Retail Therapy: It’s What’s For Dinner!
The last few months of my life have been stressful, and to cope with it, I’ve been doing a lot of retail therapy. Unlike a lot of people, I usually do it at the grocery store.
In years past, my cabinets were bare with hints of tumbleweed. The shelves were empty. I never went to the grocery store. I joked with my college roommates that I ought to buy some plastic play food so that the kitchen shelves didn’t look so empty!
Things have changed. I’m not a foodie, but I married a man who loves food and likes to cook. Who likes to have things like a back-up jar of mayonnaise, just like his momma used to keep!
We also live a small Central Austin house that was built in 1939. Luckily we have a pull-out pantry that my dad and I added in 1996! There still isn’t much storage by suburban American standards!
The problem of the lack of much storage is compounded by the fact that I really like going to the Japanese grocery store and buying one of everything for my husband to figure out later–usually with the help of the Googles and/or the odd Japanese dictionary. I also have a propensity for buying two of whatever is on sale. Together all of these things are a recipe for disaster–or at least a recipe for a box of deliciousness to fall out and hit you on the head anytime you open a cabinet or refrigerator!
Yesterday I resolved to stop my wayward buying…just before I ended up buying fancy olive oil on the two-for-one “Passport to Italy” special at Central Market. Hey, it’s hard to say “no” to Italy!
The worst part of this mad retail therapy is that we haven’t been out to dinner for a while. There’s way too much food in the icebox!
