What do you eat out there?

[kantuckid]

I wasn't suggesting or assuming anything except what I said not meaning the compacted, brick dates but based on my time looking at date sources, pitted dates are typically steamed dates sold by bulk packagers. the steaming changes the flavor in a way that I dislike them even when they are my favorite varieties. If they'll go through your CA customs you owe it to try a California grower and some varieties to see what's to your liking. I can PM you a link. Timing matters as they often sell out soon after the harvest. These dayri's are a really good date but Deglets & Honey dates and a few others I like best. 

[SwampDonkey]

Here's the pitted Honey dates I was talking about. I called then sugar dates.

Parnoosh Company Products

[kantuckid]

Yep, thats the real thing. I tend to prefer the drier dates with less intensity of sweetness than the Medjools which are heavily pushed variety in recent years. My last bag of dried Turkish figs came from www.Bulk Foods.com but the Calimymas from them were better as fresher. 
 There are growers in Calif. & AZ for them too. A road stop place that has date interest is at the AZ/CA border that is a combo gas stop and dates seller. They have many dates for sale and to taste. In the S Calif. date area there are the big places and then the small ones who now are able to sell from FB Marketplace, CL, ebay and local farmers markets. I've been buying from local growers. I've got a bunch of VG date seller websites but switching from Windows 7 to 10 means I must log inas my wife  to view my old contents and I'm too lazy to look :D while my coffee's hot :D. 

[HemlockKing]

Spam ham, potatoes gravy mixed all in one. Kraft dinner mixed with a can of tuna, cans of beans, granola bars, shelled peanuts, sometimes a protein shake, that's about it for when I'm working in the woods  :D

[doc henderson]

I carry Vienna sausages and spam singles in my truck.  homeless guy along the road, gets spam singles, not cash.

[kantuckid]

Euell Gibbons is rolling in his grave? :D Here we see professional beggars outside Walmarts and Krogers. "will work for food" people who mostly never work and are unlikely homeless either. One guy works the entrance to my orthopedic doc. 
Lexington,KY  for a year or so they stopped panhandlers but when it warmed up I saw them all doing their old street corners. Some are apparently homeless and more seem to be pro beggars. They did a van project that involved actual paid work but that seems to be dead now. There they don't get seen much except begging & druggie sleepover place in cold weather outside in the day. Homeless tent/camp areas are in wooded areas on outskirts of industrial places, not as seen in TV news.  

[doc henderson]

had a guy ask for gas money at Christmas time.  my daughter was with me, so I gave him some cash.  6 weeks later my daughter and I were at Walmart and the same guy came up and did the same spiel.  I told him I had given him money 6 weeks prior, he ran to his car and left.  he went over to Lowes across the street.  I call the manager to let him know, and he said he would take care of it.  It was a good lesson for her, and I told her to never get money out for someone like that.  my dad was a truck driver, and he taught me this.  He was former army MP, and said he was ready to shoot a guy who ran up across the truck stop parking lot at 4 in the morning and jumped up on the side step of his truck.  The guy asked him for a dollar for a cup of coffee.  coffee at the time was a dime.  

[kantuckid]

My childhood hobos down at the Topeka Rock Island RR hobo camp were in the direct path of us getting to the Kaw where we had lines set. They'd hit us up for a dime for a cup of coffee which translated to Romeo & Juilet fortified wine. Many back then many did farm work in the Silver Lake Valley area or walked all over town asking for work at doors.
We see the exact same beggars in our nearest small towns for many years. It's a career path of sorts. I've read where a couple hundred a day is typical.
College students in Morehead, KY are the most common, sure fire category of person to give them money based on my scientific studies waiting for a red light to change...
The most sophisticated beggars I've encountered were in DC. They dressed in nice crisp dress shirts and pressed khaki pants and would ask for money to redeem their towed car. I went every other year along with my wife who had meetings and happened often. 
I've seen counts of the homeless in my rural county but they are never, ever seen? Must be those persons forced by circumstances to live with relatives? 
We have a senior center where many of those who eat there are living on the same retirement checks we live on. One guy is a car collector. Go figure on that one as a tax supported operation huh?  Same people go to the ag ext office and pickup their coupons for freebies at the farmers market. First couple of weeks it's hard to buy early veggies over the senior coupon people. Handouts are ingrained into society.

[Nils Jonsson]

Back to the subject - eating. I read an article about the situation for many bars and restaurants here in Europe (Sweden in particular) and the importance in supporting them during the hard times now. Here in Sweden, bars and restaurant never had to close, as in other European countries like Germany and the UK, but the restrictions has made life hard for them as they have to have short opening hours and a limited number of guests. I go out to eat, or to get take away food, at least twice a week to support the local food businesses in my neighborhood. 
What is the situation over in North America? Are your bars & restaurants open? Have they survived?