"Crêpe Mix"

A correspondent who spends a lot of time in Manhattan wrote in to say he spotted crêpe mix for sale at Morton Williams for $6.99. As he noted, such a mix is "almost all flour."

Stupid things like crêpe mix contribute to people thinking they don't know how to cook. Nothing galls me like pre-made polenta.  (I can make real polenta in 10 minutes using 1 ingredient.) But I admit I can't tell you if cake mixes fall into this category because I never bothered to try making a cake out of real ingredients.

N.B. I use the circumflexes on the word crêpe because in my other role (I resisted saying rôle) as the editor of a society rag, I had to learn how to make one because every other article describes a "fantastic fête.")

Two Grocery Trips Today!

I'm happy about both. First, I went to Compare (better known as "cat pee") to buy a dozen eggs so I could break my $10 bill to do laundry. I paid $1.75 for extra large, which is apparently as good a price as they come for now. I remember paying $1.25 for medium not that long ago.

Later I went to C-Town. I couldn't find the artichokes I like, but they do carry tomato juice now. Just in time for bloody mary season. It's even at the price I like best ($1.79) and now I never have to go anywhere else for it. I bought some and some Fresca and some pasta shapes that aren't usually on sale, including whole wheat spaghetti. I never buy whole wheat, but I thought it might be good with an alfredo sauce. There's also a really good price on ricotta salata ($7.99/lb) but I have a surfeit of cheese so I held back.

Key Food ripped me off again

The pierogies were labeled $2.99. They cost $3.29. I'm breaking up with Key Food for a while.

I DESPISE grocery store violence

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot.

Giffords, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting her first "Congress on Your Corner" event at the Safeway in northwest Tucson, NPR reported.

People are nuts.

Grocery Stores that Rip You Off

I didn't know that Key Food's pricing practices were illegal. I thought they were only mean. But Gothamist clarifies.

The DCA has issued almost 750 charges so far this fiscal year, and found that the most common violation was for a lack of item pricing, which is, according to a DCA press release, "particularly troubling given that nearly one in three times supermarkets got it wrong at the cash register."

 Maybe that's not clear. Maybe it's legal to post one price and charge me another. It still makes me mad.

Publix Pix

A correspondent from Florida submitted these pictures to me as a birthday present. Here, with comments, they are.  They are from the Publix in Wellington. Publix is considered the class act of grocery stores.

I didn't realize it was this easy.

The Village Voice goes to Western Beef and takes pictures of its meaty offerings and passes it off as journalism.

The beef, etc.

I could do that.

Leftovers

Since Christmas, I have eaten nothing but leftovers at my parents' house except for a single meal which was Monday night when I ate leftovers at my aunt's house. Leftovers are my favorite food, so I don't mind. My scale minds though. I've gained 9 lbs last I checked. Fortunately, my waistline doesn't mind because I gained all 9 lbs below my ribs and above my waist.

Understandably, I haven't been going to grocery stores as much. I've looked at the price of long underwear everywhere instead. Target has it for $4, but it's kind of ill-fitting and comes up way too far into the area where I keep 9 extra pounds now. I also got a cashmere sweater for $20 at J.C. Penney that started its life at $100. I got a Woolrich winter coat for $4 at a Goodwill where you buy clothes by the pound. I got oxblood wingtips for $4 at another Goodwill. I got a gold sweater at Old Navy for $10 that will serve me well for the rest of the football and hockey seasons. I am very very fashionable, especially for Pittsburgh's eastern suburbs.

Two More Pics. Then I'm Done.

Today I went to Penn Macaroni, Walmart, Delallo's, Giant Eagle, and Costco. I'm so tired.

 Here's a rare time I push a cart. It was very weird. My parents asked me to drive the cart around to go get seedless grapes. That took me a while because I refused to accept that you needed to buy 4 lbs of them. I was wrong.

Here's an oldie from Giant Eagle. Telling me to use my fingernail would make me nuts.

Disappointing Delallo. Plus Giant Eagle

I've been looking forward to go to Delallo for a while. It sits at the intersection of my three loves: Pittsburgh, Italian food, and grocery stores. It doesn't hurt that it talks to me on Twitter.  What a let down!

 I was still excited when I took this picture. I hadn't yet walked in the door. Inside I found the produce section and was taken aback. They want $2.50 for basil. You get more for $1 at Jesus. They want $1.98/lb for eggplant. It's half that even at Key Food. Ginger was $3.98/lb. That might be better than Giant Eagle, but it's not as good as even Penn Macaroni. Cabbage was $0.69/lb, which is the same as Key Food, but I consider Key Food's price bad. They have an antipasti bar where everything is $8.88/lb. Maybe that's not bad, but at the East Village Cheese Shop, I get grape leaves for $2.49/lb. And that's list price. I don't think they know how to measure and usually give me 2 lbs for $2.49.

The one good price was baccalà. That was $6.98/lb. I don't know if that had a bone in it. There were also some prepared versions available behind the deli counter for $17.95/lb.  Eep! The mozzarella for $4.98/lb wasn't too bad. Eggs were $1.49 for jumbo, which is the best price I know. But when I got to the frozen seafood section, I got positively angry.

 At Food Bazaar, you get a pound of octopus (they call it "pulpo") for $3. THIS IS OVER 4 TIMES THAT! Maybe because Pittsburgh is so far from the sea. I don't know.

 I don't actually know what a good price for cuttle fish is. I do know you'd have to pay me more than $6 to cuddle with fish though.

 I probably wouldn't pick on spelling if I were in Brooklyn. But most everyone in Jeanette, Pa. speaks English as a first language. Also, gourmet prices demand gourmet copy-editing.

 These artichoke hearts made me miss Brooklyn. C-Town told me on Twitter yesterday that a shipment of La Squisita artichoke hearts came in. They go for $1.29 a jar.

So then my brother and I went to Giant Eagle. He had to get 15 gallons of distilled water, so I had time to look around.

First Stop in Pittsburgh: Penn Macaroni

The Megabus dropped me off under the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and my brother was parked right there. It was around 6:30 am, which is when Penn Macaroni opens. That place was packed already! And it was, as they say, "not playin' arahnd."

 The have aisles and aisles of Italian stuff. They have a room of cheeses and deli meats. The prices on the cheeses weren't bad. $6.83 for pecorino romano, for example. (They charge more on their website.)

 This is a pretty good price on these anchovies. It can hold a candle to Key Food and C-Town. In fact, it beats them by about $1. I should have bought them, but I still have to peep Labriola's.

 Here's their pile of baccalà.  I never touched it before today. I expected it to be stiffer.  It was $8.99 for boneless. $7.99 for bone-in. I didn't buy it.

My brother bought 6 bottles of Fernet for $11/each. This isn't Fernet Branca, mind you. It's the weaker stuff. But still, it helps you digest. I saw a bunch of almond paste for $7.99. Limes were 3/$1 and ginger root was $1.99/lb, which is about a good a price as you'll find in this part of the country. Avocados were $0.99 each, which is a lot better than I expected to find. And they had cactus pears, which I have never seen before. It was a good trip.

Then we went to Wal-mart so I could get a loaf of Cellone's Italian bread and some hot pepper rings. I love that bread so much. I got home and ate 3 spaghetti sandwiches. I later ate a ham sandwich. I plan to go to Giant Eagle tonight and get more.

Following, the view of downtown from outside Penn Macaroni.

Last stop in Brooklyn: Key Food

On Sunday I wanted to cook a pork butt so I went to Key Food. It was a bittersweet experience because the prices were good on so many things, but I was leaving for Pittsburgh Tuesday night and couldn't stock up on anything.

I got a pork butt for $0.99/lb. 2 loaves of Italian bread that were still warm when I bought them for $0.99 each. A head of cabbage for $0.69/lb, which is a terrible price, but I didn't want to go anywhere else. And 1.25 lbs of pecorino romano on sale for $4.99/lb. I think I got a half gallon of milk too. It came to an even $22.