Mail, Marketing, Mortadella, & Music

The image at right is the cover of a bizarre catalog received in today's mail.  It was by far the most bizarre, but a few others were giving it a run for its money.  The "Ballroom Jeans - no OUCH when you crouch" caught my attention immediately. The catalog also boasts tee-shirts that cure "plumber's butt" and that's not all.

Also received another mailing from the AARP, for G*d knows what.  It went into a shopping bag unopened along with their other recent mailings.  The bag is about 1/3 full. As these items are received I write in magic marker "return to sender" and when the bag is full, all the envelopes will be dropped off at the post office for return delivery.  I have asked many times over the years to be removed from all mailings and they have chosen to ignore my request. Aside from being rude, they're wasting the money of their members, but do they care?  I think not.

Spent time this morning contending with the stoopid, which always seems to be in abundance these days, then retreated to do a bit of laundry and cooking.

By mid-afternoon I was itching to get out before the rains came again.  I took a walk around the neighborhood and down to the ocean.  There was a nice breeze and the humidity was high but not unbearable.  On the way home I stopped by a relatively new shop called "Touch of Italy" to check the place out.  I had been told about the place and it was suggested to be the only likely place to find good Italian Mortadella, but whenever I stopped by in the past, they were closed. They were always open after I was at work.

Not today.  Yes, they have a great imported Mortadella with pistachios, a spicy Sopressata, and many other goodies. They even make their own mozzarella cheese on site.  It will be fun to experiment with the many things I found there.  Keeping in mind that I am cooking for one and not a crowd as I used to, means pulling back on the amount of product purchased.  I bought a 1/4 pound of Mortadella, which will yield at least 3 meals.

Note: Tomorrow's lunch will be a Muffuletta Sandwich and my mouth is watering at the thought in anticipation. The other ingredients are lined up, though French bread will be the replacement bread. No matter.  It's all good.

Their prices are reasonable, especially for this area.  Their products would be commonplace in NYC or Philadelphia, but I would have expected prices to be much higher here at the beach.  Happily surprised to learn that is not the case.

Enjoying a few olives and preparing for the work-day ahead, while supper cooks and Barbara Cook sings "It's Better With a Band" to me from the living room. Nice.  Very nice.

And so it goes.
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