Back in the day, the only experience I had with a thrift shop was "Deseret Industries". They are the only kind I knew about, because I grew up in southeast Idaho, or what might be commonly referred to as Mormon Land (therefore, Deseret Industries) so as a kid I had NO idea that other "thrift shops" existed. When I was teen, every year we had to go door to door and collect other people's crap that they didn't want so that the stores could be restocked and then sorted and given away to other causes. It's a pretty decent organization, but I hated knocking and begging and I never shopped at the stores because they were, in my opinion, full of crap. As an adult I knew it as a place to buy icky boots and ugly dresses to be repurposed as Halloween costumes. That's it. Never, ever any other reason the hit a place like that.
A few years ago a "friend" (a word I use loosely in regards to that particular person) bought a diner and asked me to help her. So, I spent the summer at a waitress, which was strange but fun. Well, every.single.day I would ruin some part of my clothes. Diners are messy and bleach water ruins anything it touches, of course. So after about two weeks I was out of clothes so she said let's go shopping. I had NO idea that thrift shops have great second hand clothes. Not just crap, good stuff. Well, at least in Butte Montana, where there is a different thrift shop on every corner, this is true, seriously hundreds of these shops, so on that particular day we hit probably ten different shops. I spent about $10 and bought enough clothes for the rest of the summer. I know that sounds like bs, but it's true, for example... in one shop I found a great little purse, it had a tag that said $2.00. I was pretty happy about that, but when I got to the cash register the gal said, "how do you feel about $0.50". I said, "really? Okay". I paid her and said, "I would have paid $2.00." She said, "why should you?" Why indeed. So, since that day, I have been a regular at the three thrift shops in Anaconda, usually I walk away with nothing, but some times I really score. Just last Monday I went in with the intent of buying some dog grooming, throw-aways. I came out with two pairs of "dog pants" and a super cute pair of capri's from Eddie Bauer. I almost ordered the exact same pair from their web site last week. Glad I didn't because I saved $74.75. Pretty cool.
Anyway, thinking of the diner reminds me of the Patty Melt. Up until my stint as a waitress, I had never had a patty melt and thought anyone who ordered it was a moron. I mean, it's a "grilled cheese with a patty" right? Who eats that? It's weird and stupid and a dumb idea right? Not . so . fast...
It's pretty simple and I guess I was the moron because most people are familiar with this particular piece of culinary heaven. For anyone who isn't, a patty melt is a hamburger patty with melted cheese on bread. And with that description who on earth would ever order it? Well, it is much more than that, a REAL patty melt is a perfectly seasoned and cooked hamburger patty with melted swiss, thousand island dressing on marbled rye bread. Then to assemble it you just slap all that stuff on the bread and grill it like a grilled cheese. It's so good that I could (but I don't) eat one every day. I really want one right now, but it's 8:30 p.m. and I already had dinner which was far less exciting and something I'll talk about it on another occasion.
