Our last day of the cruise was really just a quick ride from the Port of Lisbon to the airport. No statues, no scenic tour, no talkative guide with plenty to say on the current political climate in Europe (or America). The Lisbon airport is quite large and getting through the duty-free shop before getting to the gates is like a trip through a perfume-drenched Ikea.
Just after escaping the duty free, as we walked down the hallway, hoping to find our gate, we saw the brightest, most colorful shop ever – it looked like a carnival inside – with rows and rows of colorful tins. After a bit we realized it was shop full of sardines – just sardines.
Apparently Portugal is known for its sardines and from what we could tell from the shop, aged sardines are a real treat. The tins are marked with years on them, although I find it hard to believe that there were 50-year-old sardines in the tins marked 1967. The shop was busy so we couldn’t get anyone to confirm if they were really that old or if it was just a marketing gimmick. Both of us are vegetarians so even though it initially seemed like a fun thing to buy at an airport, we both passed. But even a week later, I’m still amazed at how one product can keep a store open, especially such a big store!
If your store had just one product, what would it be?
Reminds me of the SNL skit about the Scotch tape store.
If I had a store selling a food prodct, probably cheese. If it was a non-food product, maybe socks. I like socks.
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sox appeal was a favorite
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Rise and Shine Baboons!
Well, my store would not sell sardines–they would never even occur to me as a product to sell.
Probably pie. We had strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert at Saturday supper. It tastes like Memorial Day/Spring-almost-summertime. 🙂
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Jacque’s post reminds me of Betty’s Pies, located next to the beautiful Stewart River near Two Harbors. The place has been dear to the hearts of North Shore travelers for decades. The uncomfortable truth has been that the pies at Betty’s were remarkably mediocre, or that was the reputation of the place with local residents. Maybe Clyde can correct me on this. I’ve heard that new management has taken over and that the pies no longer disappoint.
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Lived 1/2 mile from it. But now it is a big restaurant. Betty owned it. Pies were good some said. Yes locals were not all fond of the pies, like me but I don’t like pie much. She sold it. Pies were bad. She took it back. Sold It. Now big restaurant. Food is supposed to be good. Pies are more about reputation friends say. I much preferred Rustic Inn.
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Thanks, Clyde. I spent a lot of time on the North Shore in the 1980s. I’ll bet we were there during a time someone else was running the place.
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Not like pie? Unimaginable.
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YA and I stopped at Betty’s on a vacation several years ago. I would have to agree – a fun atmosphere but just regular ole pie!
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We transplanted our rhubarb
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last year and we have to give it a year of rest before we can use it.
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i love rhubarb,
i hope i got that and peonies when we moved. my sister has a yard full on my contributions ready for transplanting in the future
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I would go to your pie store!
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I think I would sell candy. Or underwear. Good underwear is important.
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Now there is a pragmatic kind of store. Excellent.
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Or sell them both – I can see the sign: Renee’s Candy and Underware.
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Woops, …and Underwear.
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My self I wear underware.
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I love sardines and kippers. Was at Einstein Bagels Sunday. I have been avoiding having lox and cream cheese bagel. Sunday Sandy distracted me when I was ordering. Meant to order smoked salmon cream cheese but said lox. Damn it. Now will always want it there. High priced item. Gooooood. Freudian slip anyone.
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What? Sardines have a pull tab now instead of a key? How disappointing. All the touchstones are crumbling away.
I was going to guess that the dates on the cans were so you could get some with your birth year, but then I notice in the header that one can is dated 2013 and it doesn’t seem like a great gift for a four-year-old. But you never know.
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One should bleed for one’s food.
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“All the touchstones” . . . . I hate to say it, but Cracker Jacks boxes no longer have toys.
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And Three Musketeers bars, if they still exist, can no longer be broken in thirds.
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Cracker Jacks will have terrific toys when Trump makes America great again.
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Will there be identifiable peanuts in Cracker Jacks when America is great again?
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There will be identifiable peanuts everywhere!
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…and they’ll be the most identifiable peanuts you ever identified!
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There are already identifiable nuts everywhere. They may not be peanuts, but nuts nevertheless.
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Well, I’m sure that Cracker Jacks will have terrific toys soon, but I am a little bummed that, because Hillary lost, there is not a taco truck on every corner. I would love to have a taco truck on my corner. But not for me to sell tacos, I just want to buy them.
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I distinctly remember when Spam cans had keys; that’s probably why I helped in the kitchen; so I could open the can of spam.
Were there other canned goods with a key? We didn’t eat sardines… perhaps lots of foods did but spam was the only one I had contact with.
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Canned hams and coffee used to have keys.
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The smell of the coffee when you borke the seal!
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I hate to break it to y’all, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen sardines cans with a key, OR Three Musketeers bars divided into 3 pieces…
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Boy, you let yourself get distracted for half a century or so and the next time you look, everything’s changed!
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I think maybe a toast store. A couple dozen toasters and a loaf of bread. Of course, the tricky part would be finding a location near a butter and jam store.
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Very Lake Woebegone sales concept.
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Crumpets on the side for the odd Brit.
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You could team up with some of us baboons who don’t know what kind of store they should have. I’d be interested in the jam store, especially if it carried thimbleberry jam.
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You could set up a blind taste test. Customer is presented with three small toast pieces with jam on them. Customer has to guess the berry used for the jam. The reward for three correct guesses is a free pot of jam.
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and peanut butter
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I have never eaten sardines or pickled herring or kippers or sprats or anything like them. I hope I never have to.
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Germans don’t have to. They’re only mandatory for Norwegians.
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You don’t know what you’re missing, Renee. Served right, they’re all wonderful.
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Yes! And what about fish balls – anyone besides me have creamed fish balls on Holland Rusk as a kid?
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OH,dear….
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King Oskar Fish Balls, but toast, not rusk
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What about prune whip?
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You can buy canned fish balls at Ingebretsen’s, but I’d never consider serving them on toast or rusk. No sir, if you’re going to have a traditional Scandinavian white meal, let them be served with boiled potatoes in a white bechamel sauce. It you want to get fancy, okay, sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top, and a dollop of mustard on the side.
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No, never had that.
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You’re putting us on, BiR. Everybody knows fish don’t have balls!
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I would have an ice cream store….REAL…TRUE…ICE CREAM. Not that stuff in most stores that has ingredients such as gum and some I have no understanding of what they might be.
Vanilla Bean….but also the ones that have yummy ingredients added…and only the best of ingredients…..so the ice creams would not only be rich and delicious they’d also be expensive but worth every penny.
And i proceed to eat nothing but ice cream and turn into a pudgy old lady….a happy pudgy old lady…..
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I’ll be there.
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I would love to be a customer at that store.
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The Ice Cream store next to Turtle Bread on Chicago is just like that!
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Chocolate
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Oooh. Need a partner? I could be the taste tester.
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What else? – books.
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New or secondhand?
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Both.
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MPR pledge week premium today is a pair of MPR Argyle Socks. (In response to Linda’s comment first thing this morning.)
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Gold mine stock, swamp real estate, Brooklyn Bridge, air, and pet rocks.
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Very Undefinable business plan, that is.
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Evening all – since I am always stopping off at the hardware store for various size screws and nails, that’s what I want to sell in my shop.
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only 1 thing
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I just completed my last day of work at the old place. Phew. Glad that is over. New owner acted like it is not happening. Strange.
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Congratulations, Jacque!
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got your money , no ongoing piece of the action?
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i would sell piece of mind.
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whoops peace of mind may sell better
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But will probably be more expensive!
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