Sunday, December 10 – Saturday, December 16
The Week in Consumerism: I work part-time at TJ Maxx, a great place to shop and a great company to work for. And, a great place to watch consumerism and the Christmas holiday collide. My favorite day to work, not only of the holiday season, but of the entire year, is the day after Thanksgiving. The store is busy with people who specifically came out to be be with the crowds and shop. They are happy and we are happy.
That holiday euphoria lasts for a couple weeks. Then people start running out of time, money, and patience. There is always a day when I know the tide has turned and it’s going to be nasty until Christmas Eve closing marks the end of the shopping season and for a week or so after as people come in to return unwanted items. Saturday was the day it turned when I got chewed out by a woman who wasn’t being shown an item quick enough in a packed and bustling department. Merry Christmas indeed.
The Week in Retail: Hours are long for retail workers. At my store instead of employess being inside from 7 am till 10 pm, we’re in from 6 am to 11:30 pm. So, it’s not just customers adding to the emotional thrills of the season.
The Week in Inland/Mid-Western Seafood: The closest beach to drive to from Cincinnati is around 9 hours away (Google varies on the answer to the specific beach). Nevertheless, we have seafood restaurants here. I can recommend decent fried fish sandwiches all over town but the fish here but that’s pretty generic stuff. True seafood (oysters, filets, etc.) just isn’t as wonderful as the fish at a coastal restaurant. I love seafood, so I’ll take what I can get.
The new-ish Lobster Bar on Court Street has a small, lobster-based menu. For lunch on Saturday, I ordered a small sized portion of the lobster mac and cheese. It was very creamy, with perfectly cooked spiral noodles, with a bit of spice-bite at the end. Lobster-wise, it was perfectly Mid-West…just enough lobster to remind me how much I need to get back to the ocean to eat a real portion of really good seafood. With a Christmas Ale (didn’t catch the brewery) that had some Christmas spice to cut the richness of the mac and cheese, I had a nice little lunch. I’ll come back and order the Lobster Roll.
The Week in Good: When my microwave finishes cooking, it says “good.” Well, that’s quite an assumption for an appliance.
Nothing Ever Happens on My Street 
i want the whole menu !!! tasty!!