Where's Costco?

On many occasions since our travels began last summer, I've always been on the lookout for stores that sold the things I buy in bulk, i.e, sliced almonds, wheat, cheese etc. Well cheese wasn't an issue but the grains and spices were.
I haven't found a Costco here (there is a Sam's but I don't have a membership) and I haven't had any luck finding a place like Kitchen Kneads in SLC. So, I've been stuck spending a lot more for the things I use often. Let me digress a moment. I actually have the things I use a lot AT HOME! I had just bought vanilla and some spices. I have buckets and buckets of wheat. I have jars and jars of chicken boullion. I have mega pounds of oatmeal. NONE of that would fit in our car!
Anyway, I had an opportunity to go to the dry pack cannery in Carrollton with our new ward and after a couple of hours of helping can things for other people, came home with two cases of things for our storage. I love the sliced apples. We snack on them like chips. I also like the powdered, non instant milk. I can hear you now, "Yuck! Powdered milk!" Well let me count the ways you can use it and save a lot of money. I use it instead of liquid milk when I cook pancakes and waffles. I use it to make yogurt in a gallon jar (thank you Cathrin Hales for that recipe). Now...if I could only find the place that has a gallon jar! Did I mention I have six of them AT HOME! Along with my pancake griddle and waffle maker!
As we've (did I say "we" 'cause Mike is rarely with me) ridden around getting to and from places, I've taken side streets just to see what's there. I've also spent a lot of time looking at stores to see what's available. Well, yesterday I struck gold! And after I BOUGHT the gold, lo and behold I discovered there is gold EVERYWHERE! In Texas you spell gold T-A-M-A-L-E-S. The crazy thing is...you don't have to find the guy in the parking lot at Wal-Mart! They actually have places that sell them by the dozen AND for only $8! Last night we feasted and tonight we'll feast and possibly (if we are very, very good) we'll feast again tomorrow too!
I have this rule and it has served me well...BE NICE TO THE PEOPLE YOU MEET! I've made friends of the people who've served us i.e. the hotel staff, store sales clerks, doctors etc. Here were the benefits. Number one, I had new friends I hated to say goodbye to at the end of the journey. Number two, sometimes I got to go behind the scenes to see what it was they did. You know, kind of like those reality shows "How Do They Make That" or "Really Dirty Jobs".
Yesterday, my new friend at the tamale store (it's actually more of a restraunt) took us to the freezer to see all the tamales on the shelf. They're made fresh everyday. He went out of his way to tell us about his business and a little of his experience living in Grand Prairie (the way it used to be for Mexicans).He also gave us a small bowl of menudo to taste after my story of how my dad used to make the stuff and how bad it smelled and how chewy it was and how I didn't like it...well, MUCH to my surprise, his menudo wasn't chewy at all. It was actually pretty good. However, I'm stickin' with posole which is like meudo without the chewy stuff! We're gonna get us some posole on Saturday to eat this weekend. Oh my gosh! Did I just say "get us some"? I think Texas is starting to get to us...some!
Much love, VZ