I live in Seattle,WA and the entire city seemed to have been shut down on Sunday to watch the Seahawks play. There were no cars on the streets, the shops were empty, it was like a ghost town.
Early Sunday morning, way before they started playing I went shopping at Whole Foods. The store was totally focused on the Seahawks. The kinds of food people would eat at tailgate parties and football games were displayed everywhere. The normal cupcakes were covered with green frosting squirted out of a cake decorating tube to look like grass. On top of this sat a sugar Seahawks helmut! The frosting was an inch thick. These looked disgusting, but appropriate for Seahawks fans. Nachos and chips and beer were displayed at every turn. I was looking for Rye Crisp which I was curtly told they didn’t carry. Whole Foods who claim themselves to be the ultimate health food grocery does not carry Rye Crisp! Not only today, but everyday.
All day I was thinking about Vince Lombardi’s quote,” Football is not a contact sport; it is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.” I happen to agree with him. I have never been able to understand the obsession with football or enjoy it at all. In fact, I admit I can’t stand it.
I spent my Sunday writing about ballet history, knitting and cooking. I did my laundry. I had a pleasant and productive day. At about 7 PM when the Seahawks won the game howls literally came from the surrounding houses in my neighborhood. Then firecrackers went off. And, for about half an hour, the neighbors were outside in the blistering cold slapping each other on the backs and congratulating the win while yelling and howling like wolves, toasting each other with beers and setting off fire crackers. It was very loud. They were obviously having a great time and the noise and celebrating continued throughout the night making it impossible to get any sleep. I burrowed down into my two down comforters and put a pillow over my head trying to shut out the noise.
The Seattle area grocery stores had not predicted the rush on all kinds of food due to the Seahawks game. The next day, yesterday, Monday, I went out in the early afternoon and drove into Seattle. The streets were deserted everywhere. Businesses were closed. And when I went to another grocery store, Metropolitan Market, to get my rye crisps and old fashioned stone ground oat meal I found the cupboards to be bare of many generally available items. I wanted to buy turkey pot pies and a certain kind of coffee and bread, and bananas that were ripe enough to eat now, as well, but they were all out! They were out of chicken breasts and bacon, too. All because of the Seahawks! I wanted to stock up on a few things because I could feel snow in the air. I was both tired and hungry and it was all because of the Seahawks! I know why I am not fond of them! People told me the streets were deserted and people were not out because they were still knocked out from celebrating the Seahawks win.
I was cold. I especially wanted Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate with Marsh Mellows which I like to drink when it is freezing cold out. Whole Foods doesn’t carry that either. Nor do they carry traditional Nabisco Saltine crackers. In fact there are many old standbys in the grocery department that I like to keep stocked in my pantry that they do not sell. As they told me, “We carry other hot chocolates.” I have tried them and they are not as good. Period. Plus they ae lots more expensive. Some foods are wonderful because they are traditional, because they have been around since as far back as you can remember, were served to you when you were a child and were always on hand when you visited your grandma’s house. Metropolitan Market realizes this and usually carries these products. Whole Foods turns of their nose at the vey thought of carrying them.
There is a lot of contradiction going on at Whole Foods. For being a health food grocery store Whole Foods stocks terrible baked goods loaded with too much sugar and frosting. Personally I cannot stand their bakery products. It is hard to find anything there that is not slathered in gooey too sweet frosting. Even 5 and 6 year old children turn them down for having too much frosting on them! If you cannot get a 6 year old boy to eat a pasty because it has too much frosting on it you know it has got to be bad! They are always out of croissants too. And that is inexcusable.
I picked up onions, squash, parsley and a box of green grapes. I was not able to get any of the items I wanted to have on hand in case I was snowed in! I stopped by Albertson’s on my way home trying to find Swiss Miss. They were out of it too! This was awful!
Today, Tuesday morning, it is, of course snowing….. and I am wishing I had some good old reliably delicious and undeniable nutritious Swiss Miss! I am a person who happens to need calories for fuel so I am not always trying to avoid them! In fact, just the opposite. I am always trying to hunt them down.
I think that Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate would be an ideal food for the Seahawks for the same reason I like it myself. If they would officially sanction it, the local Seattle grocery stores would surely keep a lot of it on hand! We would not be in this constant dilemma of stores running out of it. Please, Root for Swiss Miss when you go grocery shopping request that the store keep it in stock at all times…….
