Big Block


Vacation to me is not a place, unless it’s Maine or Highlands or a cruise with unlimited smoked salmon on the breakfast buffet, but simply relaxation. We’ve generally relaxed a few times a year coming to Tallahassee while TJC1C2 are away, to babysit their house and two cats Daisy the Flame Point and Ernest as in Ernest Hemingway. The cry of Ernest is not a meow but a chilling shriek. At the moment he's at the bannister on the mezzanine crouched and waiting to leap on the next gazelle that passes beneath him.

We’ve come here for years, including when Kristen was small, and before Tass and Jeremy had Caroline and Charlotte, and while they went to England to visit friends and Jeremy’s family. We enjoy being here as enforced relaxation: unlike home, there’s no imperative to work in the yard or straighten the house, naught obligatory, nagging chores as in "Don't should on me." Cats have changed over the years, but always warm and loving. 

As a minor bow to health, we do not eat out at night; but when here, our special daily treat is lunch, for which Tallahassee has an assortment of restaurants different to Panama City. One repeat has been Vertigo, where they have a Hellenized lamb burger called the "Greak Out."

There are interesting grocery stores to explore: Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s. We’ve been visiting Fresh Market for years, but Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are new in the past year. Whole Foods is fun for lunch with their interesting buffet, which we did once and ate in their cafe table section -- an eating area is a trademark in all WF stores we've visited. Whether the WF buffet continues to interest will depend on the variety. I don't generally eat mac&cheese but it does look good. Both WF and TJ have fine whole bean coffee selections to please my coffee machine at home. Going to PC with me this time, three cans of coffees never tried before. 

In all three, I browse the wines, but seems like pretty much standardization of wines in large chain stores. Anyone who appreciates an unusual wine selection probably should stick with The Carousel at PCB, I love buying reds there even if I am too cheap to buy the rated ones. Thinking to try box wines, which I first had over 35 years ago in Australia, I bought Black Box cabernet at Sam’s a few weeks back. Decent. Saw the same Black Box at Whole Foods for a third more than Sam’s price, so passed. However, for a fair price, TJ had a Big Block box of Australian shiraz which is not as dark red and memorable as I’ve had in Australia where the reds are classic, but good. I knew it would be good because of the packaging: a large brown box indicating "such a deal and no frills." Evidently straight from vine to box, it's a bit fresh, but fine. As we pass Trader Joe’s on the way home, I may stop for another box. Will it improve if I let it age a dozen years in the plastic bag and drink it on my 90th birthday? Maybe also another box of TJ’s Oatmeal Flakes, a crunchy breakfast or supper cereal. 

For lunch today we’re thinking Kool Beanz Cafe on Thomasville Road. 
What to order? Undecided, but anytime there’s a lamb dish on the menu they get my attention.

TW