Stupid days and silver linings.

Maybe if I’d taken into account that today is Friday the Thirteenth before I left the house, I would’ve reconsidered, but I didn’t, and thus we have yet another contender for Stupidest Day Ever, replete with unsuccessful ventures to two H.E.B.s for what I presumed to be the basic staples of red lentils and ginger (neither of which I ever had any trouble acquiring in markedly less diverse Boise, Idaho—and that’s one thing I’ll say for the WinCo I used to go to while living there, for all I’ve reviled that place: their produce selection was considerable, and their bulk bins were fantastic), loading my laundry yet again into a non-functioning dryer, and more close calls than I can count with motorists whose heads and derrieres existed in a proximity far too close for them to safely operate heavy machinery.

I realized something today, friends: H.E.B. is Austin’s equivalent of WinCo and I needs must avoid it forthwith, because the two I visited today (and the commute between them) were almost sufficiently vexing to make me fall clear out of love with Austin, and I like being in love with Austin, dear reader(s). And while I can see the humor in the fact that I had no problem scaring up tempeh at the first H.E.B. I visited this morning, while ginger, for the love of God, ginger, was nowhere to be found (and yes, I realize I should quit my whining and just start eating hamburgers), my blood sugar was, by this point, at a level where my reaction was more along the lines of W.T. and his good friend F. than hahahaha.

But! My grocery travails had a silver lining, in that they forced me to venture beyond my pathetically staid trajectory and visit Apna Bazaar, which had red lentils and ginger. Also acquired:

Yellow split peas

Curry powder

Guava juice

Frozen entrees: Paneer Makhani and some chickpea-based dish (not Chana Masala)—because even though one of my New Year’s resolutions was to get back into cooking, and I’ve been doing better with this, life, as we know, is not always—or often—ideal

The bazaar is located in this dingy, depressing little strip mall across from 183. Its drab exterior belies the fact that it contains the world on a silver platter. There’s an Indian restaurant, run in conjunction with the grocery store, an Asian grocery store and restaurant, and Mexican and Cajun restaurants as well. I also noticed some defunct-seeming joint that was evidently once dedicated to some form of Brazilian dance or martial arts (I don’t think it was Capoeira). I must return and visit them all.

Meanwhile, I’m going to make this soup and plot my first-ever visit to San Antonio on Sunday or Monday.

Word count: 40,763 and wondering when you just say, “Look, it’s not working out between us” and throw in the towel