Today I took my mom to the Meating Place! We had been to two estate sales and driven all over Greater Buffalo and I had to get to the Meating Place before it closed so I took her with me. I had to get to the Meating Place so I could pick up the lamb chops Vinnie had packaged up for me for my office cooking club.
The above picture of the Meating Place is cribbed from the Internet. It did not look that sunny in person today. My mother frowned as we drove down Grant Street.
"Is this a bad neighborhood?" she asked.
I said: "Mom, it's the worst."
Which is a terrible thing to say seeing that it is not far from Leonard Pennario's old neighborhood! Well, I am kidding about it being the worst. It really is not that bad. It is just, shall we say, urban. Which my mom is not used to.
At the Meating Place she was going to stay in the car and listen to the end of "Carmen" which was playing live from the Met. But then "Carmen" ended with Don Jose stabbing Carmen and my mother decided to go into the Meating Place with me.
Immediately there was this urban atmosphere. The staffers at the store were yelling at each other at the top of their lungs, never mind that it is a small shop, at least on the first floor where the public goes. There were about 12 different ethnic groups in there, all of them wearing scarves on their heads and dashikis and whatnot.
Then Vinnie, the butcher I love, he went and rewrote the whole recipe I was supposed to make for office cooking club. I am supposed to be making Lebanese Lamb Chops With Lemony Lettuce. But here is where the plot thickens. The recipe says to grill or broil the lamb chops but Vinnie says you should not broil them! He says to roast them at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. Zut alors!
Meanwhile this was funny, the whole time I was talking to Vinnie, I am holding this basket and there is this thump, thump of things falling into my basket. It was my mother who was shopping for cheese the whole time. She loved the array of cheeses at the Meating Place and she was dropping cheese into the basket.
My mom also bought a pound of yeast for bread baking and two kinds of whole-wheat pasta.
I believe next time I go to the Meating Place she just might go with me!
2 comments:
I'm glad to know that there are now at least two people from Snyder who shop at the Meating Place. I thought I was the only one! People "afraid" of the big, bad city are really missing out on the Meating Place-Guercio's-Spar's roadtrip. Your mother can come with us anytime!
Interesting. Meat has not been a part of my diet for years due to its cost. It is considered a waste and an extravagance here. However, the chili I made the other day (New Years) was incredible. But back to the point. The meat (ground beef) I bought for it was in a round plastic wrapper, an looked like a bologna with clothes on. At any rate, I was so proud of myself for finally cooking something again. Last trip to the store, I got three more of those 1 lb. rolls of mystery meat for the freezer! Today, I might cook up some cabbage, potatoes, onions, basil and meat in my one pot. How nice it would be to live with a cook (female) and have someone to feed me and clean up the mess. Years ago, I used to have a dishwasher but, she ran off with another man!
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