Thursday, December 16, 2010

Now & Again...I make the right shopping choice

Yesterday I started Christmas shopping. While out I decided to pick up a new Cuisinart coffee maker and grinder to replace our old ones. Paul and I had already discussed gifting ourselves with these items for Christmas as the quality of the coffee has been going down hill and the grinder has been jamming up lately. While at the store - Bed, Bath & Beyond - I inevitably started seeing other things that I wanted to pick up. I refrained myself for the most part - it is always a challenge for me to visit that store and not pick up unplanned items. I can't help it. I love kitchen tools and appliances. In that store it is like I am brainwashed. Something takes over my mind and I start walking the aisles, eyeing everything, drooling over cake pans and pepper grinders. Suddenly I want a slow cooker - convinced that I would use it everyday. What about that fancy blender? It would be so much better than the one we have (and never use). Anyway, I did allow myself to pick up an unplanned Cuisinart sandwich press (walking out of that store I was like an advertisement for Cuisinart - seriously). I could not resist. It was only $20.00 and in my book that is little to ask for years of delicious, crispy, fast and easy grilled cheese sandwiches. You can make all kinds of sandwiches, but let's face it. The simple grilled cheese is the best. I have always wanted one of these. I like hot sandwiches. I like them crispy and well done. This little device delivers that. We've made several grilled cheese sandwiches since yesterday and they rock. They are seriously the best I've ever had. Just bread and cheddar cheese. Oh, yes, and butter. That is what makes them crispy and delicious against the non-stick hot grill press. Eat them with Maille dijon mustard. Heaven. I am not so sure this was a wise idea given that I've gained like 10+ pounds over the past year and want desperately to lose this weight. Adding grilled cheese to my diet is probably not the way to go. But hey, its the holidays and it will be fun for awhile.


While at the store I also remembered that we do not have enough glass ware. We just don't. We do not have enough large everyday glasses nor do we have enough wine glasses for when we have guests. We are having a little holiday brunch on Sunday for some neighbors and a few friends and we need more glass ware. There I am in BB&B, so why not pick up some glass ware? They are so cheap. It is so convenient. You can get a bunch of glasses for like $10-$20. I look and look and weigh the options. Several types to choose from. I could not decide on which type. I could not buy them. I hated all of those glasses. Those glasses had no soul. Easy, yes. Cheap, yes. But blah. I could not buy them. I just felt that wave of discomfort I sometimes feel with the mass consumption I see, feel, live. I am no where near as good as many of my friends, but I know I am better than many people when it comes to consuming. There I was buying out the Cuisinart appliances, but honestly I didn't feel too bad about that. We use our coffee maker and grinder every single day and the ones we have - several years old - just aren't working like they used to. But glasses. If I was going to buy glasses, I wanted to really want those glasses. I decided I wanted to go to a second hand store to see if we could find some fun glass ware. I knew just the place to check out.


When I was moving out here to Salt Lake City, a friend on Facebook who attended high school with me told me that I should check out a friend of his who has a consignment shop here in Salt Lake. He told me it was called Now & Again. Early after my arrival Paul and I went to check it out. It was a funky little store with great furniture and things out on the street and inside. We introduced ourselves to the owner, Michael. He knew my friend from a long time ago in Philadelphia. Michael had been living in NYC/Brooklyn for many years and just recently moved out to Salt Lake. You know I love having some east coast city folk out here! And what a small world it is. We come to find out later that he is very good friends with an old, dear friend of Paul's. We all end up hanging out together months later at the Utah State Fair where we attend my first demolition derby. We love him - he is super fun. We ended up inviting him to our wedding. He couldn't make the ceremony, but he was able to join the reception. It was great to have him. If you are a friend who has access to our wedding photos - he is the guy in the cowboy hat.


Today we head over to Now & Again to check out the shop, hoping to find glass ware, and to say hello to Michael. Sure enough, we found what we were looking for. Some huge glasses that will be great for sodas and cocktails, and some festive funky wine glasses to add to our normal boring stemware. So we are not contributing to the production of more and more stupid glassware and supporting BB&B. Instead we are recycling and reusing things that already exist, and supporting a small business here in Salt Lake. I LOVE IT. That, to me, is part of the spirit of the holidays. I need to do more of that. I would like to others do more of it too.


If you are in Salt Lake City, check out Now & Again, and be sure to say hello to Michael. Also check out funky second hand store Lava Living in Orem, and be sure to say hello to my sister-in-law Kim.



2 comments:

  1. I love to read your writing. I am a follower of Wendy Hadley's blog and I love it!!

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  2. Thanks Lisa! I am so happy you like reading it.

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