Anniversary shopping....come along with us (virtually)!
Some here may remember back when Elery was still Bachelor #2. That was 14 years ago, and we've been married for 13 years now. We've been careful about going places, doing things, seeing people, including some family members, but things seem to be "easing up" a bit and we've both had our shots, as has my Mother.
Elery decided that we needed to "retrace our steps" from that very first meeting when we were supposed to go to dinner and a movie and instead ended up at Penzey's. The clerk there told us about a market where they had a whole goat in the meatcase, and we decided to go there. It was older, smaller and not quite as clean then. (grin) Now it's called Mediterranean Island. My youngest daughter still swears we went grocery shopping on our first date, LOL.
Penzey's is still closed to walk in customers, so we started out at the Mediterranean Market. Anyone need an 8 pound bucket of tahini? A gallon of olive oil? An 11 pound box of dates? You can get them all here...
They have a really nice olive oil that I like a lot, it's from Spain, so I picked up half a gallon of it, that'll last a while!
(To be continued)
Comments (27)
- 5 years ago
They didn't have a whole goat, but they did have goat legs and some other "specialty cuts":
I passed on the lamb's head and the tongues, also on the seafood:
We wandered to the deli and picked up some feta cheese:
some olives, they have lots of varieties:
We decided to pick up lunch there so we got a vegetable samosa, 4 falafel and two kibbeh:
The samosa was a bit too spicy for me, the falafel was good but the kibbeh was excellent!
I wandered down the aisle to pick up beans and lentils, they have a nice variety:
including some I've never heard of, like these:
Went past the bakery section...
(Continued)
- 5 years ago
Stopped and picked up some ajvar:
Bought some seasoning packages that I've never tried:
Decided I didn't need a samovar or coffee for it, but backtracked for the chicken paws I'd forgotten:
I bought some bulk Ceylon tea for iced tea this summer, and some bulk bulgur, and snacks:
Like in all grocery stores, we checked out the snacks, the holiday sales and reading material while were waiting to check out:
I'm guessing that "njam-njam" is something like "yum yum", but I guess it could be nearly anything. Google took me to some interesting places before I stopped looking, LOL.
That was fun, but I still needed a few things, so we went right down the street to Horrock's, kind of a plant nursery/specialty grocery/fruit stand/gelato bar.
They have a nice cheese section, they even sell pieces of parmesan rind. Not cheaply, though...
Heck, I could buy a whole CAN of cheese for that price at Mediterranean Island. Anyone ever eat this canned cheese?
Ah, but I digess. On to the sausages...
Related Discussions
Wed.: 75th Anniversary of 'Black Sunday'
Comments (14)Carol, My dad was born in Montague County, Texas, in 1919 (just across the border from western Love County and Jefferson County) and he was old enough when the Dust Bowl years hit to remember them somewhat, but he wouldn't talk about them much. Both his parents died in the early to mid-1930s and the kids stayed together (an uncle on the farm next door had legal guardianship and bought them each a new pair of shoes every year) and virtually raised themselves. There were 13 of them. I remember they said the sand filled up their storm cellar and they couldn't use it until they'd cleaned it out. It also ruint their crops and they had very little to eat during those years, mostly pinto beans and corn. For my dad's family, poverty was a constant until World War II came along and, one by one, they left the farm to enter the military or to work in defense plants like Consolidated Vultee (later General Dynamics and now Lockheed-Martin). None of them ever went back to the country really, except the oldest aunt had a few acres in Haltom City in the 1950s-1970s and raised a huge garden every year. They wouldn't talk about those Dust Bowl years much except to talk about how the people suffered, and you had to ask them to get them to talk about those days at all. I think they just put the 'bad times' behind them and kept on going. All of them were fruit and vegetable gardeners and all of them loved rural north central Texas and southern OK along the Red River despite their difficult lives there when they were younger. My dad felt like the Dust Bowl 'ruined' their chances to be farmers because it made them feel like they'd never get ahead and stay there. Imp, I felt the same way about 'The Worst Bad Time"---it was so sad and so depressing and just so hard to read and hard to 'digest' both intellectually and emotionally because of the depth of the suffering and damage. Until then, I really didn't understand the people's suffering. I understood the financial ruin it brought to so many families, and I understood the great migration of the "Okies" to California and elsewhere looking for a better life (two of my uncles went to Cali and never came back) but I didn't understand the death and the illnesses and, as you mentioned, chronic lung conditions that folks had for many years which probably did originate with their inhalation of all that dust back then. I thought it was irresponsible farming techniques too, and in a way it was, but the farmers themselves were encouraged by the government to use those methods. Listening to the old timers talk about it decades later, I got the impression many of them felt betrayed by the goverment. After all, they did what the government wanted them to do and they did it the way the government told them to do it, and look what happened! Hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it? One of the oldtimers here, who was 87 years old, I think, when we moved here in 1999, stood on our property with its towering trees and told me that when his family came to Oklahoma by covered wagon in the earliest 1900s, there were no trees except along the Red River. I asked him where the trees had gone, and he said everyone cut them for building material, fence posts, and firewood until none were left. He remembers traveling to the Red River in a farm wagon to spend a day cutting young trees (there weren't any old ones left) for firewood. He also talked about how the land eroded later because, of course, there were no tree roots left to hold the soil and because everything was plowed and bare. He remembered erosion beting a huge problem until at least the 1950s. Jay, My dad never lost his great affection for wild foods you could forage, and always loved finding 'poke sallet', dandelion greens, purslane, and stuff like that in the spring. His favorite was lambs quarters. He said without them, they would have starved. When I was a teenager and he would tell me that, I'd think to myself that I'd rather starve than eat purslane and lambs quarters! Now, when our lambsquarters pop up in the spring, I always think how thrilled my dad would be to see them. They also made lots of prickly pear jelly if they could barter to get the sugar (usually they used sorghum syrup or molasses) to sweet the jelly. Apparently the prickley pear did just fine in those years. Your story about the bathtubs reminded me of my dad telling me those stories too. Apparently in his family, rank had its privilege and age gave you rank. He was the third youngest and the second youngest to survive to adult hood, and he was at the end of the line when it came to baths. He said he was in the Navy and in his late teens before he knew what it was like to bathe with 'new' water that hadn't already been used by everyone else. We always got an orange in our Christmas stockings because that orange reminded my dad of his childhood Christmases when the orange in their stocking was their one and only present and they loved those oranges and ate them slowly because they were a once-a-year treat. The town where my dad grew up is pretty much a ghost town now, but we go back to the cemetary once every few years. If the ghosts could talk, what stories they could tell us now. Dawn...See MoreMichigan Run Pictures from my viewfinder
Comments (20)Hooray, I have DSL and it works (for now). It only took 10 hours and 4 calls to AT&T. Ahem. Anyway, pictures should be a LOT faster to load, it took me nearly two hours to take the ones on Photobucket and put them on this thread. That's after the 4 hour time it took to load them from the computer to Photobucket! So, expect more pictures, LOL. Annie...See MoreDoes Anyone Use FlyLady's Control Journal To Help Manage Life???
Comments (17)It was fun to check in with this forum for the first time in quite a while and see this thread on the first page. I appreciate all of the comments, especially the newest ones. So let me share what I've been doing about organzing my lifef. I have been struggling with the "control journal" concept since I posted this thread over three years ago! for starters, I dislike the name, "control journal." The system seems inflexible. And something that I don't care for about Flylady is that there is a high level of emotionality in that system. But I will admit that she is spot-on about many things and I appreciate all of the insights that I've gained from that system. But back to "control journal" I prefer kitchen binder or household binder. Maybe I'll call my the household binder. But that's not the point. I do have a white 1/2" binder with all of my zones and lists in it... it just looking at that binder every day that is a huge challenge for me. I have seven children and my days seem to bring me such a variety of things, many unanticipated, that it's hard to keep everything on track. Plus, I'm a lazy soul, so it's hard to get me moving. But of course, if I'm not going to work the program then it won't work for me! Just a last week I found a Franklin Covey planner on clearance at Target, so I finally took the plunge to organize my time better. This is a smallish size #4 planner in a six-ring binder, so it doesn't give an hour-by-hour breakdown of the day, but it does provide two pages to a week, a two-page spread for the entire month, and then lots of other forms for a lot of different purposes. Before, I've just used the fridge calendar to keep track of activities. That was hit or miss (things didn't always get recorded). Plus, it's inconvenient to take the enormous calendar off of the fridge door and write things down in front of the computer (we get so much schedule info via email). Now, when I'm going through email, I take my planner with me. That makes it so much easier. And rather than writing things on post-it notes and sticking them to my microwave door, my coffee maker (the really urgent reminders go there), or my key ring (see how zany I was) I jot things down in the planner. So for the first time in the 20 years that I've been a wife and mother, everything is being written in one place. However, we still put notes on the coffee maker when something is very, very important. I make myself read the planner while I drink my coffee in the morning. And now I feel so guilty about not using my control journal *household binder* in three years that I will take that binder with me and my planner and my cup of coffee every morning. Something else that I also do with my *household binder* is put paperwork that needs immediate attention into it so that this stuff doesn't get lost. I noticed on the Franklin Covey website that you can buy "Forms Wizard" which is software to create personalized planner forms. I would love to take my Flylady zone lists and make forms to fit into my planner. By the way, I am a stay-at-home mother and my planner doesn't leave the house. both binders stay on my microwave oven during the day. I read Julie Morgenstern and liked her notion that time is like a closet that you fill with tasks, rather than a real closet that you fill with stuff. It helps me to see my time more concretely. Something else I'm learning is the importance of goal setting. That seems to be a Franklin Covey focus as well. I personally have had such a difficult time (throughout the years of raising my seven children) of actually accomplishing anything for myself, that I really just gave up trying. But about a year ago I decide that the extra weight had to go. So I have lost 55 pounds. That has been my focus in life. But now I can shift back to the household since one of the most important issues in my own life is finally being dealt with successfully. I need to revisit Flylady, I'm sure she's added new ideas to her program. I will check back to the forum for more advice and encouragement on how to get it together and become more organized. Thank you for your posts, I appreciate reading anyone's story, even if it's still in process, of how they created a system to manage time better....See Moreadvice please-long sorry
Comments (40)mingirl, I can understand why you put your foot down for that weekend. It was not because of the kids. It was to make a point to your SO's ex that she cannot have it her way all the time. She had it her way for 7 years because your husband did not want to stand up to her or ruffle feathers for the sake of his kids. But i find it two faced because she says it was too early for her kids but your kids had to see your SO? Either way, its her kids, she made the decision, your SO accepted, you had no choice but to accept it. And i totally understand why this would upset you that all the sudden its ok for her kids to not only come over but to sleep over because she is now married. The weekend was special to her and i understand her point for wanting private time with her new husband. BUT she should have arranged for her kids to be with other family members because this situation comes across as hypacritical on her part since she didnt' want them to see you for 7 years but now its ok cause it suits her benefit for her own personal needs. She should have sent them elsewhere. This is not about the kids. Its about the fact that biomom prohibited a relationship with your SO family (you and your kids) for the benefit of her kids. She's allowed to change her mind...but...i think it would have been best to do this gradually between the two family instead of suddenly and frankly she didn't want a relationship with you guys and all the sudden she does this to her benefit. I think you did the right thing for yourself to stand up and put your foot down and say, i dont have my kids this weekend and i do not want any other kids around for this particular weekend. LEts not stray from the thread people. Mingirl wanted this particular weekend to herself. THis means not even her own kids were with her. Andyour SO did do the right thing by rentign a hotel. I also had days when i would just leave all the kids behind and spend a day to myself. We all need those days. It was just unfortunate that it happen to be the same weekend biomom choice for her anniversary weekend getaway. That is all. Let it all ride over and do not feel guilty for having time yourself. Explain it to your SO. I just also find it odd that SO would go over there and his kids didn't even tell them that their mom was married. Its odd but i can believe it can happen. My SKIds also kept a secret from their dad for 4 months as well. Their mom had moved her SO into the house and kept it a secret. My husband picked up his kids everyother weekend and he honestly didn't know until i looked at his kids one day and said your mom has a boyfriend in the house and i know she does. I'm pretty good at reading body language and biomoms phone habits changed......See More
5 years ago- 5 years ago
5 years ago
5 years ago
5 years ago- 5 years ago
Yes, it was fun, and a nice change. We had seen the owner of Mediterranean Island do an interview with one of the local TV stations and he is adamant about wearing masks and sanitizing. Because he's is not in one of the highly trafficked or upscale areas, it's not really busy, at least not on a weekday afternoon. All those things made me feel more comfortable about leaving my nice safe space here and going where there were more people. Horrock's is spacious and much of it is outside or in greenhouses. Again, not crowded on a weekday afternoon. I dislike crowds in the best of times, so have always tried to shop midweek/midday.
LindaC, I saw the lamb tongues and immediately thought of you, LOL. They had everything lamb, from head to sausage, you'd have been very happy!
Artemis, I like to wander around and just try to figure out what things are. Like that cheese in a can, I've never seen that and it intrigues me. And what is this? Kafa? Coffee? It wasn't in any particular place, just at the end of an aisle. Maybe coffee from Bosnia? I'm not good enough with a phone to Google it at the store...
I always have to buy something I've never had, just to try it. I bought some shredded phyllo nests, my hatred of working with phyllo is well known here, LOL.
Plllog, Elery also mentioned nopales, he says he's had them in a soup with lentils. Since I was getting a Misfits box this week, I didn't know if I'd have time to try those and still eat all the vegetables in the box, so I passed them up.
L, Elery says you are closer to Toledo, you should try a restaurant called "Beirut". Toledo has a big Lebanese population (and was the home of Cpl. Klinger from MASH, remember) and so has a lot of good Lebanese restaurants.
I'm still thinking I should have gotten the affogato, while I was there. Ah, hindsight is always 20/20...
It was a nice Anniversary, and a nice break from the daily grind.
Annie
- 5 years ago
5 years ago- 5 years ago
- 5 years ago
- 5 years ago
- 5 years ago
- 5 years ago
- 5 years ago
5 years ago- 5 years ago
- 5 years ago
5 years ago- 5 years ago
5 years ago
5 years ago- 5 years ago
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
annie1992Original Author