Today’s a good day. It’s all sunny with a mild wind that doesn’t rattle your bones every time it blows, not failing to mention we knocked off at 5pm today because it’s a Sunday. Apparently most places close before 6pm in the area on Sundays, not easily conceivable by someone who grew up in a good o’ industrious Asian society that believes that pure, down-and-dirty hard work is the only key to success.
We went to the only supermarket in the vicinity called Super Fresh to get some groceries, and if you are half as observant as me, you’ll notice most American super/mega-sized stores, apparently also popular ones have names that makes one go “duh”; names like Stop and Shop, Payless Shoes, Super Fresh, Bed Bath and Beyond, Dress for Less… etc.
One postulation is that Americans are so busy killing themselves at work they have no time to appreciate the beauty of a unique and creative shop/brand name.
“Okay my sink’s broken, let’s go bed bath and beyond.”
“Okay I’ve torn my socks but I’ve bust my budget, Dress for Less here we come.”
“Damn I need shoes, Payless shoes sounds good. Who needs to pay more?”
But then again, they knock off at 5pm on Sundays, so here’s the 2nd postulation: Just like how every freakzing diner in the States only serve pizza, subs and fries, Americans love homogeneity. They love the simplicity of mass appeal, and appreciate the fact that these idiot-proof megastores fulfill their needs and don’t require a PhD to understand their functions.
But enough of that. For dinner we wanted to make spaghetti only to find out one of my spaghetti packets was mysteriously missing, very infuriating indeed, particularly when you had already badly defrosted a lump of ground beef (some parts were cooked and the others were cold) and chopped up, tearfully, onions and garlic, and washed the mushrooms. So we decided that the crap instant noodles we bought at Super Fresh some time ago (it’s the only brand we can find in an American supermarket, and it’s ironically called Top Ramen when it’s probably the shittiest instant mee any respectable Asian will ever get to eat.) could be used as a replacement.
We whipped up a maggi spaghetti meal, and very surprisingly it actually tasted good. I think, by accident, we’ve discovered the next-big-thing after maggi goreng.
chew my cud
