Co-op Membership

I took the plunge -



If the GM writes you, gives you some good information and basically says, "hey, we'd love to have you if you're on the same page as us," I don't think you can get a better invite than that. This morning, on the way to work, I went in and paid up in full. You pay in full, you get a reusable bag for free! To Tim - I hope you read this. Thanks for giving me the information to make me realize that I should have done this sooner - if I see you in the store I'll introduce myself!

As Tim said, you don't have to pay in full though - as you can see on my temporary membership card, the numbers 1-8 are present. This is simply to track how close you are to paying it all off, if you are paying $10 at a time. As long as you are current on payment you will retain the member benefits. You can put members of your household on record as well, which I did.

Generally speaking, I am on the same page as they are. After I had the benefits of ownership properly explained to me, my biggest concerns were alleviated. The new owner package comes with what I think is the best coupon book I've ever seen - numerous products with sharp discounts, or outright free. I think this is great, because to be perfectly honest I'd never consider purchasing some of these items and now I have some encouragement to give them a shot.

I learned something in the LexTalk magazine - the Co-op derives 100% of its energy supply from renewable resources. How excellent is that? Also, as a member you can join the Buffalo Cooperative Federal Credit Union, which I'd definitely encourage. Big banks suck - you're a number and customer service is woeful. At a local bank, or a credit union, you'll be much better off in my estimation. This is consistent with the Co-op philosophy of being as localcentric as possible - the Co-op credit union cycles dollars locally, which is always a good thing.

I think the Co-op has room for improvement. There are a few things that are still not clear to me: for example, there are a number of everyday basic items that you receive a 15% discount on - today I bought milk but the receipt doesn't itemize how much I saved. The receipt gives you an aggregate savings amount at the bottom. I know what I saved, but not on what items. I would like to be able to see exactly how much I saved on the milk, at least a way to differentiate my member only savings. For that matter, I don't know exactly what items are considered "every day basics." How do I find out? Also, I am unsure about how the bulk ordering works and how you go about it - I don't have any information that tells me. Maybe there is something on the site that I missed?

A Special Request, Possibly Unfulfilled

As far as products in the store, I have a pet peeve that drives me crazy. I'm probably pickier than most about what coffee I drink at home - the fact that it is free trade organic isn't good enough. I know I'm weirder than most as to how I brew my coffee at home as well - a drip cone and a grinder are my only tools. The co-op has a fantastic selection of coffee, some of it single origin, but I think the Co-op is missing an opportunity to differentiate itself.

I'm talking about microroasting. I was turned on to this during my last trip to CA, where I learned about small scale coffee roasters that insist on serving only that which has been roasted very, very recently - no later than 8 hours prior to shipment is the standard for Blue Bottle Coffee, where I buy mine. I can get fresher coffee mailed to me from CA than I can here in Buffalo.

I've seen the difference myself, and believe me, the coffee is markedly better. When I receive it in the mail, the aroma coming off the bag is unlike any fresh coffee you'll ever smell - it has a fresh roasted quality that I can't describe with words. I love their Chiapas because it is melange roasted (good luck finding that kind of roast anywhere within 500 miles, it's a lost artform), giving the coffee a quality that makes you think you're drinking a campfire. Getting the same coffee locally, even from the same single origin source (I've done this with Columbian that both the Co-op and Blue Bottle sold), shows me that simply put the local product is inferior. I think that if other coffee lovers smelled this stuff and gave it a shot, that they'd be willing to seek it out, but then again it's possible that I'm the only one in Buffalo this crazy about microroasted coffee.

This can change. I happen to know a guy at Spot who basically told me, "hey, if you want the coffee fresh just come down, we'll pull the beans right out of the roaster for you." That's great for me but is of no help to the community at large. Ideally, I wish the Co-op roasted their own beans and offered microroasted stuff to customers, or at least to members for purchase at select times. If the Co-op had no interest in an in-house setup due to financial or logistical reasons, maybe this sort of thing could be contracted out to Spot, since they already have the equipment.

Maybe it's a far flung dream that won't yield a benefit to the Co-op, but the bottom line is that I think it's sad that the freshest beans available to me have to be bought, packed, shipped and delivered from somewhere else. I've considered buying "green" beans and roasting them at home myself. Maybe it would be the start of a local, small scale budding coffee business that people would be proud of. Am I that crazy?

Adam Lambert: "I'm gay."

America: "We know."

I wasn't going to mention this in my blog, but I felt like I had to because I was disappointed, puzzled and then pleasantly surprised this morning at Sweetness 7.

I go to Sweetness 7 every weekend and have done so practically since they opened their doors. I have promoted it to my friends and pretty much anyone else willing to skip the lines at Spot for what I consider to be a superior product. What I don't like is when I order a drink that is priced $2.00 on the chalkboard, then ultimately get charged $3.50 for it.

I don't know if it was a mistake on the part of the cashier, or that the board is woefully underpriced. I've ordered the turkish coffee twice at Sweetness 7, and twice I've had the kids look back at me with puzzled looks, as if they're not sure how to make it. Combine this with my belief that I just paid double the price for the drink, and you can imagine how I'm feeling. At that point I'm just wishing that I never ordered it and am hoping for the best. Instead, I follow my instincts and let it ride, to what was a beautiful conclusion.

I made the mistake of not making it clear that I wanted my turkish to go. I've never switched from annoyance to wonderment so fast - I was handed a beautiful tray, with a tiny porcelain cup and the ibrik my coffee was made in! All of the sudden, I didn't care that it wasn't to go or that I even got double charged. I sat down like a good boy and enjoyed the hell out of my turkish coffee, then got an oolong tea to go on the way out. NEVER order turkish to go - it's a nice experience.

I don't like being overcharged, nevertheless. If the coffee is$3.50, then fine - at least have it on the damn chalkboard! I'll even go as far as to say that $2.00 is a bargain for a nice coffee experience like that and that I'd pay the $3.50 anyway. Just please, don't make me suspect that as a customer I'm being taken advantage of. I'm a guy that lives directly across the street from Spot, and of all the people in Buffalo it really is a special trip for me to go over to Grant and support the business.

Again, I've been thinking about taking the plunge and becoming a member-owner at the Lexington Co-op. I've debated this for as long as I've shopped there, which started about 8 years ago at the old location on Lexington.

I miss that old, tiny, funky store some days. I've almost forgotten what the corner of Elmwood and Lancaster used to looked like prior to the new construction. In the end though, I think the move was great not just for the Co-op but for the neighborhood as a whole. That was a corner that was effectively dead, and if you look at it now people would probably not believe it.

I have some reservations about what exactly it is I'm getting for my $80. The purpose of the money is obvious - it is a direct contribution to the operating budget, amongst other things. The Co-op used to give a flat 2% discount at the register, which they did away with January 1 in lieu of a new program of dividends and member specific discounts. The dividends are given in "profitable years." By their own admission the Co-op has been profitable only about 25% of the time - I'm not confident at all the business is being run profitably because it's easily illustrated that it hasn't been. Maybe the new store will help that over time, but what's the point in trumpeting a dividend program when it's an open question whether or not the business is actually being run like a business?

They give member-only discounts on around 25 basics, including milk and eggs. Ok, fair enough. On their website they characterize it as "every day low prices" on these items - why not give us specifics on that?

I have a problem with substituting a direct, clearly understood benefit for a nebulous benefit. They sell it as being a great program but I'm not a sucker - business plans illustrated as if they were drawn on a paper napkin are not impressive to me.



I feel like I've just looked at a diagram of quack ecoscience applied to a business model. In the end, I think the major thing the Co-op is relying upon is a sense of altruism from the people who become member-owners. A commitment to the community, so to speak. Sorry, but that's not good enough for me. Is shopping at Wegman's any less of a commitment to the community, based on how they run their business? I or anybody else could take that $80 and put it towards a CSA and achieve the same sense of self-righteousness, but actually see a tangible, realistic benefit. With the 2% dividend, you knew that if you spent a certain amount of money at the store that your initial investment in the store would be recouped. There is no such guarantee with the new plan, and they characterize it as an improvement. As they say in England, do me a favor...

Anybody have experience being a member-owner and care to share for me how you felt about it?

For (e:heidi) and anyone else that is curious -

The place is on the corner of Auburn and West, deep on the west side. This is what you're looking for:



This is facing the West St. side. West is a southbound one way street - you can take Lafayette and go down that way to Auburn, or do what I did, which was to take Auburn and drive the wrong way 20 ft (purely accidental, I assure you) and park in the first available spot near the corner.

This is how it works - basically, when you walk in you'll have some steel grate between you and the cashier, on the right. You pick up your food, and the food is then slotted through a locked Plexiglas window to you. I could see some white bread types being intimidated by this process - if that is you, order delivery because the west side will probably freak you out to begin with. What you'll miss, however, is some really friendly people. The guy in there was great and I'll be back in person many times.

The food: we ordered a lot because we wanted to give people a reasonable sample of the menu. We ordered two entrees and two sides, which quickly grew to include two desserts. I never order desserts when I eat outside of home, but I had to try the flan. They insisted I try the bread pudding as well and hooked me up with that.

For starters, the rolled tacos with salsa, guacamole and sour cream ($2.25).



Hot, crispy, awesome. These are stuffed with beef - they had beef and pizza to choose from... we had the beef. The salsa and guac - oh my god, fantastic. I have to say, this is a nice little side.

Next - a beef pastelillo ($1.75).



Typical - these are on hand and warm when you arrive. It is what it is - quick and cheap fried pocket filled with beef. Not bad, not spectacular.

Next - my entree. Pernil (roast pork) with red beans and rice and fried plantains ($7.95).



I love roast pork - this was succulent without being fatty, had the qualities of roast pork that I enjoy (different textures that ultimately affect the flavor). The plantains came with a dipping sauce which I can't describe perfectly, other than to say it is very much like a remoulade. I love beans like this - as it should be, swimming in the sauce with onions, spices, etc.

Jay's meal - pollo asado (roast chicken) with the same sides I had ($7.95).



A quarter of roast chicken with red beans and rice and fried plantains. Jason struggles with sauces and dressings so he ate the plantains as they were. He loved everything else - in my opinion (and perhaps Jason agrees with me) roasting is the second most perfect method of cooking, behind barbecue.

Desserts - I got talked into it, but I haven't had flan since I was in DR ($2.15).



The custard was as it should be - perfect texture. Loved the flavor. My only nitpick was that I wish the caramel sauce was a little thicker and richer.

And finally - the bread pudding ($1.75).



I might like this better than the flan - definite deeper caramel flavor, with a little denser texture. Caramel and raisin goodness - a nice surprise. Thanks Carmen's!

For me, definitely worth a second visit. They have other items on the menu that are traditional and interesting, including sandwiches (roast pork sandwich!), stews, a couple things I haven't heard of before. The Mexican side of the menu will be familiar to many - I wanted to concentrate more on the Puerto Rican side of things. What I'm most curious about on the Mexican side are the tacos and the burritos.

I've blogged about this before on a couple of occasions and I'm bringing it up again this year, as it is about time for the local CSAs to be cranking out their bounty to the locals.

For a primer or two on what CSA is all about:
Wiki - Local Harvest CSA basics -

I don't know why more people don't do this, particularly you guys and gals that I know in New York and San Francisco (I do suspect CSA is a way of life in the Bay Area), or anyone else who lives in a large urban area without easy access to farm stands. Farmers markets are a great option (any city I visit, this is the first thing I want to know about), but there are a few important advantages to a CSA that I'd like to highlight, or rehighlight if you checked out those links:

a) with a CSA you'll get a better deal over the course of the season compared to retail - beautiful, organically grown produce on the cheap;

b) with a CSA, you're establishing a direct link with a local farmer and you'll know exactly where your food is coming from and under what conditions it is being grown/raised;

c) you are getting food for your money, but what you are really doing is giving these farmers seed money for their yearly operation - you are directly helping to sustain a local farm. To me that's a beautiful thing. They encourage you to go help on the farm as well, which if possible can yield a discount on your share price. I see another benefit to this - to get off of the city block, away from the racket and get out to the land, clean up your soul a bit. It can't hurt if you lead a stressful life and you'd get to know the people growing your food.

I could go on a rant about how I believe that upstate NY should be the east coast's version of the Bay Area in terms of local, seasonable, ethical, sustainable production of food. I'm a true believer - I'm a dreamer in the sense that I think all organic farmers in upstate NY should band together, push, expand and market this concept to the entire eastern seaboard. I'm talking about a new kind of agro-industrial complex whereby the conglomerate isn't an assembly of small numbers of massive farms, but massive numbers of small farms; independent but linked together with marketing efforts, shared information, a shared belief system, common goals - a brotherhood of sorts.

I'm a believer in producing food organically, with an important caveat. If it can be done without the hormones, without the pesticides, without the nasty stuff - it should be done that way. The nice thing is that over the past 5 years organic produce has gotten cheaper, but here is my big caveat with organic food that frustrates me - the basics, milk and eggs, are oppressively expensive. This is a fundamental failure of the movement. Getting together with a CSA can solve this problem (somewhat, anyway) but not all CSAs deal with dairy, poultry and beef.

I'm going to keep my eyes out for alternatives and post about them, if you really want those fresh farm eggs and hormone-free milk. Keep in mind - you can already buy milk and eggs that are practically organic but the farm simply haven't paid the thousands of dollars to the government for the privilege of being certified. (Newer farms starting up and trying to do things the right way often fall prey to this - cash is short and they put the money into the farm, not the bureaucrats). Screw the government - with a little research you can find these products that are "practically" organic, and they'll be cheaper. A local farm near my hometown of Jamestown sells such eggs (naturally raised, free range, chemical-free, etc.) for $2 a dozen. Who doesn't love the charm of a box of multi-colored eggs like that?

Perhaps you've heard of this already. For those of you who have not, Sacha Baron Cohen has one question - "Hey Eminem, how does my ass taste?"



I love this picture. Eminem looks like he's short of breath. What's wrong, bud?

Read more about it here - you'll see some pictures and a video of the stunt.

How gay is Bruno? I think this character has the potential to be even more outrageous than Borat.

The thing about Baron Cohen, which they do point out, is that typically his characters victimize unsuspecting individuals who are not in on the joke. As it turns out, the joke was on all of the celebrities in attendance - Eminem was in on it, complete with a full dress rehearsal.

One of the most iconic Depression-era constructions, the Golden Gate Bridge, turns 72 today. SF Chronicle posted some pictures from many eras of its life -

Paid for at the time with a bond issue, as well as tolls (ostensibly for interest payments - the interest was paid off 38 years ago, but the tolls remain). Another Depression-era construction that is world famous - Rockefeller Center. Paid for entirely by John D. Rockefeller! Still in private hands as well.

Happy birthday to the most beautiful bridge on earth!

My first ever attempt to grow tomatoes starts here -



I went with Brandywine (got 'em at the Co-op - Porter Farms organic eco-'maters) mainly because of the shape and ultimate size of the fruit (beefsteak, and fucking huge - upwards of 2 lbs). Also, it was all they had at 9pm on Saturday. Oh well!

Doing some preliminary research showed me that this fruit is well suited to grow here, since it essentially originated along the northeastern seaboard. (This is an obvious point though, really - after all, they came from a WNY farm). The plants will allegedly grow up to 6-8 feet tall. I'm not sure what the best thing to do would be - indoors or outdoors. I suppose I'm a little concerned about the proximity to the street - this will definitely be done in a 5-gallon pot, or possibly larger, depending on what advice I get. I'm obsessed with making this work - the only thing I didn't consider was the 85-day or so period I'll be waiting until the fruit shows up. In August, I'm going to have the best organic brandywine tomatoes on 700 block of Elmwood, dammit!

Wish me luck. Any and all advice is most welcome.

Oh - what else. Today I spent most of the day alone in solitude, hanging out and enjoying myself. Jay went to see Keane play in Toronto with our bud JV, I stayed behind because this past week exhausted me. Before that, we went to the outlet to get (e:jason) new threads. It's fair to say that I dressed him, with the exception of the nice sneakers he got - he seemed to like the stuff I picked out as we went through, which I would say were bohemian enough for my tastes without completely sacrificing (e:jason)'s good looks and professionalism. Linen shirts and slacks, a nice casual, lightweight blazer, v-neck t-shirt, etc. - as for me, I replaced my well-worn Birkenstocks and really just came for the cruise and to help (e:jason). I read some short stories (which I'm still processing - Murakami is a strange man at times - go read his story "TV People"), ate gelato, had a mucho iced soy chai from you-know-where - overall, a lovely day.

Controversy

(e:jason) mentioning the BBQ article (I forgot that I had forwarded it to him!) has triggered the motivation to go on an old-fashioned rant as you've seen me do in the past.

To wit: (and I do read this paper daily - their food section is the best in America).

"While summer quenchers like light beer and iced tea are refreshing if you're mowing the lawn or tending a hot grill, I want a more robust adult beverage when I sit down to juicy slices of grilled beef or smoky, finger-licking barbecue."

Really? This is war. Thank God that in this country, for now anyway, we still have the freedom of choice. Or if you're me, the freedom of antipathy and excoriation. Let me translate - "While beer and iced tea are okay for the bumpkins who cut their own grass, I prefer a more sophisticated beverage with my BBQ. You know, less rough around the edges and more palatable to my banal sensitivities."

Food writers are generally insufferable. When the article started talking about "interplays" with sauce, smoke, etc. affecting the beverage of choice I had enough.

The Truth

Here's the deal. The food comes first, not the accompanying drink. Anyone that says otherwise is fucking wrong, okay? The fact that the article is titled "Pairing wines with grilling favorites" rather than "Pairing grilling favorites with wines" says it all. Now you certainly may expect to see this kind of thing in an overwhelmingly yuppie city like SF, where more often than not your exposure to BBQ will be in a sit-down restaurant with silverware, a water course, horrifying conversations going on around you and an utter lack of wet-naps.

Drinking wine with your BBQ is best done at home alone, where no BBQ cognoscenti will actually witness what is going on; sort of like your alcoholic uncle nipping from a flask in his jacket when nobody is looking.

Of course this sort of shit goes on in California - there is no reputable BBQ tradition there and the state is full of transients, both legal and illegal. This scenario is going to create a melting pot of theories about food, and let's face it, there is no better region for foodies anywhere in America than the Bay Area. Pair this with the famous wine industry in the area, and you're bound to have experimentation.

This isn't to say that it works, or that it is appropriate, mind you. Pairing BBQ with wine is as crazy a concept as pairing a burrito with wine. Hey (e:jay), do you think that Gramma Mora's last night could have been enhanced with a splash of Beaujolais? The spiciness of the sauce would have really made everything pop!

Fuck me, I can't even handle that in jest - I blame Bartles and fucking James and those 4-packs.

This is what you drink with BBQ if you wish to avoid embarrassment; beer (go easy drinking, you'll enjoy nowt with a stout), iced tea, water, or juice. BBQ is not a high-class endeavor - it is meant to be done amongst friends in a casual manner, out in the backyard with some tunes, green grass, plastic cups, fire, sunsets and the sort of good times our grandparents had.

BBQ is more than food, it's a classic American activity with a tradition that demands respect. Wine belongs just about anywhere other than with BBQ, just like sushi belonging just about anywhere other than a baseball stadium.