GROCERIES

When I lived in the US, going grocery shopping to Meijer's was an intrinsic part of our Friday evening routine: groceries, pizza and a movie at the "buck and a half". Eventually, some of our friends - especially Eduardo and Carlitos ("El Che"), would also join us in our weekly escapades. I remember that several times we made it to Meijer at about 2:00 AM (Meijer opens 24 hours)... Going grocery shopping at those hours is really surreal and, plainly, a lot of fun.

Ever since I came back to CR, my grocery shopping day moved to Sunday - in the US, Sunday morning became laundry day when we didn't have our "Faces of God" class at the non-denominational church. Still, my shopping list has remained quite quirky and very sui-generis. On any given week, you'll find some of the following items on my shopping list:

Heinz Kosher Dill & Garlic Pickles - pickles and beer go together like ham & cheese..
Budweiser six pack - simple: if I get pickles, I need beer.
Heinz Vegetable & Beef canned soup - quick, easy and my son loves it.
Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter - for my son and for the kid in me.
Welch's Concord Grape Jelly - The J in my PB&J
Barilla #3 Linguini - You should try my shrimp and oyster in garlic butter linguini... yum!
Vigo Paella Valenciana - Maybe not as good as the real thing (I was once had the pleasure of helping a Spanish Chef cook a "real" paella from scratch), but hey... give me 45 minutes and I'll give you the next best thing.
Aunt Jemima's pancake & Waffle Syrup - Goes well with my own recipe of Cinnamon-Vanilla French Toast and my buttermilk pancakes.
Cinta Azul Round Bacon - mmm... bacon... good.
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup - a glass of chocolate milk before bed makes me sleep better for some reason
Oreo cookies - do I need to explain?
Garlic Tabasco Pepper Sauce - I love it...too bad my doctor forbids it... blah... what does he know?
Heinz 57 Steak Sauce - I use it on steaks, rice, mac & cheese... you name it. One of my lifelong obsessions.
Bull's Eye Extra Bold BBQ sauce - ssshhhh... my secret ingredient.
Messini Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil - essential cooking tool.
Aceto Balsamico di Modena - Sometimes you gotta have a capresse salad or a bruschetta.
Sweet Bacon Baked Beans - a quick and gassy solution for any given night.
Pepsi Blue - da ba dee da ba da, da ba dee da ba da
Twinings of London Tea - herbal (earl gray, chamomile, mint) or fruit (peach, mango, etc.): makes me want to cuddle by the fire as I watch the rain or snow fall outside the window.

plus all the usual stuff... veggies, fruit, meats, tp, canned goods, dairy products, diapers, ketchup, mayo, mustard, cereal, etc. etc....

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