I went to the grocery store today with the intent to purchase some lamb chops. I had four in mind. I bought some fruit, some peewee potatoes and Shiitake mushrooms, and wound up at the butcher’s counter. I told the young man behind the counter that I needed four lamb chops. I was wearing my KN95 mask; so, I held up four fingers the way four-year-old’s often do when you ask them how old they are. He opened the display case to retrieve the chops, and my gaze fixed on the price – $39.99/lb. Yikes!
He placed the chops on the scale, and looked at me, “It’s half a pound, sir. Is that okay?” I nodded affirmatively. I felt just a tad of relief. I don’t know about the price of gas, but the price of lamb has gotten fairly rich. I picked up the rest of the items on my list and came home.
This evening, Susan prepared her usual Julia Childs lamb chop recipe using Panko instead of breadcrumbs. She roasted the peewee potatoes in EVOO with rosemary from our backyard garden. I sliced and sauteed the Shiitake mushrooms and we added them to the potatoes at the last minute (it’s a very yummy combination). When Susan served the meal, I realized that there were only TWO lamb chops. Susan reassured me that the two chops weighed half a pound. Damn! I thought I had purchased four.
Below is the completed meal. The lamb chop has a dollop of sweet mango chutney on it. I have added a few crostini with basil pesto. It turns out that one lamb chop is quite sufficient.
I’m not sure, but I think that Gen-Z doesn’t do as well counting fingers as earlier generations did.
