People have some weird traditions…I’m not kidding myself into thinking that ours is reality-TV weird or compelling: it’s just a little unusual. Here it is:
Every Dec.24th, we head out to Metropolitan Seafood & join the throngs of people patiently waiting in line to…get into the store.This can take an hour or so.
There’s nothing on sale (and discount seafood is best avoided, anyway), and they’re not giving away free lobsters with every order. It’s always like this. An intersection of holiday tradition with a really superior fish market = a mob. A very pleasant, well-behaved, friendly mob, all intent on bringing home the piscine goods, so Christmas can start happening.
I have extra-thick socks on, a turtleneck & warm sweater, and my long winter coat & ski gloves. I know I’ll still be cold, and a little bored & impatient. And I’m actually looking forward to it. We could place our order ahead of time & not have to wait in line to get into the store; we never do it. That would be cheating. For us, standing in the parking lot is as necessary as putting up the tree on Christmas Eve: weird & foreign to others, essential to us.
Time to go…they open at 10am.
Happy Holidays all!
Nicole
/ December 28, 2009There’s a great fish store a few blocks from my house in South Philly, Ippolitos. It reminds me of Metropolitan in a lot of ways, though since I’m always in Jersey for Christmas, I don’t know if they get a super long line too. Its really great to have a place to get good fish and support a local business at the same time. Mmmmm…. I have some in the fridge that Chris picked up over the weekend just waiting to made into something delicious. Work can not end soon enough!