The Forgotten Arm

This post was supposed to have been written five days ago and been about these adorable pictures of Piper "helping" us wrap presents and unpack.


Then, there was another three days ago and it was supposed to be about these--my fabulous new shoes. I saw them a store window and I remember my grandmother's story and decided to buy them on the spot. (And they were on sale! Score!) But instead my laptop, Sweet Betsy Ross, was infected with a terrible, malicious trojan and I lost days, yes days, battling the archfiend and you in turn lost two posts. And who knows? Those posts could have changed your life. They could have been the blogging equivalents of Rembrants. And now we'll never know. But, with Sweet Betsy reclaimed and oh-so-virus/adware/spyware/malware-free, we can again move forward.

I have recently been struck with a serious craving for a decent Italian soda. My attempts to purchase the syrup had been stymied and I had resorted to club sodas with grenadine, which are delicious, but not what I wanted. I finally tracked down some down at a world market. It was the right brand (Torani) and the right flavor (Raspberry), but somehow it didn't quite hit the mark. Then yesterday, I was almost knocked over by the sudden desire for passionfruit 7UP. I've been nostalgic for Taiwan lately, so it wasn't terribly surprising. I did a Google search and it just so happened that a very large Chinese market was in Chandler and Paul works in Chandler, so I picked Paul up from work (under the devious guise [can guises be devious? probably not] of picking him up from work) and promptly drove off in the opposite direction. The store was quite large and cheap. It looked kind of like Taiwan and it smelled like fish and durians and sold ground pork which is oddly difficult to find, but while it had the right brand of syrup, it sold only the lemon and grape flavors (or "sap" as the bottle's English proclaimed). So we picked up some pork, Meiji almonds, and choco-pies and left. In the car, I mentioned that there was supposed to be another Chinese grocery store on the same road much closer to home, but I had heard only rumors of it. Paul doesn't really like to be kidnapped and taken on multiple exotic grocery trips (he made fun of my willingness to buy meat there but not at Walmart), so I decided I would go by myself today.

I tracked the other store down (turns out it's brand-new) and set off on a wild adventure through West Mesa. I say adventure because the area is always crawling with cops and seems a bit...um, let's say run-down. (Also turns out the store is part of a big "revitalization" push.) Anyway, it was much bigger than the other store and did in fact have my beloved passionfruit syrup. I also bought some plum syrup, which may have been a miscalculation since I realized after tasting it that I liked plum flavored chicken and sweet potato fries, but neither of those taste like anything one drinks. The flavor was dead-on, though, so maybe I can use it in sauces or marinades.

So here I am, enjoying a lovely club soda with passionfruit in the sun while Aimee Mann's "Goodbye Caroline" plays on the stereo. Is there a better way to spend one's time? Okay, enjoying a lovely club soda with passionfruit in the sun while Aimee Mann's "Goodbye Caroline" plays on the stereo on a white sand beach might be an improvement, but this is pretty darn good.