Stress Free Shopping

Can I just say sorry that I have been too tired to respond to some of the gorgeous comments I have received of late. I appreciate them so much! They are lifting my heart.

My excuse is that working for the NHS at the moment is like running a marathon every single day! I come home needing to rest. I read posts…but I have so little energy to communicate after all the talking I have done all day.

I had to go shopping for myself and my landlord’s family yesterday. I walked into the supermarket and was shocked. It’s not just toilet paper that had vanished! There was no meat (that does not matter to me because I am vegetarian) and all sorts of other sections were virtually depleted. But something strange happened….

I had a list of what my landlord’s family wanted and in my head I knew what I had ran out of. So I wandered into the chilled section…through to the fruit and veg section, round to ambient goods and this is what happened. It was as if someone had gone ahead of me and made sure that everything on their list, and everything in my head was waiting for me…but the very last one. I picked up the last one on the shelf of all of the following:

• Edam cheese
• Skimmed lacto-free milk
• Hummus
• Greek yoghurt
• Goat’s butter
• Prawns
• Haddock
• Salmon
• Apples
• Pears
• Peppers
• Rocket
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Cherry tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Lemons
• Eggs
• Rice (because I am tall, I saw a pack on the very top shelf and used my umbrella to reach it!)
• Taylors coffee
• Granola
• Ginger cordial

I had to get some other things as well. But everything else there was a decent amount of. All of the listed items, I arrived at the shelf on time to pick up the last one. How on earth did that happen?

I was so relieved! I left the supermarket with my spirits slightly lifted. It was a stress free shop. Phew!

It’s been another long day…but I have a happy snug feeling. I love LOVE. I am tired, but there is so much love around me. My family are wonderful. My friends are wonderful. My neighbours are wonderful. Jack is wonderful. Goldfinch is wonderful. Your lovely posts and your comments on my posts are wonderful.

In a world where there is so much worry, there is also a lot of wonderful. I am so grateful for it! I going to drink my warm lacto-free milk with some honey and drift off into sweet sleep.

PLEASE REMEMBER THIS FOR ME…YOU AND I AND EVERY HUMAN ON THIS PLANET, NO MATTER WHERE THEY LIVE – WE ARE PART OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. OUR FAMILY IS UNDER THREAT RIGHT NOW. SO WE HAVE TO LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER – OK!!

SLEEP WELL xx

 

I Am Spending A Fortune On Feeding My Goldfinch

When I do my own food / grocery shopping, I usually go to the local Sainsburys supermarket.  For years I went to ASDA or Aldi, but there is no ASDA and no Aldi near here.  Nor is there a Lidl, an Iceland, or a Farmfoods.  When I first moved to London I lived a five minute walk from an enormous 24-hour Tesco Supermarket.  But there is no Tesco near here.  So instead I now shop for myself at Sainsburys.

The nearest supermarket to my little abode, at only two minutes walk away, is an organic supermarket named Bayley & Sage, but everything there costs a fortune…I went shopping there once, just after I moved here, and nearly started choking with the shock when the cashier told me the price of the small basket of items I had collected. So I don’t go there unless I want to buy a treat for Goldfinch or to buy sandfire (it’s the only shop near here where I can buy it).

When Goldfinch is coming I switch to shopping at Waitrose…because in my head, (if not reality) I think I will find better produce.  But it also costs more.  I just like to feel I am giving the best to Goldfinch.  One of the things I love about shopping at Waitrose is the chance to collect a free Waitrose magazine (along with my free coffee).

The Waitrose magazine has some fantastic recipes.  I have always been a big fan of supermarket magazine recipes.  I like them because they normally don’t have a ridiculous amount of ingredients and you don’t have to have been a contestant on Masterchef to be able to follow their recipes.

I like to bake…and I especially like to bake for Goldfinch. This weekend I made a traditional favourite savoury dish which I have made many times before.  But for pudding I thought I would turn my hand to trying a couple of recipes from last month’s Waitrose magazine.

First of all I made the toffee-apple ice-cream…which involved making caramel – a messy job but somebody has to do it!  It has ripples of caramel soft golden apples, crumbly biscuit bites and creamy vanilla ice-cream…oooh la la!

Then I made the upside down. maple, walnut and apple cake, which was warm and ooooozing with caramel.

It is a pleasure cooking and baking for my Goldfinch.  But I spend twice as much money on my food shopping when I know he is coming to visit.  I am spending a fortune on feeding my gorgeous Goldfinch.  But I love it.  I love him you see.  I love any chance I have to give something to him that shows him how I feel and how happy he makes me.