Soon, we will be six months into the work from home thing. Actually, I am now under the "hybrid" model. I go into the office two days a week and work from home the other three. Jamie is full time at home with no end in sight. Cate started Dickinson College 10 days ago from her new dorm room across the hall from her bedroom. But, we are handling it. Understanding, it is not ideal for our daughter's development, we have tried as much as possible to not get involved in solving her problems, we do not expect her at dinner, and we refuse to ask, "How was school today?" I might query with, "How are your classes going?" I think I would have asked the same question via text or on the phone had she been at Dickinson.
Jamie takes some weekends to go off to the mountains with a college buddy where they ride bikes, cut wood, have a bonfire, etc. Then he takes mid-week trips to really obscure places such as the Corning Glass Museum (I won't get into the others). But the important thing is that he is able to get away, stimulate his mind in a different way and most of his trips center around the proximity to a certain grocery store. More to follow...
I do not go anywhere. Maybe three times, I have had drinks with a friend. Last weekend, I planned an outing for all of us to stay at a hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, have massages and a leisurely dinner at the Capital Grille. It was wonderful and much needed.
I am slammed at work. My cyber school went from an enrollment of about 850 at the end of SY19-20 to nearly 1,500 when school started on August 24. This is wonderful for us but I have been in constant interviewing mode for several months now. So, I thought...you can interview from anywhere - so why not go somewhere and work and just spend a few nights on your own. Since all of our trips to Europe and Canada have been cancelled (and luckily, refunded), we have been taking trips like this to work but have a different setting. But this would be the first time that I had done it on my own.
On one of "those" Jamie trips, he discovered the Lake Chautauqua region of New York. After learning how to properly pronounce it...there is no "g" it is a "qu", he could not reconcile that being a native Pittsburgher and a man of travel, that he did not realize that it was only 2 hours from our house. So, we spent a week here in July. Cate found it incredibly boring and I do not blame her. Outside of boating, which was the highlight of her week, there is little else except for anything to do with the lake, which could also mean, looking at the lake, sitting by the lake, maybe kayaking on the lake. Not exciting for an almost 19 year old.
But when I decided that I needed to spend a few days on my own and work from a different location, I landed on, what to me is the perfect lake house. Small - only two bedrooms but a wall full of windows that look out over the lake. A beautiful screened in porch is attached so I can sit outside and not worry about the bugs. There is an outdoor deck, an outdoor fire pit and a dock. In the early mornings, the sun streams in during sunrise. During the course of the day, as I dial yet another number for another interview, I watch water skiers, kayaks and boats go past my workspace. It has a calming effect. That is not to say that I am any less tired at the end of the day, but I am alone, I am looking at the water, it is quiet and it is peaceful.
So, why cook for just me? Why spend the money on things like olive oil, butter, spices and the such, when I am here for only a few days. If you ask the family, for any road trip, the culinary stash takes up more space than my suitcase. But I decided to go light this time. Hence the purpose of my post...Could I move somewhere just because I love the grocery store?
NY has a chain of stores called Wegman's. It is family owned and not located solely in NY. When we lived in DC, we would specifically travel to one in VA about 40 minutes away. Now in PA, there is one in Erie. Jamie and I love a great grocery store and this one is it. I love it mainly for its prepared foods section. I am not a big proponent of prepared foods. During this pandemic, Door Dash or pizza delivery has been used by us about 5 times. But I love a good deli section. I love getting charcuterie and great cheeses and maybe finding something that I cannot find in Pittsburgh. That is really my prepared foods.
So, when Jamie has been travelling, he only travels to NY towns that have a Wegman's and he gets a poke bowl for dinner one night and a small charcuterie/cheese plate for lunch the next day. Given that I did not want leftovers, I stopped by the closest Wegman's yesterday after work and found a small sashimi plate with tuna and salmon and a summer roll with shrimp. Ok - that can be dinner. It was too much for dinner so it became lunch for today as well. Then I landed upon a premade macaroni and cheese. I LOVE Mac and Cheese. How could I resist this? I started to think about the calories? Then I noticed that they published it on the side of the dish. Ummm
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