1. Freeways: they should be wider, more lanes. But the Texans have thought of one very helpful thing: if you are on the freeway and realize you are going the wrong direction, such as East instead of West, you can get off at the next exit and many times there is a U-turn lane on the far left which takes you over (or under) the freeway and then right back on! Very handy, you don't have to navigate a bunch of small streets to circle around and find the freeway entrance. However, some of their on-ramps are almost like afterthoughts, just a ramp off the frontage road that has on-coming traffic driving straight at you. They are supposed to yield, of course, but will they?
2. Liquor: you can buy beer and wine in many places but not hard alcohol, which is so necessary for gin and tonics or margaritas, both quite important in this hot weather. You must drive 25 miles to find a liquor store, which isn't a terrible task but it is rather inconvenient. It forces you to purchase a vast quantity of alcohol at one time so you don't have to go back for a few days (HA!) and thus you look like a total party animal when you put all your purchases on the check-out counter. Again, not a big deal, just commenting. In California you can buy gin and whiskey at the corner Walgreen's for goodness sake!
3. Food: I want to make a Thai coconut chicken dish that I make often, lots of veggies and some chicken in coconut milk and it needs some Asian fish sauce and some curry paste. Can I find those things here? Nope. Not at the big grocery store nor at Cost Plus World Market. Perhaps at Whole Foods, but that's another half hour drive away, at least. Ah, but I can find at least 25 different jars of teriyaki sauce and about 30 feet, five shelves tall of different jarred salsas. There might be an Asian market somewhere but I haven't seen one yet. Must google that.
4. Libraries: thankfully, there is one close to the house. Unfortunately they have already used up their allotted book budget for this entire year so many of the new, recently reviewed books that I want to read will not be purchased. Sad.
5. Cars: So far I have spotted two Mini Coopers, one Prius, a handful of Honda's and one very small pseudo-Smart car. Everything else is big and half of those are trucks or large SUV's. No judgement here, just commenting. I am sure everyone has lumber, dead deer, passels of kids, cases of beer or large cement blocks to carry.
Finally, the heat. However, enough has been said on that subject and saying more just makes me hotter. I'll save it for later.
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You can find coconut milk at Tom Thumb, and I believe you can even find Asian Fish Sauce there too. Curry paste - I know they have that Cost Plus World Market. But yes, Whole Foods has it all and more!! Doesn't it make you want to move back to Northern CA as quickly as possible?
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