yosemite picnicking – blissful excess

I believe that today I reached a new pinnacle of nerdiness. Tallasiandude and I played an online version of Settlers of Catan (the board game that MonkeyBoy & MissLudmilla got us hooked on during our trip), against a bot, while talking on speakerphone. I was never a gamer in high school or college, but at this point I am seriously regretting all that wasted time in my adolescence.
However, my overweening nerdiness is about food. And I believe that on a couple of occasions that obsession, put into proximity with hedge’s obsession, I might have been in danger of harshing tallasiandude’s vacation mellow. I tried to keep it reasonably in check, but what is a hike without local artisanal finocciona and handmade lomo and old amsterdam cheese and marinated artichokes and Acme bread? Duh. 🙂

We stopped for camping — sorry, I mean “camping” — provisions at Market Hall in Oakland. Bloody hell, what a store. We needed lunch first and got some premade sammiches and a pile of really good walnut-driedfruit-bluecheese salad. And then we addressed the salumi case (lomo meticulously sliced & arranged, finocciona, Niman Ranch landjaeger, country pate – eaten with hedge’s homemade pickled ramps). And the cheese case (old amsterdam, goat gouda, sharp english cheddar, and a stinky melty goat round wrapped in leaves). And the prepared food case (marinated whole artichokes, green beans almondine). And the spreads (lima bean skordalia), and the breads (multigrain & plain rounds, plus a chive/onion flatbread fried golden), and the fruits (oranges & grapefruits), and the trail mixes (organic of course), and the imported cookies (specifically Gingernuts, yum yum yum). It kept us in fabulous breakfasts and lunches for four days, no refrigeration needed. Hot damn.