The Aroma of Tacoma

If you had asked me ten years ago to tell you what Tacoma was like, I would have told you (even thought I'd never been there at the time) that it was a crime-ridden city that smelled like paper mills. I've been told that ten years ago that was somewhat true. Tacoma has since gentrified into a (mostly) lovely little oasis of sparkling fountains, funky coffee shops, and nice walking trails. Granted, the view from my 14th story window reveals industrial smokestacks, belching out vast quantities 24 hours a day. But the famous 'Aroma of Tacoma'? Nonexist. Until today. I stepped outside and it smelled like sauerkraut.

Let's hope this kraut thing does not start to occur on a regular basis or I'll be transported back in space and time to Pumpernicks in Miami. Pumpernicks, an authentic Jewish deli (no ham) always had gleaming metal buckets of sauerkraut on each table. They also had a gleaming metal bucket of these truly frightning baseball-sized pickled green tomatoes, but I covered weird food in my last post so I'll leave it at that.

I'm in the computer lab at work (instead of at my desk) ADD at full throttle. I simply can't concentrate on work right now. Thanksgiving vacation is coming not a moment too soon.