Keeping everything in stock seems like a full-time job. Between Amazon, local grocery store pick-up and a few specialty products from online vendors, we’re fabulous, thank you. Except, well, Dale’s gone feral.
He ordered two “snacker packs” of Gibble’s potato chips from his buddies at Ship My Chips. He calls potato chips Vitamin P. Gibble’s are from Chambersburg, Pa. We (mostly he) developed a taste for them when we lived there years ago. The chips are fried in lard, and our recipe scrapbook even includes the paean to lard he once clipped from a bag of the Gibble’s.
They aren’t here yet. Every day he waits and watches by the door.
Then there’s the pretzel situation. I wrote a post about this more than a year ago, but some people never learn. When we did our last in-store shopping, I snagged a bag of pretzels and asked if he wanted a bag. Dale likes extra salty, and I like extra dark. He said no, but by the time we got home, he was regretting it. He went online and ordered straight from the manufacturer. I asked if he got some for me, and he said it didn’t occur to him.
It’s every man for himself out here.
Later, Dale said he didn’t think of me as a pretzel eater. Really? That’s the best you can do? I said maybe I can pick the salt off yours, and he responded, “That’s a good idea.”
No. It isn’t.
Dale’s junk food Jones seems to be at peace for now, but I fully expect a truck full of Cheetos to arrive at any moment.
Walking
I didn’t walk for a couple of days, mostly because of rain. Yesterday, I did my five-mile loop, and it was lovely. I only encountered a few people, and we all gave each other a wide berth. When we were figuring out where to live after I retired, traffic-free walking paths were a priority. Although we live in a suburban area, there are plenty of uncrowded trails.
I’m so glad I stuck to my guns. Walking lifts my spirits in so many ways. In the current hunkering down edict, my mood cycles throughout the day and depends in part on exposure to news. But a nice long walk blows off the stink and makes me feel human again.
Liquor store run
We made a liquor store run. I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I wore my homemade no-sew mask. I wore the hat because it was raining. Dale said I looked like Butch Cassidy.
I liked the set-up. The store itself is closed to walk-in traffic. You shop and pay for your booze online and select a pick-up time. The entrance is roped off, and there’s a kiosk attended by a store clerk. I showed the clerk my receipt, she got the box and handed it over. There’s hand sanitizer on the kiosk, and I had my own stash of disinfecting stuff as well.
Anything that isn’t perishable goes into the garage to “cool off” for a couple of days.
For food, we’ve been waffling between reasonably healthy and indulgent. Dale made homemade refried beans from dried pintos, which sounds healthy enough, except then he made golden-fried beany cheesy chimichangas, which are a wee bit indulgent.
I mean, I don’t want to die of scurvy or whatever, but right now indulgent feels good. I actually don’t feel too bad about it, because we do eat a wide variety of food, including fruits and vegetables, we exercise and we’re good about portion control. Even our indulgent stuff is homemade.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Yesterday, Dale made sausage and cheese breakfast sandwiches on my home-baked English muffins. Seriously, you could sell those things on the side of the road and live comfortably off the proceeds. For dinner, we split that scrawny steak from Whole Foods delivery, and it was absolutely delicious. We also split a baked potato, and I sautéed mushrooms and spinach to go with. We opened a bottle of local Cabernet Franc.
Oh, and we emptied the bottle, as well.
My last grocery pick-up included long grain rice, which seems to be in short supply, so I was happy to see that. Score! We also got some kale. While we’re not on the “All Things Kale” bandwagon, we do like it. Tonight, Dale is making a one-pot wonder with kale, Italian sausage and canned white beans.
Trying to avoid death by junk food, but I have to admit, I’m looking forward to those chips. How about you? Cookies? Ice cream? Candy? Do tell.
Oh my gosh… I’m addicted to these DOTS HomeStyle pretzels. They are the best.
https://www.google.com/search?q=dots+pretzels&rlz=1CAEAQE_enUS836US836&oq=dots+pret&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l6.1650j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I hear you about the rice. I thought I had scored big time when I found a lone box on the grocery shelf 2 weeks ago and have yet to use it because I have another box already in my cupboard and, although I don’t eat rice that often I do love it.
When my current stash of pretzels gets low, I’m going to get me some Dot’s. They sell them on Amazon. Can’t wait to try them!
I’m just pulling out of what you called “bad crazy,” about two days of it, and the proof of my surfacing is checking in on old comforts like your blog instead of round the clock news. Of course, I’ve got cancer in my pocket and I was strutting around saying how I had trained for this and worse. And there are a lot of tools in that kit. Plus that was more personally threatening than (I think) this is. But the whole world wasn’t crazy along with me during that. So this feels different in that way and earlier this week I bobbled a bit. But just had to say I loved the “vitamin P” thing. Sewing has been my cooking so far, but food is getting more and more interesting. And chips loom large on the landscape. Stay healthy, Donna. Because I count on you being there in more ways than one.
I’m so happy you’ve surfaced. I feel much the same way. We’ve been practicing for this! I also agree cancer felt more personally threatening. Not like staying home would prevent it. And then add all the crazies to the mix. This is not easy.
I told Dale you liked Vitamin P. Just a little validation his humor is intact.
I like the look. I see a reference to Cousin It.
I’m not going to tell Dale you said that, because I’m pretty sure Cousin It would be my new nickname. Thanks for the laugh, friend!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who looks like an outlaw when venturing out! 😁
Those chips sounds seriously delicious!
Deb
We make good outlaws.
Another gem, Donna! Tjanks for the laughs. 😊
Love the face outfit. It beats the pants off the balaclava I’ve been wearing, which gives me the look of a poor Russian peasant. Yours is much more posh!
Not so much a stashing of comfort foods, as wanting to ensure our go-to’s remain in the pantry. So, back ups of coffee, acai bowl ingredients, fresh produce, eggs, Greek yogurt. I gave up snacking last year, but don’t judge- I’m still fun!
Sounds like you are staying healthy! I pretty much stick to meals, but I do sometimes like pretzels or some other snack-like product at happy hour. For Dale, potato chips are a meal.
I’m surprised they didn’t think you were there to rob them. Really love your hair, btw. My DH has a vitamin P, too, but his is pizza. Eating pizza is his superpower.
Today I shopped for the two of us and also my daughter. In a normal situation my daughter would shop for us, but living with an ICU nurse, she has a greater chance of getting the virus and passing it on unwittingly. I was rocking the mask my sister gave me, but, man, wearing a mask is incredibly annoying when you have glasses. My glasses got so fogged up that I couldn’t see where I was pushing the cart. Then the mask got really wet and stuck to my face. The minute I went outside, I took that thing off. Makes me thankful I didn’t go into medicine.
My junk food would be Magnum double caramel ice cream bars. We’re getting low, but I haven’t found any on sale. Not panicking yet, though.
Pizza for sure is the other vitamin P. Dale makes it from scratch almost every Friday night. I’ll have to let him know it could be his superpower!
That doesn’t sound like a fun shopping experience. Glasses are a PITA. They do so easily get fogged up. I’m thankful on so many levels I didn’t go into medicine.
I’ve never heard of Magnum double caramel ice cream bars, but I love anything caramel. Unfortunately, I ate my lifetime quota of ice cream when I worked at an ice cream store as a teenager. Still, I’ve got to check those out.
Chips fried in lard! Sounds delicious.
I love your pretzel stories a lot. As you remember, we can get fresh (and bigger) pretzels in the bakery.
We cut them into halves and smear butter on it and call it “Butterbrezn”, so good.
You look very stylish with your bandana mask, Donna.
Hi Barbara — there’s a German beer garden a couple of towns away that sells the baked pretzels. We will have to go back there once the social distancing requirements have lifted. Who knows when that will be, but at least we’ll have something to look forward to!
I might have to do a post just on bandana style …
I can’t say I’m eating worse than usual but that’s not saying much. My husband has a habit of running out to get something needed and coming home with that and a bag of M&Ms. Who can stay away from those? My willpower needs recharging!!
We can’t have M&Ms in the house. They’re like crack.
Your look is too cool! I remember my mom rendering lard back in the day. My grandma swore by lard when making pie crust. And just the other day, my friend told me of baking bread in her bread machine and using lard. I’ve always been a proponent of butter over margarine. Like Linda, I can’t say I’m eating worse than usual but that’s not saying much. This past week – butter chicken with rice, beef barley soup, toast with hummus/tomato, fried egg/potato, canned crab apples with cheese on toast. My downfall are the baked goodies – cinnamon cookies, puffed wheat squares, Celebration cookies. I think that’s Vitamin S (for sweets). I’ll make tortellini soup and a lemon poppy seed loaf today. On a sad note, may John Prine rest in peace.
Mona — your food choices sound spectacular. I could happily eat everything you made!
I almost did a post about John Prine. We were driving to the store for one of our grocery pick-ups. It’s only a couple of miles away, yet in that time they played two John Prine songs. My subconscious mind took note — something is up with John Prine. I forgot about it until later, when I found out he passed away. I’m a big fan. Yes, may he rest in peace.
Have been going bonkers the last few days at the impossibility of darting out and coming home with an ice cream cone or bar. Not willing to go into a grocery store or convenience store just for that — so the frustration level was rising. Finally I went to amazon.com and bought a jar of hand made & individually wrapped marshmallows dipped in caramel. It’s coming on Sunday and I’m counting the minutes(!)
Yum! I love all things marshmallow, and then put caramel on top? I’m in. By the way, marshmallows are easy to make at home. Here’s the recipe from a previous post:
https://www.retirementconfidential.com/2019/12/07/its-a-marshmallow-world/
Wow, a Gibble’s fan in Cali! I have a friend in Florida that ‘needs’ them too. Since I live near Gibblesland, I occasionally ship. Thought sure when you started talking about pretzels you were gonna mention Snyder’s of Hanover (my personal fave) but if you’ve never tried Extra Dark Utz, you should give them a try. Enjoy your snacks!
I definitely want to try the Extra Dark Utz. Thanks for the tip! My husband loves Utz cheese balls. There’s no bottom to his depravity. We enjoyed our stay near Gibblesland. I went to Shippensburg! I also recall another brand that was very tasty — Kay’s and Ray’s.
While I always cook a lot, now it’s truly all meals homemade every single day.No running out for Greek Salad at our favorite Middle Eatern restaurant. Cooking and eating is one of our really happy pleasures. I’m cooking mostly healthy but we placed a Fry’s (Kroger) order yesterday and it includes my and Ken’s favorite treats: Chardonnay, snickers bars, fig newtons, and frozen pizza. We’re having good luck with home delivery and are able to avoid going ANYWHERE. I bit the bullet and did the monthly subscription for 9.99 a month — I get deliveries with only a small service fee and a tip. And they arrive quicker, just a 1 day wait this time.My shopper is very good with letting me know about substitutions,etc. It Seems we are ordering about every 10 days..we eat a ton of fresh fruit and veggies. My husband has a special brand of price-y pretzels he orders online.Who can deny him, right now??? We are spending ZERO on anything but groceries. I see prices going up and I think I may have over shopped a bit, but I like to have a very well stocked pantry and the delivery thing is really working out!
It seems like groceries are our lives these days. I haven’t had a fig newton in years! Sounds delicious. We only did one delivery, but we’ve been going to the store for pick-up. They come to your car, you pop the trunk and you’re out of there. I’ve probably over-shopped.