I realized at 7:45 PM that I had no milk and no green bell peppers. I power-walked to Pricerite around 8:00 PM and checked out at 8:20 PM. I came home with my week's groceries at 8:35 PM. It took me LESS THAN AN HOUR to shop for this week's groceries.

Do you know how long it has been that it has taken this short a time for me to grocery shop? FOUR YEARS!! I was so happy that I was cackling with delight as I walked home. I think the delight kind of spilled over to weirdness because two ladies out walking crossed the road to the opposite pavement when they saw me cackling into thin air. I also managed to elicit a freaked look and quickened steps from a really tall muscly bloke who walked past.

OH MY GOD! I can't believe this shop is HERE! WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE and open till 9:00 PM and SUCH REASONABLE PRICES!

For a total of $16.47 I bought

Aladdin Whole Wheat Pita - 0.89 Cents!


Five medium sized tomatoes - 1.52lb @ 0.99/lb = $2.13


Five Granny Smith apples - 1.96lb @ 0.99/lb = $1.94


Upstate Farm Fat-free Milk - 1 Gallon = $1.99


Green Beans - 1.52lb @ 0.99/lb = $1.50


Green Bell Peppers - 1.25lb @ 0.99/lb = $1.24


Bananas - $2.13lb @ 0.49/lb = $1.04


Strawberries - 2lbs @ 1.99/lb = $3.98


Green Grapes - 1.80lb @ 0.98/lb = $1.76


I have so sorely missed the convenience of a local affordable grocery. I love it that everything is so organized that finding stuff is a breeze. The produce is really fresh! If you haven't started shopping at this store, you are totally missing what grocery shopping should be like - stress-free, fresh, fast, easy, cheap and above all - walkable!! Pricerite is very <3 HIGHLY <3 recommended!!!! Go and grocery-shop!

---

PS: The OCD inducing rude shoppers are gone and everyone is super extra courteous and sweet. I saw a customer today thoughtfully and very carefully re-stacking all the 10 packs of cheese that she decided not to buy. I crossed over 3 aisles to give her a HUGE smile (that, on after thought, could have been perceived as slightly creepy) and wished her an awesome weekend.

I am completely copying (e:fellyconnelly)'s *really cool** greetings ((e:fellyconnelly,48273)) but here's to (e:Jim)! Wish you a wonderful year ahead, Jim!!


With compliments from (e:James)!

---

*And as you might recall, imitation is the best form of flattery.

(e:Zobar) posted the cool Sony ad and that reminded me of the pure piano verson. I love this song. :)


I realized the notes are very close to Paint it Black - another of my favourite songs.

I can't believe the Stones have been off my playlist for so long. MUST. RECTIFY. THIS.

But before that this version of Les Innocents - Un Homme Extraordinaire always is so awesome to hear!

I will be starting my THIRD year today at (e:strip). That is SO crazy. I didn't expect it all to go so fast! In the two years that whizzed by I have made SO many random friends around Buffalo thanks to (e:strip).

I lived in Rochester for the same span of time. I got to know everyone in my department, a bunch of people around the university and probably around 75% people on my street - most of whom were on wait-lists for some nursing home or the other and were somehow always discussing wood for funeral caskets. Oh, and there was this huge dog named "Useless" (I kid you not!). I was convinced that his sole motive for surviving was to bark at me as loudly as he could, day or night, summer or winter and drive me insane or deaf or both. Before coming here, I thought I would spend my entire graduate life going deaf and off the rocker, cheering waitlist promotions, and of course, debating the finer points of oak versus cedar six feet under.

I can't tell you how surprised I still am that you are all not bargaining casket prices with funeral homes or throwing cake celebrations for the hood, not on your birthday, but on random days throughout the year because your number on the waitlist just went up from 56 to 52 as three blokes in between died the week before. Instead, you are discussing relationships (whoa!), weddings, kids, jobs, sims, food, hiking, rollerblade derbies, zoos and totally wild whatnots! That is a massive and welcome change. I am astonished that you are not decrepit Mr. Jones and that your foot is really quite far away from dangling over a freshly dug-out crypt at Mt. Hope. No one starts a conversation with "Back in the war" or talks about spa benefits at nursing homes.

Maybe I was not in the right part of Rochester or maybe the population there is really quite significantly decrepit. Whatever be the case, I doubt I would have made such a unique bunch of friends (in any new city) in such a short time - almost totally unrelated to school or even the immediate hood! (E:strip) is a complete surprise to me even after 731 days! Yinz ROCK! :)

(e:Heidi) and I went to Merge on Wednesday night and LOVED the whole experience. I recommend this restaurant most enthusiastically.


The food is wonderful and so is the entertainment. Heidi and I must have laughed non-stop for around 2.5 hours after we finished eating. A really funny improv show troupe performed at the restaurant.

Merge has a very friendly art-and-show friendly atmosphere.


Some very interesting sculpture and art on walls keep you busy while you wait for your order.


And the wait is not too long either. We wanted to sample a good range of their food (I intentionally had a light lunch earlier that day) and ordered quite a variety.


The polenta dish came first. I have never had polenta before and this was my introduction. I thought it was a bit bland on the inside. But then, I am not really a bland food person. I get through red onions and chillies by the tonload every week. (e:Heidi) and I agreed that the blandness of the polenta was more than made up for by the tomato sauce and onions accompanying the dish. We were so hungry that we finished most of the polenta before we realized that we had not taken any photos of it! So this was a photo of the last piece. :)


If I were making this polenta, I would probably season it with hmmm... jalapenos or dried red chillies before making the exact dish.

Our waitress was really sweet and never once stopped smiling. She made our dining experience extremely pleasant! She told us that her mom, Katie used to make these for lunch they were little. The panini is called the Katie. It is made with some really nice strong cheese, jicama slices and granny smith apple slices! It was served piping hot and was the most perfect comfort food I have ever eaten.


(e:Heidi) made an excellent choice in the Kale salad that came with the Katie. The Kale was (I think) very lightly sauteed (olive oil?) to a crispy crunchy texture and delicately flavoured with pine nuts and dried cranberries.


We also got the vegetarian lasagna with broccoli and greens.


The lasagna had a sharp sourish cheese in it. I thought the taste was pretty unique and liked it. The tomato sauce complemented the taste.


I have to say that this was the BEST broccoli and greens I have ever had. The broccoli was steamed to crunchy perfection and flavoured with a delicate an almost-soy sauce.


We found out from our delightful waitress (I wish I had asked her name!) that it was flavoured with this cool sauce available at wegmans. She even brought out the bottle and showed it to us. It was such a pleasant change from restaurants that won't tell you anything and leave you guessing. I think I would go back to Merge just because they have such a nice staff! Thank you, Katie's daughter, you made our evening perfect! (Hahaha, that reminds me of Cold Comfort Farm and whole Robert Poste's Child bit. )


I ordered the rice and beans as a side. It was a bit on the bland side but tasty. I would season this with cumin and red chillie powder.


We were not quite full and were ready for dessert. (e:Heidi) and I both ordered chocolate. It was served in a generous sized comfort cup.


I asked for a shot of espresso in mine and stirred it in. It was some wonderful lightly sweet chocolate. When I reached the end, I realized that they had used real chocolate bits to make it - not chocolate powder.


We topped our meal with two really special desserts. A delicious cheesecake with lemony hints and (I think) raspberry sauce?


And an apple pie served warm with rich cream on the side.


I loved this pie, the apples were tart and the pie crust was crumbly and had a hint of cinnamon.


We weren't very sure whether these guys were a rock band or improv artists because I thought I saw an electric guitar earlier.

But it turned out that they were members of the Francis Bacon Improv' troupe.

We were relishing our dessert when this cheerful little stage came to life with really colourful lighting effects. They went through the entire rainbow before they decided on this one...


The improv skits were SO utterly hilarious that we stayed till the very end. I think you need to catch the Francis Bacon improv troupe if you get a chance. They has us in splits the entire time!



Overall, I loved the restaurant. I don't think I have ever reviewed a restaurant in this much detail before. I really want to thank (e:Heidi) for coming out with me and having a rocking time (even though she had an important "hazing" oral argument examination the next day (e:tinypliny,48207)). It was an extremely fun 4 hours. :) We also ran into (e:enknot) at the very end. I wish he had been there before!

It's time you all Merge'd. You won't repent it! :)

---

PS: We took all the pics on (e:Heidi)'s phone! I shamelessly stole them from (e:Heidi)'s picasa and tweaked them with explicit permission. Thanks (e:Heidi)!

PPS: Our bill came to ~$43.03 (+tip). It was really worth it!! (e:Heidi), I owe you $2.00. I miscalculated the tip.

PPPS: (e:Heidi), its been SO SO SO VERY LONG since I have had a 100% unalloyed fun with anyone. I attribute this all to YOU. I am SO looking forward to our next outing already!!