all you've heard is true

i really am a gigantic dork.

(as though anyone reading this needed further confirmation. XD)

was at Butera last night. it just opened last week, and we were a bit worried previously.

the place where Butera now stands is maybe 5 minutes from our house at the most. it used to be another market which was very inexpensive and mostly had lots of good things---one only needed to be wary of purchasing meat from them, but this wasn't such a big deal.

and then they closed. and we were sad.

we ended up going to one or the other of the bigger chain supermarkets in the area, which didn't necessarily have much better selection or quality of products---but which were significantly more expensive. and also not located 5 minutes away, so last-minute "oh crap, forgot ____" moments were much more frustrating.

anyway, so Butera opened up last week. it's a small local Chicagoland chain, and there used to be one not far from a few of the various apartments my mother and i had occupied. it was frightening for various reasons, and other people i knew who'd been to others had reported similar experiences involving cockroaches, rotting vegetables, mouldy bread, and the like.

so it was with some trepidation we passed by the store frequently before it was about to open---hoping it wouldn't be horrible, and thinking it'd be really nice to have an okay place to grab groceries from so close-by.

er, it's really cool. i mean, as much as a supermarket can be. far more selection than anywhere else i've been around here; not just of foods you'd expect to find, but from elsewhere as well (and not the standard "Ethnic Foods" aisle, either). half an aisle devoted to Italian cookies. o.o;;;

there's loads of fresh produce, much more than there had been at the old market---and all pretty much in really good shape. and CHEAP. the meat isn't scary (although we haven't bought any yet), and neither is anything else. everything is really reasonably priced. seriously, i think we've already saved around $60 just in the past two weeks we've been shopping there to what it would have cost had we bought comparable items elsewhere locally. O.O;;;

(the story in short form behind all this: apparently, the original Butera stores had been owned and operated by the Butera family for years. they were then sold to some employees, who ran them and expanded the chain a bit more, and under whose care the stores fell into the shoddy state they were in when first i had visited them. in 2002, they were bought back by the original family, and this is the first new store they've opened. if this store is any indication, it's really great the family has bought them back. O.O;;;)

so anyway, the Supreme Dork Moment: last night, in the midst of a big snowstorm, we decided to go to the store because it would likely be entirely empty. it was. so, groceries!

of course, we're spotting new things the entire time. this was, after all, only our second time there. after raiding the aisle with all the candy in (finally had Cadbury Flake last week. XD and Spaz got Milka Happy Cows! XD XD), i stumbled into an aisle i thought i'd been in before. the aisle with all the spices. here is (approximately) the conversation that followed:

me: O.O;;; *nikonikoniko* c'mere! look at this! *nearly bounces*

Spaz: what? O.O;;;

me: isn't it beautiful? *gestures broadly toward the racks of bulk spices---something which we most assuredly did NOT find very readily in the stupid chains by our house. all outrageously priced McCormick and their ilk. bleh. >P*

Spaz: uh yeah, sure...o.o;;

me: do you have any idea why i get so irrationally happy over bulk spices?*

Spaz: no, no i don't...XD O.O;;;;

um. XD

in conclusion, Cadbury Fingers = Glico Pocky. discuss. XD

no Jaffa cakes, though. ;.; halfway to civilisation but still not quite there. at least we've got J.Lo on Polish candy bars to keep us warm. XD

in other news, the Saturn is no more.

no, not like that. don't worry. no further accidents have occurred yet.

but the end of the period the insurance company was willing to pay for came yesterday. as the GTI is not yet shod with proper snow tyres (nor does it have proper snow wipers, actually), Spaz opted to continue rental for a few more days until the tyres arrive and are mounted and balanced properly on the GTI.

but honestly, the Saturn was making both of us miserable. Elva-chan doesn't have the problem of having to deal with defrosting her windscreen (or any other windows in the car), given where she lives---so this wouldn't be a problem for her. but apparently this is a common problem for Saturn sedans---the defroster actually seems to impede vision further for quite some time after it's been turned on. o.o;;; makes for some really safe driving, let me tell you.

additionally, the seats were also really mean to our backs. un-ergonomic in the slightest. plus, you sit so low to the ground it's quite awkward (and can be painful if you're not careful) getting in and out. the throttle and brake pedals are completely unresponsive as well; you have to mosh each one down to the floor for a good few whole seconds before either responds. there's no way to attenuate pressure; you can't just give it a little gas, because this car won't let you. likewise, you can't just give it a little brake. you're either going or you're not, and you're either stopped or you're not. no in-betweens.

as you might imagine, these (amongst other things) got rather irritating after awhile, so Spaz begged them for any other car in the same range (all the other cars in this class were gone when he initially rented it, which is why he ended up with it).

we ended up with a Ford Focus sedan---which is actually a class up from what the Saturn's in, but they were nice and charged the same rate for it. XD

words cannot describe how much nicer it is. the controls are much more intuitive; the brake and the throttle respond to your commands; most importantly, the defroster actually works! this is a must with the weather the way it is right now; the whole inability-to-see-shit-out-any-window thing really makes driving rather uncomfortable. and unsafe. seriously, Spaz had to roll down the window on the Saturn and stick his head out it for a good 20 minutes after getting on the road in the morning in order to see where he was going---and this is after letting the car sit and warm up for a bit before getting in! O.O;;

trunk space is also better; all in all, space is not wasted in the spectacular fashion it is in the SL-1 we had. granted, this car is also probably a lot newer and has seen a lot less abuse, but still. others who've got Saturn sedans in this area have reported the defrosting issue, so i'm confident it's not just the one we've got.

(i used to think about getting the Focus ZX-3. if i did, 'twould be in eggyolk yellow. i <3 the stock seats in that car muchly; the bolstering feels so nice. ^^ but alas---space usage. MINI is small, but makes marvelous use of the space it's got. plus, roof rack! plus, love! XD)