GlossyVeneer

The past two evenings, instead of going straight to the gym after work, I have spent the time entertaining my in-laws, and by “entertaining my in-laws” I mean “going out to dinner with my in-laws”. So while I’m sitting there feeling guilty that instead of working out I’m eating food that I normally don’t eat, my in-laws are relishing the entire experience.

For the past two years, the in-laws have lived in a tiny, remote town in Alaska that is north of the arctic circle. There is one restaurant in their town, a Chinese restaurant run by a Korean couple. Other than that, every food item has to be special-ordered in or picked up at the grocery store for an obscene amount of money. My father-in-law was telling me how he wanted a bag of chips and dip to eat while watching a football game on tv and it cost him $16. So when they come to visit, they definitely make eating part of their plans. They even told me that they are glad that I’m not a daughter-in-law that wants to cook them a fancy dinner when they come to visit because they “want to eat what they want from where they want” when they’re back in the ‘lower 48′. (I agreed with them that I’m glad I’m not that daughter-in-law. After all, it wouldn’t be fair if I cooked them a big fancy meal, but I never cook for my husband, right?)

Back to the subject of eating, we went out for Mexican food the first night they were here. The chips and salsa were brought to the table and my in-laws almost swooned. Once their chimichangas and enchiladas were delivered, it was more entertaining for me to just watch their excitement over this mediocre meal than to eat my own food. Last night, we had to visit a small restaurant that is near the farm auction. I think everything this place serves is chicken-fried. I’m not a big chicken-fried food lover, but my in-laws were so excited to get a chicken-fried steak. My in-laws devoured their food and proceeded to order dessert, which almost sent them over the edge. Wow… a piece of pie…. heaven.

It just struck me as being kind of funny how things I perceive as so ordinary are absolutely luxurious to someone who hasn’t lived around these conveniences for a while. Of course, the in-laws are going to be moving back to the lower 48 in a couple months and they’ll be surrounded by an abundance of restaurants which they may soon perceive as boring. Where they end up moving to still remains to be seen but they are considering moving to Utah, most of their kids now live in Utah. (I would blame the fact that 4 of their 6 kids went to BYU, except my husband and his older sister both live here and they are the two “black sheep” that didn’t attend BYU.)

Both of my in-laws were a little apprehensive about moving to Utah because they said it is too-Mormon, which is kind of true. But my father-in-law did mention that he realized no matter where you go, you’ll be around a group of persons and things about that group may seem weird. So here in Utah, the Mormons seem weird because that group is the majority and they aren’t the majority in other areas, but in other parts of the world a different group of people will be the weird ones. I’m trying to recall who the weird people were when I was a child in the ‘burbs in Illinois; but as a kid, I don’t remember distinguishing between people that were ‘weird’ or not. When I moved to Utah and some of the kids told me I “talked different” from them was when I started separating the weird from the non-weird (in my mind, although the so-called-weird were often more interesting than the so-called-normal). Again, all about perceptions.

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It’s no wonder Americans in general are fat. It’s so much easier and cheaper to buy junk food!

Let me back up a little. I haven’t had much to eat today because I’ve had kind of a hectic day. My in-laws were at my house last night, so I was up this morning trying to get ready for work like usual, but also trying to make sure they have everything they need before I left. So instead of my usual breakfast of cheerios, hard-boiled egg and tomato juice, I just had a cup of Cheerios and was out the door. Then for lunch I had a small salad in between meetings. This was a very minimal salad, just lettuce, purple cabbage, carrots, sesame seeds and a couple of chunks of chicken. Not really an entire meal, but it’s all I had time for. And finally, at 3:30 I was starving and I couldn’t take it anymore so I took a quick walk to get some more food from a nearby convenience store. The store I went to only has three aisles in the store, but it’s definitely the easiest place to get a snack. Here is what is available in the store:

Aisle 1: Soda on one side, candy/gum on the other.
Aisle 2: Cookies, crackers, canned food, hostess goodies
Aisle 3: Chips, bakery cases, nuts
Aisle across the back: Fountain drinks, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, napkins and hot dogs

On the front end of Aisles 2 & 3 there is a small refrigerated case. Contained in that case are bags of fresh fruit, bags of fresh veggies, yogurts and some cheese. Sometimes there are sandwiches, salads and wraps in this case – usually only at lunch time. So out of the entire store, one little section has healthful food.

Anyway, I contemplated buying a candy. But I’ve been really good with the junk food lately and I didn’t want to ruin that. So I went back to the refrigerator case and selected a small bag of grapes.

How much did I pay for my bag of grapes? $1.05.

That’s right — I could have picked up a candy bar for 69 cents, chips for 79 cents, Twinkies or Ding-Dongs for 89 cents and I have to pay 99 cents for the fruit, $1.05 with tax. The vegetables were more, a $1.19. Does this seem right? I almost put my grapes back and got a candy bar because it would have been more frugal. I’m trying to remember when I buy food that it is worth a few extra cents for something that is good for me, but it’s still hard to practice this thinking because I’m so cheap. If junk food cost a lot more than healthful foods, do you think people would buy the same amount of junk?

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