Monday, April 12 – Sunday, April 18, 2021
The Week in Pants: Not sure how long it’s been goin’ on, but this week I noticed three pairs of my pants had blown out, or near blown out crotches. I am very sure nothing exciting led to crotch wear and tear, but I was also sure that I should buy some new pants before a disaster happened with me and my crotch and my pants in public.
Pants are tough for me. I’m short. I have a 28 inch inseam. This matters in pants shopping and comfortable bicycle riding, so my inseam doesn’t come up a lot. But this week was pants week and all I could think about was my inseam. I started online, carefully (attempting) to buy the same cuts and styles I already had. That did not work. Suddenly I had all kinds of pants in my apartment none of which I could wear. The new ones didn’t fit, and the old ones were threatening a fashion scandal.
For the first time in well over a year, I went pants shopping, first returning pants that were too long, too small, and in one case too heavy (material is hard to fathom during on line shopping). It took some effort, but I now have pants that I can wear. The pants crisis is averted, for a couple years, anyway.
The Week in 1/2 and 1/2 and 1/2: One thing that needs to come back soon is being able add your own accouterments to coffee. No two people like their coffee the same way, and many coffee drinkers have spent years creating the perfect coffee to cream to sugar ratio. In the Covid era, the cashier does this for me. For the most part it’s fine. But this week I asked for a “dollop” of half and half. This was a fancy coffee place, so I assumed I was good. But a few blocks away when I took a sip, it seemed way to milky. I think I got half half and half and half coffee. It was gross. At work, I brewed kuerig to 1/2 full of my coffee cup and then added the half half and half and half coffee mixture. I had three passable cups of coffee and way to much math. Also, I learned to be VERY careful ordering half and half in the future.
The Week in Brown Bread: Allez Bread has a pretty funny Facebook account that enthusiastically and honestly showcases their wares, especially one-off baking projects that normally are not available. This week they talked about a nutritious and dense German bread, Vollkornbrot, and I high-tailed it into the shop to see what they were talking about. Vollkornbrot is a brown bread, made with rye flour. Allez’s version was studded with sunflower seeds. I bought 1/2 a loaf on my way to work (having thoughtfully thrown some butter and a knife in my backpack). The 1/2 loaf weighed about 3 pounds. When I opened it at my desk, it reminded me of what I called hippie bread of the early seventies, specifically the kind made in a coffee can. I loved it.
The Week in Sure, I’ll have a Cocktail: One of the greatest things about Covid is the new rules applying to getting liquor to go from bars. To my 80 year old Mom’s delight, I have been bringing her a Manhatton from Japps on Main for months. Japps is a bar I very much enjoy. Sitting at the bar on Saturday afternoons, or mid-week after dinner, the place has a low key neighborhood feel, and the bartenders are true mixologists who can ask questions about the type of cocktails you like, and make one that is perfect.
But here I am waxxing nostalgic, because, since Covid, the bar stools have not been in place. This week though, when I went to pick up my Mom’s Manhattan, the bar stools were back. So, sure, I’ll have a cocktail. I sat down and my heart skipped a beat. Molly came over and suggested I try a Remember the Maine, a rye whiskey drink with a hint of absinthe. I did. It was perfect. And I had a great conversation with the woman drinking wine at the next (covid spaced) stool. Man, was that great!
Nothing Ever Happens on My Street 