Thursday, September 22, 2011

Weekends at the Supermarket

When I married my husband 7 years ago, I was very much the emotional me walking down the aisle. Finally (and that quick!) we were married.

Who would have thought almost a decade later, happy and still married, I would be walking down many supermarket aisles for my husband's sake still quite emotional. I am so totally 'emo' when it comes down to shopping for food. Sometimes I can't get a grip on what to choose like this one? Yes, corndogs! Will my kids love it or shun it? Or will it stay in the freezer for God knows how long? The words 'artificial' and 'flavored' sends alarm bells straight to my head, but I can't put the box down, its on my hubby's food wishlist. Hmmm...



To compensate for the 'artificial' yet popular items amongst family members, I make a quick dash for the produce section. So I begin countin' my tomatoes, my potatoes, my zuchinis, heads of kale and cabbage. Plus some oranges, apples, pears and yes, the bananas! There's no excuse not to eat healthy stuff in my household. As long as there's a balance, I often tell my kids, if you want your Doritos, you gotta eat your veggies and that means that really green stuff called Kale. No compromises on that one.



But Grocery shopping can actually be therapeutic, it gives me time to think. Think about our household expenses, my family's health, what my kids are eating and all the possible recipes I could cook for the week.
I would consider it one of the important Mommy down times and more importantly, I get to have time with my youngest son who unlike my older kids, Jacob still loves to tag along and ride the grocery cart.



Doing the food shopping is sometimes taxing though especially on weekends when the check out lines are this loooong! By then, I'm bored to my wits or just sunk deep in concentration playing Angry Birds on my iPad3. Often it would be me and Jacob just trying to decide if we should switch ice cream flavors before we get to the front of queue. And with Jacob, Chocolate always wins!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Marvel at the Maples on Parade

Time to bake pie with the traditional Saskatoon berries! The kids are making the maple leave cut-outs for school's flag day. There's so much of the red-and-white themes going around in the neighborhood parties and displays at the farmer's market. I love it when people become so worked up over the national holiday.

I got my berries fresh, tasty and sweet - I kept the crust flaky enough. By the time kids got back from Aunt Twiggy's the first pie had disappeared off my counter in seconds. Couldn't be more happy :)
Glorious and rich Ontario berries on my pie!
I stocked up on the preserves and berry-filled marmalades as early as May, I was experimenting on my pie crusts and making sure everything I needed is in the pantry. I shudder at the thought of an empty pantry and the long drive to the supermarket considering the weather, it's not worth stressing over errands.

Yes, Canada day is never complete without the parades!