Lubbock has a population of 220,000 people. Despite its size, the city is culturally similar to a really huge suburb - not much doing. The grocery stores are decent, though a tad bit expensive. Produce can be either expensive or ridiculously cheap and good. The cheap and good are jalepenos, sweet peppers, citrus when in season (8 lbs of grapefruit for $3.99 or 5 oranges for $1, por ejemplo), peaches, plums etc.
I'm not lacking for a variety of ethnic foods. There's Korean, Thai, sushi, Indian, Vietnamese, Greek, Filipino and Middle Eastern restaurants. Of course, plenty of Mexican restaurants, mercados and panaderias. The Korean and Indian restaurants are my favorites. To be honest, Lubbock currently has more ethnic restaurants than the average Midwest city did 15 years ago. Having experienced living in the Midwest 15 years ago, I'll take what I can get with ethnic foods.
There's plenty of USA food type restaurants and chains which are bland and expensive. The big bummer for me is that there's not an Esquire Lounge or Corner Bar type bar/restaurant here where Tracy and I can leave feeling full and fully crocked for under $30. The 2 places that we like of this ilk, Nick's and Lone Star Oyster Bar, are decent enough but the bill comes up to $40-50 for food and a couple drinks a piece. I haven't explored many bars yet mainly because I can't easily walk or ride my bike home due to where we live in the city.
On the upside, there's a liquor store called Doc's that has the medicine I need. A solid selection of US micro and Euro brews. Mexican beers are a few dollars cheaper per sixer than up North. My around the house sippin' brew is Lone Star. Plus Tito's Vodka from Austin, TX is readily available.
I am so grateful that there is a record store in Lubbock. It's called Ralph's Records. It's not the greatest record store ever but I have nothing to complain about. Their new vinyl selection is pretty slim but Ralph's has been able to get in most of my special orders. Ralph's has about 10,000 used LPs. Too many multiples of the typical Loggins and Messina and Jethro Tull records but I'm usually rewarded with a couple affordable gems after digging for a while. I've scored records by The Scientists, Chris and Cosey, Country Teasers, George Clinton, Tim Buckley, Halo of Flies, Controlled Bleeding, Speedy J, The Kinks and 3 Bohannon records to name a few.
There's actually quite a bit of wonderful natural areas in the region which I will hit up on my next post.
One of the hardest aspects of moving here for me was not being able to do the things I love doing the most. I rode my bike everywhere when I lived in Champaign. I rode in rain, sun, snow, extreme heat, extreme cold, summer, fall, winter and spring. I've ridden my bike 3 times in Lubbock. The reasons are Lubbock drivers are horrible. I'm not kidding. I see car accidents, often involving a single driver, 3-5 times a week. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not confident I'll return from a bike ride in one piece. The other reason is that I have to ride under a highway overpass onto a service road to get anywhere. Unfortunately, this is where a significant number of accidents occur. So much for riding in this city.
The other things that I sorely missed were hanging out with friends (obviously), DJing and having access to awesome public libraries. Unfortunately, the Lubbock public libraries aren't very good. I don't feel it's their fault though. After I saw a headline in Lubbock City Magazine that read "Reading Is Not Just For Kids Anymore" I understood where the tax payers priorities lie. Anyway, I work at a university library now so that need has been resolved.
I decided to do something about the holes in my life a few months back. I hadn't been stewing about not being able to do the things I love though. Basically, I was still trying to get grounded here before I worked that out. I decided to do some new things so that drinking Lone Star and Tito's didn't become my main hobbies. I created a blog (see! see! huh, guys?). I started making mix tapes for friends to fill the DJ void and started a Tape Of The Month Club. See my previous post if you want to join!
I've also made a concerted effort to improve my cooking skills. I've enjoyed this quite a bit. Some of the dishes I've rustled up over the past few months has been veggie caldo, veggie pho, napolito salad, several rice dishes and chilequiles to name a few. I also regularly pull recipes from Everyday Foods or from the internet machine.
So I'm hanging in there I guess. I'm heading up to Meechigan to help my mother in law move. I'm also hanging out with good buddies, surrounded by green, lush trees with excellent grub and brews. Thanks for reading.
