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| - I'm not much of a chef. I can enjoy cooking, and especially armed with my annoying vegetarian cookbook, I actually have a lot of fun cooking for other people--even if they don't enjoy eating what I cook.
When I first came into possession of this cookbook, I lived in Cleveland. I don't remember exactly what I was cooking, but the recipe called for escarole. I searched up and down the produce department at the local Dave's, but I couldn't find escarole. Unfazed by my inability to find the proper ingredient at the local grocery store, I drove all the way out to Rocky River just to find escarole.
This might not seem like a big deal to anyone, but at the time, I was a relatively poor volunteer living in a community committed to living simply. It had been a strange year of my life so far; I was, indeed, living more simply (and driving less) than I ever had in my life before, but as is often the case, one tries to substitute vices. So instead of driving too far to work every day or spending too much money on eating out, I decided it was important to waste gas money driving to Rocky River from Cleveland.
That's where Heinen's came in. Being new to Ohio, I didn't know anything about the chain. It seemed nicer than other local supermarket, so I assume it was the equivalent of Gelson's in Southern California. It certainly looked the part. And it was in Rocky River, which was not an inner-ring suburb.
The escarole was easy to find, and the produce person at Heinen's was nice. My roommates enjoyed the meal, although I think they were puzzled by the fact that I had driven so far, spent so much money, and wasted so much time for escarole.
Oh, the prices seemed ridiculously high at the time, but like I said, I was new to Ohio and probably wouldn't have batted an eye at them only a few months before. I know if I saw the prices now I'd think, "Wow, this is cheap compared to San Francisco."
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