Garlic

Yesterday I took a walk. The walk was, surprise surprise, to the grocery store. I had not been there in several days and the withdrawal symptoms were setting in. It was necessary, I was out of garlic. I also wanted to get cream cheese and sour cream and graham crackers. I have plans of making a cheesecake. I could have gotten most of the ingredients at the local convenience store. The people that own that store are very nice but I feel that expiration dates on perishables should end in 09. So the plan was garlic, cream cheese, sour cream, and graham crackers. Sure! The end result was many more things, canned tomatoes for sure and then several other things.
I enjoy grocery shopping more than anything else in my life at present. We are so lucky to live in America with the bounty and variety we have. Food is so inexpensive. I remember my Father telling me what it was like to live in the Great Depression. "When you have to spend fifty percent of what you make for groceries, then you will know what it was like to live in the Depression.". Lately I spend about ten percent of my income on groceries. That may be because I never buy anything pre-made. I bake my own bread and even grind my own hamburger. Another contributing factor may be the way that I eat. I think that I have come to grips with cooking for one. I still have monster pots full of things that just cannot be prepared for one but several things are now under control. There are still things that would feed six but the list is growing shorter. The other thing may be that I still only eat one meal a day. That comes from a lifetime of :
1. Constantly being late for work and therefore skipping breakfast.
2. Being too engrossed in work to notice that I had worked through lunch.
3. Wanting to save room for the delicious suppers that my Wife used to make.
I was raised in a home where there was no eating between meals and when supper was over, the kitchen was closed. We rarely had sweets because my Father's idea of dessert was another piece of fish.
I try to shop for food once a month. Even though I have enough food for the month, after some time I go into grocery shopping withdrawal. So I walk to the store, the walk is probably better for me than the sausages and heavy cream and cheeses I purchase, and pick up a few (HA HA) things. I guess that one of my dreams in life would be to be the food buyer for a soup kitchen. Not a food pantry because all they can stock is canned goods. Leeks and cabbage and asparagus and squash and fresh mushrooms and cheese are not in their larders. It would be so nice to be able to fulfill Oliver's plea.
I have finally faced the fact that I am a natural born recluse. I avoid the hustle and bustle of modern life and spend my time under the reading lamp or at the stove. I traveled extensively when I was younger and no longer feel the lure of the horizon. I have never found a place so attuned to my feelings than Massachusetts ( maybe Cape May New Jersey or Bermuda). I have found few joys in life to match the joy I get from the Kitchenaid Mixer. The joy that I used to get from watching my children grow is a thing of the past. I would give up the mixer to be able to experience that again! I was not a very good Daddy but I loved being a Daddy!