The Happiest Place on Earth?

No, I am not talking about that castle with the talking mouse, duck with no pants, and soaring pachyderm. The location I am referring to is H-E-B. What is HEB? It is a grocery store. I know what you are thinking, "This gal is waxing eloquent about a supermarket? Does this place sell a life?!" No, it does not sell a life, but it does sell Life. HEB is a Texas-based company that was started by the Butt family (yes, that is their name) in Kerrville, Texas in 1905. Since then, HEB has expanded across Texas and even into Mexico. They are committed to serving Texas, both with the food in the store and in the community with camps for lower income families and supporting local events.

But what is it that makes HEB so great? First of all is the HEB brand food. Usually when you buy store-brand products, they can be a little sketchy. But I have yet to find an HEB product that is not comparable or better than a national brand product. For instance, HEB recently began producing their own fresh pastas that include ravioli, tortellini, long pastas, and short pastas, along with sauces. The bakery also has begun to make their own breads, both loaf and artisan, as well as tortillas, all of which are in my shopping cart.

Another great thing about HEB is its produce. HEB strives to attain whatever in-state produce it can get its hands on. This not only helps the Texas farmers, but also means HEB customers can get fruit and veggies that have not spent a week on a semi being shipped from Florida or California. Every time I go this summer, I can get Texas peaches, blueberries, ruby grapefruits, and other produce. The meat and seafood department is also great, especially the butchers and fish mongers. They know what they sell, and will readily suggest ways of cooking, marinating, or grilling whatever it is you want to buy. This is how I ended up with some steelhead trout when I intended to get tilapia.

However, the best part about HEB has to be the people. The people who work at HEB are perhaps the best service people I have ever encountered. They greet you with a smile and are willing to stop what they are doing to help you look for oyster sauce or rice noodles. They are committed to quality. If you notice you put the wrong kind of croutons in your basket, they will run to replace it with the right kind. If you have a passel of children with you, they will grab an extra cart and shop with you if it helps you at all. Every single time they are done bagging my groceries they ask if I need help to the car. This is in no way insulting or degrading to me, they just want to make sure my shopping experience continues to be enjoyable after I exit. Even the security guys standing at the doors are great. They cheerily wave and say "Have a nice day" or "See you soon" when I leave.

I contend that no grocery store is worth going to if you cannot leave happier than when you came. And HEB does that for me. They have everything I want from Kashi cereal to bulk Brazil nuts, freestone peaches to stuffed portobello mushrooms, and they are committed to helping their customers out in whatever capacity. So, that is why I heart HEB.

A Dinner of Tomato

My dinner last night. It was simple, unexpectedly good, and filling. This is not the first nor the last simple, good and filling dinner I have eaten. It simply exceeded all my taste expectations. What was it that I had that prompted me to write about it?

Soup. Yes, you are reading this correctly, I said soup. Soup in the middle of July...in Texas? Yes, hot soup in the middle of July in Texas. It can be done. I did it. The soup, to be specific, was Campbell's Select Gold Label Italian Tomato with Basil and Garlic. I have never been a fan of tomato soup. It has been salty, grainy, and a little bitter. But this tomato soup was rich, light, and a perfect balance of herbs and tomato. Each little box has two servings of one cup each, so you are by no means getting scrimped on how much you eat.

I paired the soup (paired sounds so chef-like and intentional) with some Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits, my new favorite crunchy cracker of choice. These crackers are really good. The pepper creates a slightly spicy pop in the mouth and yields itself to feeling like you are eating a higher end cracker. Yes, there are such things as high-end crackers. I also had some smoked cheddar that I sliced and placed atop the Triscuits.

The soup, the crackers, the cheese. Every item complimented one another in flavor, texture and ease in creation. I am now a fan of the tomato soup, and am willing to try some other Campbell's Select Gold Label soups. If the others are as flavorful and rich as the tomato, I may have to institute a soup night every week.

American History X

American History X is a terrifying movie to watch. Terrifying for is visuals of murder, familial relations, race relations, and hatred. Terrifying at how persuasive Edward Norton, as Derek Vinyard, is in his white supremacist speeches, rants, and actions; not because they are so extreme, which they are, but because as the viewer, you begin to understand where he is coming from. Terrifying in how this film speaks to some of the conditions of our country. No one can trust anyone, and those you do trust may turn on you or not be what they seem.

However, American History X is also a movie that must be seen. It shows the tension on both sides of the black/white racial conflict. It speaks to how, while the US has worked so hard to right this situation, the situation still remains. It shows how we as white Americans cannot fully comprehend the struggles minorities face in America. One of the things the film best succeeds in displaying is how these ideas and motives are born from the people who have influence in your life. Derek was taught to hate blacks through his father, and he then passed that same hatred onto his brother. It was only after Derek murdered two black men and was sent to prison that he began to see the flaws in the white supremacists. While they spoke of not dealing with people of other races, within the prison, those same people were the ones they made deals with. Additionally, Derek is befriended by a young black man who shows him through simple words and actions that hatred only begets hatred. This same point is driven home through one of Derek's former (black) teachers who keeps up with him in prison, challenging him to rethink his focus. One of the key questions this teacher poses to Derek is "Has anything you've done made your life better?"

This is a movie that is extremely hard to look at, listen to, and take in at times. But it is a movie that reminds of the hatred in this world and, more importantly, how people can change, and redemption can happen.

Blue Like Jazz

I began reading Blue Like Jazz over a year ago on a slow day at work. One of my coworkers had it on his shelf, I had heard crumbs of goodness about it, so thought I would give it a try. It was enrapturing. Unfortunately, my coworker friend soon left, and so too did the book. Fast forward to another slow day and another coworker's shelf of books. I saw the blue spine, picked up the book, and have been (re)reading it for the past month or so.

This is a soul book. Don Miller speaks so honestly about faith, Christianity, acceptance, singleness, and life. Honestly, I am finding this review difficult to write because the book is so personal. While this book is about Don's journey, I found myself relating and reflecting on my life repeatedly throughout the book. Don grew up in a fundamentalist church and, as he got into his 20s, began wondering what does it mean to be a Christian, love Christ and people, have Christ and people love you, and believe in God. At times, his honesty about Christians and Christianity was tough to swallow. Not because it was always controversial, but because it was truth, and the truth was not great. Christians, we, say we love everyone, and yet we judge the poor, different, and outcasts among us. We believe in a "health and wealth" gospel that teaches us that if you are not successful in the American sense, something is wrong in your life. And that is not true.

There are an abundance of quotable sections from the book, but here is one that reflects Don's forthrightness and transparent take on part of the Christian culture. (Taken from pg. 218)

"The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money...If somebody is doing something for us, offering us something, be it gifts, time, popularity, or what have you, we feel they have value, we feel they are worth something to us, and, perhaps, we feel they are priceless. I could see it so clearly, and I could feel it in the pages of my life. This was the thing that had smelled so rotten all these years. I used love like money. They church used love like money. With love, we withheld affirmation from the people who did not agree with us, but we lavishly financed the ones who did."

If you consider yourself a Christian, spiritual, searching, or are just looking for a thought-provoking read, get this book and a pen or highlighter. It is rich with truth, life, love, and even some humor.