To Recycle or Not to Recycle

Ah, that is the question, isn't it? Monday dawned bright and clear, so I decided that I should head out to the grocery store, with a stop first at our local recycling center. As the recycling bins at home have been overflowing, this seemed like a very good idea.

Okay, the back of the car is loaded. Sadly, this is only a portion of recyclables that need to go out.

Well, what do you know? The recycling center is now closed on Mondays. I tell ya, there's nothing like getting the word out. Oh wait, this was nothing like that. So now I have to drive around with a full cargo area. Rats. And here I thought I was avoiding all of the obscure holidays that the center seems to observe. National Pet-A-Wet-Chipmunk Day?*

*Okay, not really, but you get the idea.

Oh well, but since I am in the area, I think I'll make a stop for a photo op.

The bridge for the Clear Creek Trail is beautiful against the brilliant white snow and the azure sky.

One of the nice things about Bloomington is that people from all over the world come here because of the university. As I have documented from time to time, our community has many ethnic restaurants. That diversity carries over to ethnic grocery stores. One of the larger ethnic markets, Sahara Mart, recently opened a second store near where I shop. I thought I'd stop in while I was out this time.

It was very interesting to just wander around, reading the labels of the different products. This store has everything; from olive oils from Turkey to an entire aisle devoted to bins of coffee beans. They even carry horny goat weed powder and dragon blood chunks. The first is rather self-explanatory, while the second can either be used to cleanse the blood or in voodoo love spells.

As the television ads promised, the entire back half of the store was reserved for wines. Again, I had fun just reading the labels.

And it looks like I brought home some interesting things from the store.

Here I have a bottle of Tvishy wine from Racha, Georgia and a Rosso Barbera D'Asti from Canelli, Italy. I also found a Vanilla Balsamic Cream from Italy and I picked up a package of tabbouleh and a mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich.



This is a big sandwich. Fresh mozzarella pairs beautifully with the sliced tomato and the aromatic basil.

And the tabbouleh was bright and refreshing.

I'm glad I decided to stop in. I know I'll be going back.