The Scent of Prosperity

There is somebody in the neighborhood who barbeques steak at least three times a week.  I can smell the wonderful scent as I bring in my bag of groceries that include whatever is on sale.  I need a new hamburger recipe.  While we don’t starve, I am reminded of how little our money will buy each time I go to the market.  The economy seems to be turning the wheels of prosperity backwards.  My grandfather had to feed eight children and did so with a freezer full of venison.  My grandmother had a garden and canned for future meals.  Food and money were hard to come by shortly after the Great Depression.  I used to love a Rib Eye steak, cooked medium, with horseradish.  I used to love to buy them for $4.99 per pound too.  Steak is becoming a dish of the upper class.  Fish?  Forget about it… too high.  How about the McDonald’s McDouble burger? It’s a buck!  If only it came with a coupon for a discounted angioplasty!  Sometimes I stand at the end of my driveway a wonder who it is at the helm of that magnificent barbeque.  What brought them to this pinnacle of culinary delight?  My wife and I used to drive around the mansions of the Van Ness Extension area and wonder what these people must do for a living to afford such grand appointments.  It is probably the same occupation as the Master of the Rib Eye upwind from my home.  This just in! Costco has Rib Eyes on sale for $14.99 per pound… while hamburger is $2.89 per pound.  The classes are separating.