to the movies for that reason.  It’s fun to suddenly have to find an assigned seat or discover that the popcorn is sweet and not salty.
2. I’ve traveled enough to have picked up some favorite foods that I can’t get at home (or can’t get at home without a lot of effort/cash….honestly, I love a Ritter Sport, but they’re about $3 here.  In Germany–well, when I lived there, they were like 50 cents, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were about a buck now.  I can’t bring myself to pay the massive difference very often unless it’s a major treat).  I like getting to buy them when I’m on the road.
3. I like to acquire new favorite foods.  The scale will confirm that.

And this habit of going to the grocery has allowed me to find some cool things.  When we shopped at the ABC in Hawaii, we got introduced to a number of Japanese products, which we could then shop for in Japan (Mmmm…Pocari Sweat!)

I haven’t really told this to the Boy, but I’d like to travel some places solely to go to the grocery store.  This is thanks to being a researcher for a long time.  A consultant asked to research a product or store, so I became massively interested in it for whatever length of time I was doing the research (Mama, who also did research, had the same thing.  When I saw an Eatzi’s opening up in my neighborhood, it warranted an immediate call to her because we’d both researched the place and were fascinated by the concept.  Pocari Sweat’s actually another example of this because I researched stevia, which at the time wasn’t available in the U.S.  Pocari Sweat’s sweetened with stevia.).

If the place isn’t near me and sounds intriguing, it gets on my list of places to go.  I was bummed that we hit California last year at holiday time because I didn’t get the chance to go to a Fresh & Easy, Tesco’s entry into the U.S. market.  I’m dying to go to a Wawa (a large convenience store), a dream I also feel stupid about because I’m sure people who go to Wawa every day don’t think it’s anything special.  Likewise Wegman’s.  And if I get anywhere near Fairfield, OH, I’m going to need a few hours to peruse the aisles of Jungle Jim’s. Look at that place!  They’ve got an Amish products section (including ostrich eggs, when available).  They have something called the Aisle of Inferno!  Award-winning bathrooms!  It even has its own monorail, for cryin’ out loud!  I think Trader Joe’s is a little slice of heaven; Jungle Jim’s is probably something beyond my wildest dreams.

Maybe it’s a silly way to think, but I honestly think that going to the grocery store is one of the easiest ways to expand your world.  Even in the Jewel I’ll find unusual products that are worth trying.  But since our travel budget isn’t getting us far anytime soon, I think I’ll be spending more time exploring the ethnic grocery stores in our city.  There’s Greek, Mexican, Indian, Polish and all kinds of other Asian places that have so many foods to try.  Flavors to explore.  Cultures to learn.