Dear Feastlings,
I don’t know about you, but around here, the squeeze is being felt. Fuel surcharges are springing up on food and beverage deliveries like wildflowers after a rain, and I’m beginning to assume that everything we order in is being reluctantly squeezed through the Strait of Hormuz, one ship at a time, be it the tomatoes that have doubled in price, the artichokes and refrigerator coils we’re promised each week only to be disappointed, or the Halloumi cheese which is only now occasionally available and which we’ll have to stockpile like so much pandemic-era hand sanitizer and toilet paper.
We’ll continue to behave as if life is, in part, somewhat normal, because relative to the rest of the world and the rest of the country, it nearly is. That said, I regard the shreds of normalcy we may still feel as little more than boiling frog syndrome.
It is normal to feel like we need to keep bringing food out to GAP Ministries every other weekend to help feed people who need food assistance since their SNAP benefits were cut? It is lately. I welcome the normalcy of helping out those who need it, but I can’t say I welcome the normalcy Mac telling every time I drive out there with a hundred and fifty meals that they’ll be gone within an hour or two.
I know that you know I send these emails out to bellyache about my trials and tribulations, but mine pale in comparison to the people I run into at GAP experiencing food scarcity. Mine are still First World problems- the refrigerator coil we’ve been waiting on for a month and change has finally arrived in Tucson, and will be installed on Monday. The halloumi cheese is back in stock and we’re getting it in this afternoon. The lights work and I’ve mailed the electrician a check.
You all continue to join us to celebrate your triumphs and occasions, or to drown your sorrows, and for that, we’re grateful.
So, under the assumption that life is, for many of you, normal enough that you’re as content as a frog in a pot of less-cold-than-it-seemed-like-a-minute-ago water, we continue to keep up with the events you’ve come to expect of us: There’s a wine tasting this Saturday,
and menu of Easter specials this Sunday,
and we’ll head out to GAP ministries again once we’ve made it through Easter. On Tuesday the 7th, the April menu will begin, and on Tuesday the 14th, we’ll welcome Giovanni Triscornia and prepare a menu to accompany the wines he’s brought from Ethica Imports.
And all the while, we’ll keep working on the First World problems we encounter, and we’ll offer you the reward or consolation of food and drink, and we’ll do it to the best of our ability.
Thanks, everyone.
Love,
Doug