B2
MARCH 24 - MARCH 30, 2023 | OCALA GAZETTE
Eat and drink well on a budget Editor’s Note: Because we’re all feeling the pinch of inflation, the Gazette has begun “More for Less,” a recurring list of budget-friendly things to experience and buy to help stretch your dollar a little further. By Julie Garisto julie@magnoliamediaco.com.
S
ometimes it seems like robust, clean eating has become more of a luxury, but saving money on a good meal has to do with being strategic with your BOGOs and sales. For a winning stirfry, Winn-Dixie has USDA Choice Certified Angus Beef Boneless Stir Fry on sale for $8.99 a pound. Store-brand, 1-pound packages of brown and white rice are just $1 apiece, and Bolthouse carrot chips are $2 a bag. Craving a burger with quality meat? Winn Dixie’s SE Grocers Naturally Better Grass Fed Beef is also
marked down to $6.49 a package. All sales expire March 28. Are you tired of fish on Fridays, but don’t want to eat meat? Or, do you just love seafood of all types at any time? Faroe Island Scallops are $9.99 a pound, and around 40 to 80 scallops make up a pound; wildcaught, previously frozen. It’s a great time to buy strawberries, and Publix has them priced “2 for $5,” which if you’re not familiar with the company’s sales parlance, means they’re only $2.50 a pint. You don’t have to buy two. Digital coupons, on Publix’s website or app, include a $1.50 off coupon for a bag of Avocados from Mexico (Sorry about putting that TV jingle in your head!) and buy-two-get-one-free Suja cold-pressed juices. Coffee lovers seek out whole-bean coffee, but the prices have risen to absurd amounts lately. Thankfully, Publix, Target and Winn-Dixie stock a variety of whole bean and ground varieties, and mark down their Starbucks 12-ounce packages and K Cups
every few weeks. Target has them on sale this week, but the catch is, you have to buy two to get the $7.99 sale price. Since Target hosts Starbucks cafes in their stores, their stock tends to be a little newer than the grocers’ varieties. While cooking homemade is always healthier, sometimes you just don’t have time. Good & Gather products at Target are some of the best store-brand items you can find outside Trader Joe’s. They often feature wood-fired frozen pizzas, distinctive hors d’oeuvres and pantry staples for a relatively low price. “A lot of foods are both inexpensive and nutritious,” the medical advice publication “Heathline” explains in “19 Clever Ways to Eat on a Budget.” “By making some adjustments and using ingredients that you may not be used to, you can prepare many delicious and inexpensive meals,” the article assures.
Poland’s milk bars dish up memories and cheap eats traditional lifestyle. Spending time with this large contingent of old-fashioned, down-to-earth folks can be a great way to get a true sense of Poland’s story. Sometimes my nostalgia for the old times confounds my Polish hosts. In Krakow, my friend, Kasia, wanted to treat me to a fine dinner and asked where I’d like to eat. I said a “milk bar.” Kasia said her mother would never forgive her if I took her American friend to one of these Krakow’s main square offers a vibrant slice of modern Polish life—and it’s just steps away from a cheap and cheerful milk bar meal. [Rick Steves] bleak governmentsubsidized workers’ By Rick Steves same tin cup tethered to a soda stand by a diners. I begged, promising I’d never tell, rusty little chain. and Kasia agreed. Of course, those days are long gone now, remember a bleak time in Poland For me, eating at a “bar mleczny” and many American visitors are stunned when the economy was so – or “milk bar” – is an essential Polish maddeningly out of touch with the speechless when they step into Krakow’s sightseeing experience. These cafeterias, needs of its people that anyone lucky vibrant main square, Gdansk’s lively streets, which you’ll see all over the country, are a enough to own a car would remove their or Warsaw’s colorful Old Town. dirt-cheap way to get a meal … and, with windshield wipers at night and take While a new affluence has arrived, the right attitude, a fun cultural adventure. them inside. In their command economy visitors can still see a variety of Polands: In the communist era, the government – oblivious to the laws of supply and Lively and cosmopolitan urban centers; subsidized the food at milk bars. The idea: demand – some official forgot to order breathtaking medieval cities showing to allow lowly workers to afford a meal out. wipers and consequently, they weren’t for off a dynamic history; grimy industrial The tradition continues, and today Poland sale anywhere. Inspired by a hungry black zones still cleaning up the mess left by the still foots the bill for most of your milk-bar market, thieves would work late into the Soviets; and hundreds of traditional farm meal. Prices remain astoundingly low – my night snapping them up. villages in the countryside. bill usually comes to about $5 – and, while Many Americans remember Poland As I’m more nostalgic for the humble communist-era fare was less than lively, as bleak and run-down – full of rusting old days than most locals, I’m sure to today’s milk-bar cuisine is tastier. factories and smoggy cities. I remember venture into the countryside. City dwellers Milk bars offer many of Poland’s a time when the air was so polluted it often talk about the “simple people” of traditional favorites. Common items are turned my hanky black the day I entered Poland – those descended from generations delicious soups, a variety of cabbage-based the country. Glum locals used to stand of farmers, working the same plots for salads, fried pork chops, pierogi (ravioli patiently in line to sip a drink from the centuries and living an uncomplicated, with various fillings), and pancakes. At the
I
milk bar, you’ll often see glasses of watery juice and – of course – milk, but most milk bars also stock bottles of water and Coke. Try a Polish pastry, especially the classic pączki, glazed jelly doughnuts typically filled with a wild-rose jam. At milk bars, the service is aimed at locals. You’re unlikely to find an English menu. If the milk-bar lady asks you any questions, you have three options: nod happily until she just gives you something; repeat one of the things she just said (assuming she’s asked you to choose between two options, such as meat or cheese in your pierogi); or hope that a kindly English-speaking person in line will leap to your rescue. If nothing else, ordering at a milk bar is a fiesta of gestures. Smiling seems to slightly extend the patience of milk-bar staffers. Every milk bar is a little different, but here’s the general procedure: Head to the counter, wait to be acknowledged, and point to what you want. Two handy words are “to” (sounds like “toe” and means “this”) and “i” (pronounced “ee” and means “and”). My milk-bar dialogue usually goes like this: Milk Bar lady says “Prosze?” (Can I help you, please?). I say “to” (while pointing)...“i to” (pointing again)... “i to” (pointing once more). It means, “This...and this...and this.” It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done. Chowing down with the locals you’ll marvel at how you can still eat lunch for $5 as you experience a little bit of nostalgia from Poland’s communist days. (Rick Steves (www.ricksteves.com) writes European guidebooks, hosts travel shows on public TV and radio, and organizes European tours. This column revisits some of Rick’s favorite places over the past two decades. You can email Rick at rick@ricksteves.com and follow his blog on Facebook.)
MAX Art Heist steals Tale of a disco deviant Interested in a flick not at the megaplex? Take the the scene May 6 Chilean dark comedy “Tony Manero” for a whirl. Submissions of art donations are being accepted now. By Julie Garisto julie@magnoliamediaco.com
S
neaky mischief and larceny combine with hobnobbing, art and fundraising when the annual Art Heist returns on May 6 to the Magnolia Art Xchange, or MAX. The Ocala arts incubator and support organization will reprise its yearly soiree of mischievous mayhem as it provides art lovers the opportunity to win a piece of art or steal a local original. Here’s how it works: Guests purchase tickets in a prize drawing and those with a winning ticket can select from a variety of original artwork created by talented local artists, but if someone else chooses the piece you had your eye on, you can “steal” it from them for a price. “We are taking art donations for the
show,” said MAX director Jesse James. “We are also hosting a special VIP preview reception, where VIP ticket holders will have the first opportunity to view the artwork up for grabs while enjoying hors d’oeuvres and adult beverages.” Tickets are $25 for one, $50 for three or $100 for seven. Proceeds will support MAX’s efforts to foster creativity and professionalism as a collaborative resource hub for artists, educators, and art enthusiasts. The art grab will take place 6:30 to 9 p.m. May 6 at the Ocala Union Station, at 531 NE First Ave. Ocala. Admission to the event is free, but tickets are required to participate in the game. For updates, visit Magnolia Arts Xchange’s Facebook page at facebook.com/ maxocala.
By Julie Garisto julie@magnoliamediaco.com
T
he College of Central Florida’s Ira Holmes International Film Series lands in Chile this week with a finger pointed skyward and a shiny disco ball. At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28, the twisted Chilean comedy “Tony Manero” (NR, 2008) follows Raúl Peralta, a middle-aged criminal who is obsessed with impersonating John Travolta’s “Saturday Night Fever” character. Peralta’s dancing and showbiz aspirations turn dark and lead to theft, crime and even murder, set against the backdrop of Chile’s Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship. The obsessive Peralta, like Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver,” is one of those tragic antiheroes who still manages to fascinate us while creeping us
out. According to Jonathan Romney of “Sight and Sound,” he is “one of the most disturbing and intractably unsympathetic figures in recent cinema.” The combination of Hollywood fantasy, obsession and gruesome sociopathic behavior is blackly satirical and isn’t all for shock value, writes “Film Comment.” “Director/co-writer Pablo Larraín is clearly after more than cynical laughter,” the review professes. The film is unrated and contains graphic violence and adult themes. The screening will take place at CF’s Ocala Campus, 3001 S.W. College Road, Building 8, Room 110 (rescheduled from Oct. 11, 2022). The showing is free and open to the public.
For a full series list and more information about the Ira Holmes International Film Series, visit CF.edu/filmseries.