and an argh

 The AAUW salad supper is tonight. (And I have another one - CWF - Monday)

I planned to make the black bean and corn salad that I frequently make for these things. It's relatively simple, most people seem to like it, and if there are vegetarians/vegans at the get together, it's something that works with their diet.

It calls for jicama, which can be hard to find, and I can't think of anything to replace it - it's slightly crunchy but mild. Not sharp like raw turnip would be, not as sweet as apple - not like anything. (And I don't think you can eat potatoes raw? Or at least, they'd be gross).

I couldn't find one at Pruett's, but I did get the limes and green onions I needed there (which was perhaps smart as it turned out). Couldn't find one at Green Spray, which sometimes has them.

So after class and before lunch, I ran to wal mart

Which ultimately was a stupid idea and a mistake and I'm back to doing without it.

Oh, they had them. I bought one. Got home after  prepping for tomorrow's classes, set up to make the salad - first thing, dice up the jicama.

Cut it in half (My original plan was, use half in this, save the other half wrapped up in the fridge for Monday and make the same for CWF).

It was brown all through. Brown in the way that an apple gets brown after a worm's tunneled through it. I figured not only was it not appetizing (and there were no large enough parts free of the brown), but it might be unsafe (bacteria). 

I just stood there looking at it. I wanted to cry. It's been a HARD week, and I'm still staring down a dentist appointment tomorrow (and I had to kill a mouse in my house earlier this week, though now I have figured out how they get in and just need to figure out a way to put a grating over that particular vent that doesn't have one because it's under the sink vanity in the bathroom and it's an odd size). So I really needed this to work.

Finally, after cutting it up more to see if there was a good spot, I just threw it in the trash. No, I'm not driving the seven miles or whatever back to wal mart and waiting in line at customer service and maybe be treated rudely just to get $1.39 back. So wal-mart wins. 

(And I waited in line for a long time to check out - I finally went to a staffed lane as there were literally fifteen people stacked up at the self checkouts, even though I only had that and a couple cleaning supplies)

I didn't know what to do. As I said, there's literally nothing to substitute that is similar. I didn't have the time or, more importantly, the mental energy to think of a new salad to make (and probably nothing on hand)

So I decided: okay, maybe I use a SECOND bean. It will make up more "bulk" so there will be enough, if I use a different color it will give the contrast. It might be terrible or it might be okay. I don't know.

I used a can of garbanzo beans; they're a different color and a firmer texture so it might be okay. I'm still upset about it though and it is Not Right the way the salad is Supposed to be, so it likely won't taste as good to me as it might if it was how it was Supposed to be.

And I still have to figure out a salad for Monday unless I just do another darn three-bean type salad. 

***

also I stopped off to get an iced tea on the way home, because it was on the way. The app is still not taking orders, so I waited in the drive through (behind someone ordering like fifteen fussy drinks, but at that point there was no way I could safely pull out of line and just not order)

When I pulled up to pay, I commented (when the woman asked if I had a phone number for the app) that I would be "glad" when it got fixed so you could order through it again.

"Oh, it's not broken," she said "you just can't order"

Well, you used to be able to. So in my mind that's "broken" now. 

I don't know why it won't work here. I don't know if people gamed it or abused it somehow and they turned it off, or if their workers decided they didn't like it, or what, but it is frustrating. I've e-mailed the company asking for an explanation and frankly if there's none forthcoming, or they say "no, this location is never doing order online again" I just delete the app, because without that one function, all it is is a way for them to shove ads at me. 

GAH. everything feels broken. (They are also, for now, drive-through only, which tells me they don't have enough folks working there, probably like many places they don't pay well and/or have a slightly toxic culture) and it just feels to me like everything is harder and worse since the pandemic, and it just makes me sad.

In a moment I have to consider doing more piano practice, but no knitting today I think; I have to leave a bit after 6 because the place I need to go is far away and hard to find and it'll be too late when I get home.