Drowning at work + Guilty Pleasure

I shouldn't be blogging right now, since there are a lot of important things on my plate. But I need to vent so here goes. I'm drowning! Fielding calls from customers who want to return stuff ("The felt on this hat has some tiny spots on it. We can't sell it."); customers who want to change their orders ("We just opened a new store. Can I double my order?"; an avalanche of calls and e-mails from about a dozen Web design firms because I made the mistake of going online to request bids for a new website; asking one of our warehouse guys to PLEASE not stand on top of the stacks and break his neck; trying to fill out mounds of bureaucratic paperwork from a catalog house that wants to become a client but won't tell me how much of anything they'll buy; staring at piles of to-do-lists and other crap all over my desk (I've moved over to my dad's spot in his absence, and his desk is starting to look like mine. Sorry, Papa, I will clear it up before you return); trying to think of ways to increase sales because we have lots of great stuff for the winter but that doesn't matter if no one KNOWS about it.

Whew.

Guilty pleasure of the day (that I'll admit to): Looking at my blog page stats and seeing how many hits I've gotten. Plus, looking at where those hits are coming from. Today's Google searches that landed people on my page: "chez panisse, "stop bananas from getting overripe," "eating salt and running," and "feline leg injury." I love people.

Observations from a Quebecois supermarket

1. There are numerous butter choices in the butter section, most in generous (ie. huge) foil-wrapped portions. This speaks well of local culinary tastes.
2. Cans of gravy are displayed next to bags of frozen French fries. These are two of the three ingredients needed to make the comfort dish of poutine, which I still am not sure how to pronounce. Last night, I said pou-teen, and I think the server girl said back to me pou-tin. There are no cheese curds - the third ingredient - anywhere in the supermarket though, and I know because I looked hi and lo and even considered accosting an innocent shopper to find out. Turns out it's because cheese curds are very perishable, and need to be eaten within a day of being made. And so this squeaky, mild-tasting delicacy is not only hard to find in such a place as a supermarket, but it is also apparently only to be had in cheese-making towns.
3. Another Quebecois delicacy: cretons. This has been variously translated as potted pork; a breakfast spread made of pork; a food similar to the French rillettes; and the very helpful "cretons."
4. Paté of all kinds is very cheap here. Like $1.50 for a nice-sized chunk. This also speaks well of the Quebecois table.

Traipsing around New England

Day 1. Sundown earlier today in Essex, Mass. Near a very good seafood joint called Woodman's. Tomorrow we set off from the White mountains of New Hampshire, near the Vermont border, and head to Quebec.

In a great mood

I return from a weekend in the Bay Area today to find my quiet residential street closed to traffic and transformed into a giant Labor Day barbecue and block party.

My landlady, Diane, is overseeing one of several grills sizzling with meat, and there are tables set out with salads and fruit under canopies. Small children are jumping in moonbounces and sliding down a big inflatable water slide. Long-haired teen-agers are doing tricks on their skateboards and falling down. A small band is playing. I am greeted warmly and offered food and drink.

Every weary traveler should be welcomed home like this.