Desultory Path to … Back Home

I had a Priority Mail envelope to send to the company in Birmingham that handles my stock purchases. I headed off to Raley’s on Folsom to post it, then do some small amount of shopping. The customer service counter was closed “temporarily”.

I could have driven to the Rosemont Post Office, but the range of other target opportunities was limited. Choosing the Post Office at 48th & J Streets would place me in the neighborhood of Corti Bros., Save-Mart and Trader Joe’s. Alas, that one was closed. The next closest was the Fort Sutter Station at Alhamba Blvd. & P Street. That was open.

It was a bit eerie inside. Those of us in line were separated by a goodly distance. Sheets of transparent plastic hung from the ceiling in front of all of the postal clerks. The transaction being successfully completed, I emerged to a light rain.

The closest grocery store was then the Safeway on the site of the former Alhambra Theater of which Moorish architecture, sadly, little is left. Safeway’s shelves seemed rather fully stocked. Even their flour section had at least some bags of flour, though not the sought after King Arthur Bread Flour. There was a glimmer of hope, however. On a high shelf were two empty boxes that had contained packets of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast. True! They were empty … but there had been some there earlier in the day.

Well, I thought, there are four stores along Folsom Blvd. on the way home. Then I remembered. There is a small gourmet grocery store hidden among the unexplored maze of streets in East Sacramento. Its location shall remain undisclosed. Well stocked with specialty noms, this store did not have King Arthur Bread Flour, nor did it have packets of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast. But, it did have bulk active yeast. By “bulk” I mean that it came in one pound packages. It has been thirty years since I purchased one of these. At one point my corporation had a small laboratory A 22-liter flask was set up to grow yeast to supply the “alcohol fuel industry”. Talk about an ant walking up an elephant’s leg with rape in mind. Our “competition” could produce yeast in 5,000 gallon Pfaudler reactors. There is no way we could compete.

Today, we could compete for “the hippy market” with some fraudulent claims of our product being “organic” or “environmentally sensitive” or “sustainable yeast”, or some such. I have never been involved in such “snake oil” ventures, and I have no intention of starting now.

So, i left our secret store empty-handed. Next was Trader Joe’s. I do not recall them having much in the way of flour. But, they do have some interesting rum and Scotch. Unfortunately, they had bought into the bat-shit madness. There was a queue at the door. We had to stand at marked spaces a certain distance apart. An employee was telling those who awaited that measures had been taken to sanitize carts. Only 30 people would be allowed in the store at one time. Fuck ’em! I left.

Down the street, Save Mart was much more welcoming, but had nothing for which I came.

I skipped Corti Bros. Their customers do not bake their own bread.

That left Raley’s The bulk food area was closed, thus no unprocessed oat bran. They did have chicken thighs, though at the dear price of $1.29/pound. Eggs (which were not on our list) were not available with promises of higher prices due to

unprecedented demand (why?)” No King Arthur bread flour nor Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast, however, I did obtain a quart of skim milk, a half gallon of 2% fat milk and a package of Ibarra Mexican chocolate. Score!!.

As to eggs. cackle berries do not store well. Good luck with hording. There is no sense to the notion that there should be any shortage. If MickieD’s cannot supply you with an Egg McMuffin, why would you run home and cook two or three or four eggs. This entire “shortage” is Media driven (or worse). It is a part of a concerted effort to frighten you, and to make you feel bad about the leadership of your country.