Food For Thought.

"Shopping for food is as much fun as buying a dress" -Julie & Julia

I totally, completely, and absolutely agree with the above quote! I LOVE grocery shopping, maybe even a tad MORE than clothes shopping. I've loved it since...forever. I remember when I was younger, whenever my mom would make the 20 minute trek to the Penner Foods -later turned- IGA -then turned- Sobeys, I would always tag along.

I don't know what it is. I'm in love with food, and eating, drinking, and tasting. Whenever I get my paychecks from work what runs through my mind is: After I pay my necessary bills for this week, how much money do I have left to buy groceries with?!

I spend hours grocery shopping. Going up and down each aisle meticulously, I take my sweet, sweet time. There's something fulfilling about glancing over each item, comparing prices, and realizing that yes, the cheap No-Name brand DOES taste as good as the expensive brand...or also realizing the unfortunate way that the No-Name brand of Garlic-BBQ sauce does not even come close to the classic Bullseye-BBQ sauce brand. It's all a matter of trial and error really.

I love food so much that in fact, each of my two jobs revolve around it...which explains why I actually love working so much.

Job #1: Orchard.

Five days a week I get up at 5:30 AM to make it to my 6 AM job on time. I LOVE starting so early because it means by the time 2 o'clock rolls around, I am done for the day! (Unless I have an evening shift lined up at my other job) So from 6-9 AM we are out in the field loading bins with freshly picked vegetables. The vegetables/fruits I have picked thus far in this current season of time are: sour cherries, black currents, red beets, golden beets, snap peas, snow peas, shell peas, green zucchini, yellow zucchini, spaghetti squash, pattie-pan squash, kale, dill, spinach, broccoli, purple carrots, orange carrots, white carrots, swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, chocolate-cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, ground cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, red potatoes, golden potatoes, eggplant, green beans, yellow beans, purple beans...and off the top of my head that is all I can think of.

Then from 9-12 we are washing and weighing ALL of the vegetables we have picked for the day, except for the dill...I learned the hard way that spraying dill with water causes it to lose flavour. Who knew?

And then from 12-2 pm we are out in the fields either picking some more vegetables/fruits or we are weeding. Either of those I do not mind at all. Some people despise weeding; I find it rather therapeutic...because all you do is think think think. Think about that song in your head, why your co-worker somehow has waaaay more beets in her bin than you do, or reminding yourself -over and over again- that "forgiveness sets the prisoner free, not you, but me".

Job #2: Grocery Store.

Yes, I know what you're thinking: this girl loves grocery shopping THAT much that she actually works at a grocery store?! Hahaha.

Well, yes, your thoughts are true! I work at a grocery store, and I happen to love it. :)

Scanning hundreds of groceries through the till has more than enough benefits for me. After I complete my 6-month probation period I then receive a card which gives me a 10% discount on all of my grocery shopping. How fitting is that?! Also, everyday I get to see first-hand what's on sale, what's new in the store, and essentially, what looks yummy. On a side-note, after almost 2 months of working as a cashier, I have met the most interesting of people including a man with 38 piercings.

So that is pretty much my life right now, which explains the lack of blogging. By September I will need to look for another full-time job, as an orchard in Canada can only run in the summer months. But once February rolls around, I will be officially enrolled as a Culinary Arts & Design student!!! I am so excited!! I really have no educated clue on what to expect...will I like it? Is this going to take the fun out of cooking entirely? Will I come home crying every day? Will I attain fabulous amounts of culinary knowledge? Will I LOVE it? I guess we'll just have to find out!

After all this talk about how much I love food and cooking, I'm going to be lazy tonight and grab some KFC take-out with my hunny. Mmm mmm! :)