A post in which there is shopping to do

I called the doctor's office today to tell them that I had stopped taking the Lipitor, and had no plans to start back.  The doc's nurse, Debbie, called me back to talk to me about it and told me she would talk to the doc and get back with me.  Debbie is absolutely a love.  I like my doctor, but I adore Debbie.  She commiserated with me today, and told me she was supposed to be on a statin too, but had stopped taking it years ago because of the side-effects.  She called me back later and told me they were going to try me on Crestor , despite my misgivings.  I mentioned that they tell you right on the commercial that it makes you crazy and/or suicidal.  She told me the doc said, basically, that the boat had already sailed on crazy (which I had to acknowledge).  I agreed to try it, but told her if I took off buck-nekkid down highway 85 I was blaming them.  She said OK. 

I got the rest of the write-offs done today, but don't have any of them back from my boss yet.  But I lay that down now.  There's nothing I can do about it but wait.  Alan had a hellacious couple of weeks - he's been working all hours, and left early tonight.  Good for him.

I sent the manager at Silver Bay an email today, telling them how much I enjoyed those telish catfish last week, and had a very nice response :)

I'm leaving for Columbia Saturday morning, but I wanted to get some things done tonight on the way home.  It was time to do some shopping.

I started off on the way to Dollar Tree for fancy crackers.  They are just as good as the ones at the grocery store (and probably made at the same place) but they are about half to one-third of the price.  The problem with Dollar Tree on my side of town is that they are next to Ross Dress for Less.  I've been really trying to stop shopping for things I don't need, but Ross is just too big of a temptation.  I picked up some of the great underwear they have in stock right now.  Sadly, by body is no longer compatible with fancy underwear, which is apparently made for skinny people.  The waistbands on Perry Ellis and Ralph Lauren underwear roll over like a politician with a checkbook waved in front of him.  The waistbands on Jockey, however, are human-friendly and stay where the hell they are supposed to stay.  I got two more pairs tonight, and felt pretty virtuous when I a) noticed that they had been marked down; and b) put back a third pair that had NOT been marked down yet (they were a newer color).  At $4 each, they really weren't terribly extravagant.  I looked for Rhonda mugs, but there were no more in evidence.  Those must be truly over now, sadly.  I also looked at their cookware.  I have the big sautee pan in the new eco-and-people-friendly ceramic non-stick, but I need my small pan and regular 9" pan replaced as well.  They had some in stock actually, and at a good price, but some were made in Italy, and the labels were Italian.  They might have been what I wanted, but I couldn't tell for sure.  Then they had some that I really should have bought, but they were brown.  Yergh.  Who wants brown pans?  I rationalized that I didn't need to spend the money anyway. 

I finally actually made it to the dollar store and secured my crackers, but by this time I was hungry, and added some snacks, and picked up some other odds and ends.  I ended up with a basket full, and really thought I had done some damage, but I ended up spending $9.  Which is why we love the dollar store.  Unfortunately, what we hate about the dollar store is the clientele.  I sound like a snob, I know, but really.  I was in line tonight between two crying babies.  Really?  The woman in front of me was having some kind of payment issue, and we waited.  And waited.  The woman behind me was a bitter mill bat, who for some reason decided to tell me all about the air-conditioning in her car (not working), and the fact that she was only in there to get things for an underprivileged mother she knew "to help her out".  Well good for her, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't feeling particularly in the mood to give her the standing ovation she obviously felt she deserved.  I eventually just began slowly turning away from her, completing the circuit just as she finished talking and making no reply.  The guy in front of me was a cute as a bug little young'un though, and wearing clingy shorts.  I enjoyed the view (we were there for a while) until he became somewhat uncomfortable. 

By this time my feet were hurting, but I still needed to go to the Saigon Market.  (Interestingly, it used to be called the Hog Phat market, but I guess someone told them.  Anyway.)  I actually prefer the other Asian market in town, but it closes at 6pm.  That means I either have to break my neck getting there after work, or make a special trip on the weekend.  The nice thing about the other one is that they have a mix of all different types of ingredients for different Asian nationalities.  Saigon caters almost exclusively to Chinese and Thai consumers.  They do have a small Japanese section, but they didn't have what I wanted.  I can buy all the sauces I use at the grocery store, but they are in small bottles and are much more expensive.  I got some rice vinegar, which I use all the time to make refrigerator pickles and such.  They do have the kind I like, but it has gone up in price a good bit.  I also found some ponzu sauce, although it was in smaller bottles and about at grocery store price. 

The problem came in trying to find tamari.  Tamari is a very specific type of soy sauce, and is used in Japanese cooking.  I was sure there had to be some kind of Chinese equivalent, but the English descriptions on Chinese products (even those sold here) is rudimentary at best.  I spent a good amount of time comparing and walking back and forth - there are three different sections in the store where you can buy different types of soy sauce.  I thought later that this was pretty much how it must feel to be illiterate (I am, after all, completely illiterate in Chinese).  I was trying to make out what I wanted from the pictures on the labels, what the stuff looked like in the bottles, and the few words I could make out.

I finally gave up and just went to check out.  I asked the woman behind the counter about tarmari.  She had no idea what I was talking about, but took me out into the store.  She initially thought I meant soy sauce with citrus juice, and showed me that.  That is the equivalent of ponzu, and the bottle she showed me was much less expensive than what I had, so I changed it out for the smaller bottle I had picked up before.  Apparently, though, there is no Chinese equivalent of tamari.  I just got some regular soy sauce.  I'm using more ponzu in my cooking lately anyway, so that was actually probably more useful.  The woman in the store was quite nice and very helpful, especially considering the language barrier, and that I was asking for two Japanese ingredients in a Chinese grocery store.  I'm sure she thought that I didn't know the difference. 

All that accomplished, I was quite ready to get home and eat some supper.  I warmed up some papas and beer (those are just super - if it is my recipe) and had a tomato sandwich in a bowl (yummy).  I topped it off with some blueberries I had picked up this weekend that we hadn't eaten.  I vegged out watching Chopped for a while. 

Marty came on tonight.  Earnest Borgnine just died on the 8th, and I guess they were doing a tribute on TCM.  They aired an interview with him, and then showed the movie.  He won a best actor Academy Award for Marty (his only one), and it is one of my favorite old movies.  The vulnerability he brings to the role is amazing, and I really identify with the protagonist. 

Eventually, though, I knew I had to go to bed.  I flipped over to Big Bang Theory and turned in.