Can you find a Tomatillo in your grocery store?

I had a revelation yesterday at the grocery store.  Some of you more exotic cooks may already know this, but those of you that are just beginning some experimentation may not.  Do you know that we are not all shopping in the same grocery store.  Ok, I know that what I find in my grocery store vs. what is found in Spain or some other foreign country is totally different.  I know that if I am making some rare Martha Stewart 20 ingredient masterpiece, I'll have to go to a chef store.  I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about regular recipes out of Cooking Light or Taste of Home.

I had to find Flank Steak for one recipe.  Ironically another woman was looking for the same thing.  We scoured the steaks to no avail.  We finally asked the butcher.  He said, "We don't get too much of a call for flank steak at this store.  We don't always have it."  Ok, I can understand that. 

Next,  I was searching for tomatilloes.  It didn't help that I didn't even know what I was looking for.  I could find them neither fresh, nor canned, so I asked my helpful fresh produce stock boy who promptly pulled out his vegetable book to show me what one was.  Apparently, it is in nightshade family.  But alas, there was none in this store.  He advised me that if I went to the Chicopee store (about 20 minutes away), they carry them.  What?  A store 20 minutes away from the same grocery chain has different food on a regular basis.  What am I missing?  I think I becoming adventurous, but I've only scratched the surface.  Alas,  there is even more on this planet to see and do than I already know.

What interesting food have you found in a recipe that you have never used before?

Challenge:  Go to a grocery store that you don't normally frequent and search out the differences.  Try something new.

How to Plan an Alternative Market

So many churches at this time of year hold craft fairs, but the church we have joined up here does something a little differently. Gina, the minister's wife, started a tradition of an Alternative Market. Vendors are invited to sell their wares as long as they are selling products that give 100% of their profit to support a non-profit. This year there were people selling jewelery for NEMI, items for the Senior Center, and candles for some organization I did not catch. There were booths with information on gifts that could be purchased from SHIN, Amnesty International, BAMS, our church's Carilon Fund, Church World Services, Heifer International, and probably a few that I didn't notice. Hopefully, next year we'll be able to recruit even more. I ran a booth that introduced people to KIVA loans which make a great Christmas gift especially for teenagers.

We set up in our Fellowship Hall area. Each vendor had a table which they could decorate as they pleased. Advertising was done in advance and signs were put out on the actual day. Gina put out some coffee, tea, and hot cocoa and put together a table where people could make ornaments if they liked. It was all fairly low key. This was the first year that I participated. DD did our booth last year as I was working. This year, she was busy and so I did it. Next year hopefully we can booth do it as it is a very worthwhile idea. The gifts you buy at an Alternative Marketplace give not just to the recipient of the gift but also to someone else in need. What a great way to remember the reason for the season.

Show and Tell Friday - Keys

I found these keys when hunting at the Brimfield Antique Show. I absolutely loved them and they were only $2 a piece. My husband laughs at me because I didn’t even try to negotiate with the man, but when you are in love, you do strange things. And I did not have the heart to tell my husband that I had seen similar keys in decorating magazines and contemplated buying them for far more than $6 for the set. Of course, my only mistake in this purchase was to buy them right off the bat, but I have learned that if you truly love something, buy it on the spot or you will regret it. But those buggars are heavy. My arms were aching about half way through the market. All that pain dissipated though once I got them hung on the wall.

If you want to join the show & tell, visit:

Take Sanctuary at Craftworks, Martha's Vineyard

Have you ever seen a piece of artwork that just takes your breath away? This actually happened to me a few years ago when my husband and I visited Martha’s Vineyard with friends and was renewed when I went back this week. The furniture can be found in a small storefront in Oak Bluffs called Craftworks. The furniture itself is by Sticks, originally inspired by artist Sarah Grant but now has become so popular that it is done by a team of artisians. The pieces are not just beautiful, but also inspirational as many are wrapped with quotes.

As I can’t come close to affording these beautiful pieces, I have to settle for visiting them whenever we go to the island. I have set my mind that I am going to try to create a piece, but I am not sure that I can do Sticks work justice. Please note, craftworks also sells many other pieces by talented artists. This store is a must see if you ever go to the island.

Just next door is one of my other favorite stores of the island, Sanctuary. As you have probably noticed, I love the written word. Sanctuary is a quote store. Quotes can be found on everything: rings, rocks, banners, statues, tiles, t-shirts, cards, posters, plaques, and mugs. I could easily buy this store out, but as we biked to town, I did limit myself. DD bought a beautiful sterling silver “faith” ring. I gave myself a good laugh when I considered buying one of the long thin quote boards and considered what I would look like bicycling with it in my basket.

If you cannot make it to the island both of these stores have wonderful online stores:

Craftworks
Sanctuary

And if you go in person, be sure to check out the bakery nearby for their delicious apple fritter donughts. It is right next to the Oak Bluffs post office. We also enjoyed a delicious and reasonably priced lunch at Linda Jeans.

Productive Weekend

I have had a very productive weekend thanks to Lowe’s sales. DH and I headed over to Lowe’s to get ant repellant and also found tables of discounts. I walked away that day, but the items called to me all night and so Saturday, DH and I headed back. I had seen curtains that would work perfectly in our living room. However, as any good sale buyer knows, I had committed the ultimate sin - leaving a sale item that you love behind may mean that it won’t be there if you go back and sure enough they were gone. I did however pick up: curtains and rods for my son’s room, bulbs for the kids’ bathroom, and a lampshade for my room.



I kicked myself for not getting the other curtains, so I begged DH to check to see if there was anything that would work at Wal-mart and there was. When we put them up, they really made the room looked finished.

I also picked up a $3.00 curtain rod so that I could hang my bathroom curtain.

And as a bonus, I don’t need to use the tiebacks because there is already hardware, so I think that I am going to make a coordinating pillow. Can you see it here?


They say the 1st part of recycling is reusing or in this case perhaps it is repurposing.

Also, from this trip, I was able to hang our wedding picture.

Now, if I can use that same energy to get myself packed for Martha’s Vineyard.

Is it Stealing if they won't take the Money?

Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee related a story today about inadvertently walking out of a store without paying for something and the frustration she experienced trying to right the wrong.

Ironically, I had a similar experience this week when getting gas.

I slide my credit card through. Pumped gas until the pump shut off and the screen came up with “see the cashier”. When I went into ask what was going on, the cashier said that he owed me “22.82”. I tried to explain that since I bought gas, I wasn’t sure how that was possible, but he assured me that he owed me money. In hindsight, perhaps I should have just accepted the money and left, but Little Miss Rule Follower had to persist. The manager then involved himself and decided to show the little lady how to use a gas pump. ( I can’t say that this put him on my good side. ) I will say that the manager was very kind and continued smiling, but he really never offered a solution. I finally insisted that we took each others information. As of four days later, there is no resolution to this. My bank card shows a $1.00 pending charge (which it often does before the real charge comes in) and the gas station shows no sign of the charge ever being made. And ironically nor do they want me to come back and pay for the gas, which I offered.

The question that both of these experiences raise is what is the moral / right thing to do? How far do you go to do the “right” thing? What do you think?

Sites to See in Central Massachesetts

Yesterday, we explored a little scenic culture in this new town of ours. We rambled up to West Brookfield to enjoy the Asparagus Festival and then ambled down to the Brimfield Flea & Antique Market. What a crazy day. I truly enjoyed the Asparagus Festival. I imagine it is somewhat like what our old hometown fair was like 100 years ago. There were just a few vendors spread across the town green. There were plenty of people but not so many that you couldn’t get into the booths to see people’s wares. We even got to enjoy a cup of Asparagus chowder. My girlfriend, Shirley, had heard that there was to be asparagus ice cream, but we didn’t find it. I’m not sure that that was a great loss. The festival was small enough that we had time to head down to the Flea Market too, so we rallied up and headed down.

The Flea Market was absolutely overwhelming. I don’t think we saw even a 10th of it. It did make me happy that we avoided Brimfield in our search for a home. Coming from a town that is completely overwhelmed during our annual fair, I did not want to move to a town that had this three weeks a year. I may as well have moved to Disney World or into the city if I wanted that. We wandered in and out of some of the tents looking at all of the interesting items for sale. I think because I just moved my view point was a little bit skewed. All I kept thinking as we walked around was how difficult it would be for these vendors to pack their items up – especially the China dealers. I didn’t buy anything except for a cup of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, but I’m going to make sure I’m ready for the July & September markets. I think that this might be a great place to go Christmas shopping.

Making a New Year's Resolution

I did not wait to make another New Year's resolution that gets forgotten in weeks, days, hours. I started today. Dear daughter and I got down to it and started exercising again. For Christmas, both she and I received:



Today, we got them out and did one rep of each of the exercises. I know this doesn't sound like much, but I have learned that starting too exuberant can end the exercise program very quickly. So we are going to start slow and hopefully keep it up.

Note: I found this product when doing my Christmas shopping using my credit card points. You may want to check your point plans too. This could be a no cost exercise plan.

Shopdroppping

Shopdropping - have you heard of such a thing?

It is defined according to shopdropping.net as "SHOPDROP: To covertly place merchandise on display in a store. A form of "culture jamming" s. reverse shoplift, droplift."

I first heard of it on a tv show which spoke of it in context of people buying an item at a Walmart / Target type store. After taking the item home, they create a homemade imitation of the original, swap tags, and covertly return the item to the store's shelves. Consumers instead of buying the $9.99 mass market item are buying a hand-made one of a kind item, often worth far more than what the buyer intended to buy. However shopdropping may also mean changing labels on existing merchandise or adding pamflets or other politically or religiously motivated items to merchadise already in the store.

Often, no one knows of the shopdroppers activities and the only one that takes glee in the activity is the shopdropper themselves.

When looking up information about shopdropping, I actually came by seminars about the idea. Although, I think that it is fairly comical . . .I'm thinking that some people have way too much time.

Finding the Perfect Pocketbook

I tried not to be too picky with the handbag choice as I realized if I did not get it yesterday, I would end up going to work with a broken bag. I had about 10 minutes and a Marshalls nearby, so I popped in. DS actually helped me find a bag. It does not have the nice integrated wallet so I had to buy a wallet too, but it is pretty cute. DD was impressed with my choice and welcomed me to the 21st century (I didn’t know that I wasn’t here already).

It is a Tignanello. It kind of looks like this,

but has one center large bag with a couple pockets and is brown leather on the bottom and on the strap. I think for a quick trip, I am going to be very happy with it.

To find out about my other great purchase, check back later today . . .

Hurrah and Boo

One, Hurrah
One, a public thank you to Chris, the Carmax guy, who commented on my new car. We received our car atlas and it came in very handy yesterday when doing homework with DS who had to plan a road trip cross country. I’m still loving the car and people can’t believe that it is a used car. It is in excellent shape! It was also very exciting to fill the tank with $30.

Two, Boos
I failed to mention that on our trip to NYC, my pocketbook broke. The strap came apart from the purse and BAM it fell right to the sidewalk. Thank goodness I noticed and picked it right up - - - I was the one carrying the theater tickets and the return train tickets, but I then had to clutch my bag for the rest of the day. So now I either have to try to repair this bag or find another one. I HATE shopping for pocketbooks. When I bought this one, only a year ago from Coldwater Creek, I was very excited to find it. I had been looking for months because I knew my old one was dying. I am very picky about purses. I don’t like them too big or too small, and I like the integral wallet as part of the bag. Also, I am NOT paying $100 plus dollars for a bag. Frankly, if I didn’t carry so much crap, I would just carry a wallet, but then where would the checkbook, sunglasses, keys, epi-pen, pads, membership cards, etc. all go? So Coldwater Creek and Amazon, here I come. Please have something reasonable and sturdy!

The second Boo goes to a church in Florida for arresting a man for stealing communion wafers. If God thinks it was wrong to take to many, he’ll take care of it. As for us, I’m pretty sure that we are called to feed the hungry and help those in need. Why didn’t you hand him the whole bowl or invite him for soup and a sandwich after the service instead of tackling him and having him arrested?

Christmas Catalogs Clog my Mailbox

The Christmas catalog onslaught has begun. Each day that I get the mail, I am now getting four or five catalogs a day. By the beginning of December, our mail can become alarmingly large. I must admit that my shopping habits only make this onslaught worse. I abhor crowds. I try to shop throughout the year to avoid the Christmas crowds, but when we get down to the final push, I shop almost entirely online or through catalogs. I’m sure this only increases the catalogs that fill my mailbox.

Some of my favorite catalogs are Hearthsong, LL Bean, American Girl, National Geographic, and yesterday’s arrival Discovery. Some of the items that jumped out of me in the Discovery Catalog:

For weirdness: Balance Ball Chair $99.95 - The picture says it all. I'm not sure that I could add to it.

For Practicality: (the cheapest and most effective form of teenage birth control – the truth! Actually probably a better gift for new parents) a video called From Conception to Birth $14.95

Timeless Entrepreneurship:New!(I like this definition because that must mean I’m young) Ultimate Pot holder Kit $ 29.95 (Of Course, you may be able to find this at a tag sale for $1.00 or in your own attic for free)

There are plenty more really interesting gifts. I suggest that we all review or Christmas lists to see where we stand and what we have left to get. The holidays will be here before we know it.