Lost in the Supermarket

About the only thing I really accomplished today was mailing some holiday cards and going grocery shopping. The latter required four stops because a few things on my list were hard to find. In a brief fit of insanity a few weeks ago, I signed up for a cookie exchange. I decided to make two types of cookies - lemon and rosewater and pistachio. Giant in Vienna did not have unsalted shelled pistachios, which would save some effort. Nor did they have dried rose petals, which I don’t technically need, but would pretty things up. So I tried Fresh Market, which also had neither of those, though they did have unsweetened dried coconut, which I didn’t immediately need but is something I normally keep on hand. There’s a small Indian market in the same shopping center, but they were out of dried rose petals. Finally, I tried Whole Foods, which didn’t have any of the things I needed either.

There are three Iranian markets near me and I think it would be worth trying the largest of those. And I am fairly sure Trader Joe’s usually has the pistachios. TJ’s is also next to Staples, which would be a good source for the mailing boxes I need for the cookies. But, really, grocery shopping shouldn’t take me almost three hours.

Lest this sound whiny, I do remember grocery shopping while I was overlanding in Africa and how it took us three days before we could find eggs to buy in Malawi. I am grateful to have options.