Another reason to love P&M Orange Street Market

One of Miss Edith's small gripes in life is that in order to obtain Notarius's preferred coffee -- which isn't merely "preferred," but is in fact the only coffee he will drink in the morning without bitching about how the coffee tastes like ass -- I have to go to Willoughby's downtown, buy sacks of whole beans, and lug them home. I realize this doesn't sound like an arduous task but you must take my word for it that it has become one. There are times when I really just can't make it up the steps easily to the Grove Street Willoughby's, and when the York Street location is Too Far. I don't want to explain. Just accept what I tell you.

So yesterday I was at the P&M Orange Street Market hunting for cleaning supplies -- just a couple of sponges and a new mop head, no big deal -- when I noticed a new item on the shelf in the coffee section: BAGS of Willoughby's coffee. My jaw practically dropped. There were several types to choose from, and they had bags of whole beans and bags of ground coffee. The selection was not, of course, as wide and deep as the selection at the actual Willoughby's stores, but you know something? I did not care. I was thrilled. A small burden has been removed from my life, and that is a sweet, sweet thing, like mocha java with lots of cream and sugar in it.

Thank you, Pino.

Ground Beef: a posting of interest only to those in my immediate area, for which I apologize

Miss Edith is a carnivore -- not an omnivore, I'm sorry to admit, but definitely a carnivore -- and I've been known to make quite a meatloaf. Notarius would live almost solely on meat if he could, I'm sure. So meat -- including ground beef -- is definitely on our shopping list.

In the news recently there's been a lot of huffing and puffing about the safety levels of ground beef. Horrible things have been happening to people eating hamburgers because there are bacteria in the beef, and this is attributed to uncool practices at the beef processing and packing plants. Miss Edith was chatting with a friend about this (yes, on Facebook, ok, I admit it) and she said that she would no longer buy ground beef. It was just a food item that had ceased to exist for her, because she is scared for herself and her husband and her two young sons. I understood her fear.

Well, it didn't immediately occur to me, though it should have, but as it happens in my neighborhood -- and not far from where my friend lives -- there is an excellent little grocery store where the butchering is done in house. They grind their own beef, their own lamb, their own pork, everything. They make their own sausages. While nothing there is kosher, the quality of all the meat is excellent, in my experience, and I would urge people who live in New Haven and its environs to please consider giving the P&M Market their business, at least when it comes to buying meat. The owner of the store, Pino, and I have chatted about how they handle beef, and I have great confidence in the skill of the butchers (who've been doing this for a long, long time; if you need advice on how to cook a cut of meat, they'll talk to you about it) and in the quality of the things they sell.

Again, that's the P&M Orange Street Market, which is on Orange Street just at the intersection of Orange and Cottage Streets, around the corner from Lulu's and next door to that friendly little liquor store where you can always grab a bottle of something decent on the way home.