Dog Days

It is the hot part of the summer here. Yesterday was 95 F and I was hunkered down in the basement. Sorry about not posting, but sometimes you just aren't in much of a mood.

I think that the squawking today will be about restaurants and going out to eat. A couple of my friends told me that when it is hot, they always go out to eat because it is just too hot to cook. I approach it differently and just go and buy some cold cuts and bread and we eat sandwiches. It gets even better when the tomatoes ripen and you add sliced tomatoes to the sandwich.

Anyway, lets talk about restaurants. Growing up poor, we didn't have much experience with restaurants. The China Night on 28th was a get dressed up occasion. We would occasionally order out a pizza from the Circle Inn up on the old highway. As I grew up, I added more and more restaurants to my eating habits. Then when I got poor again, I removed them.

But the removal hasn't really affected my life badly at all. I think that when I was in Thailand it hit me after eating out for a week of so that most places really didn't cook any better than I did, and more importantly, most of them are not appreciably better than the one next door. It seems that an important part of any "dining experience" is a certain amount of preening for those around you. Quite a number of folks choose where they eat as an assertion of status, not a good place to get some chow.

The restaurant industry is currently taking a big hit. Folks have better things to do with their money. Displays of wealth are getting more and more passé. I don't think that we will be worse for the loss. Sure, there will be a loss of jobs for young hotties working for tips, and rude waiters will have to become government officials, but we will be just dandy.