Just had rum cake and coffee for breakfast.

Popcorn.

Bowl of chips and some coffee.

A yummy Caeser Salad .

Coffee and a piece of !

No semlas?

Nein. Sister's b-day cake.

Tbh, not a fave by a long shot. She uses only chocolate bases and next to zero whipped cream. Basically it's my anti-cake, but it's still a cake so I'll take some

Mmmm---cake!

I had pickles and water for lunch.

Oops, I forgot that, due to cold weather, I'm currently making my grocery runs in the afternoon. This is a day when I skip launch except for a half-apple and water. Except I'm out of apples until my grocery run. Such is life.

Last Monday, for the first time in years, Walmart stocked Wild Wonder tomatoes. I of course bought a tub. Eating one out of the tub, I decided they aren't as good as Cherubs. But, in salad-suppers I think I like Wild Wonders. Both are fine tomatoes. I'm happy with either, but will buy Wild Wonders if available.

The Heavenly Burger!

Oh. I think that burger looks a bit too runny for me

Hmm... is the top of the bun coated in some sort of clear sauce? It looks awfully wet. Whether that's a good or a bad thing I know not. Depends on why it's wet, I suppose. <scratches head?

Eating a sammach and drinking a glass of water for midnight munchies.

Two relatively positive food discoveries this week.

First: After all these decades of not caring for Pears, I now prefer Anjou Pears over the sorry excuse for apples Walmart has stocked these past some years. Sadly, I bought only enough pears to see me through yesterday, so will finish the week out with . . . apples. Next week I'll buy all pears and no apples, assuming Anjou's are in stock. <crosses fingers>

Second: I don't mind Craft Aged Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing. It's not a favorite by any means, but I like it well enough to use as a sometimes alternative to Thousand Island. I've been hoping for a decent Thousand Island alternative for forever. Those few times I find one, it either quickly disappears or proves a migraine trigger. Here's hoping Balsamic Vinaigrette escapes those fates.

I agree that pears are great, though they lack the forgiving storage longevity of apples.

I make plenty of big salads as meals. Most often I dress them with salsa, a bit of milk and a drizzle of 1000 isle or ranch. If I add some diced up fake crabmeat, I'll go with shrimp cocktail sauce instead of salsa.

As you like adding Salsa to your salad dressing mix, I recommend giving Wickles Spicy Red Sandwich Spread a try. It blends well with 1000 Isle. Yeah, I researched pears and read that they indeed have a relatively short shelf life. Luckily, the four I bought this Monday, before research, were at the perfect stage of ripeness. Well, three were. The other could have stood another day or so to ripen.

For breakfast I had bacon, coffee and a protean bar, a hardy meal.

Had one of my rare tuna/egg sammich suppers the other night.

5oz Tuna (one can)
One hard-boiled egg, crumbled
A decent amount of fine-chopped onion
Three Serrano Pepper) slices, fine-chopped
Black Pepper
Dash Garlic & Herbs Seasoning
Some Mayo
A generous amount of Wickles' Spicy Red Sandwich Spread

These are stirred together for consistency, then divided between two toasted 100% whole-wheat bread slices. I then top the two mounds with lettuce and cap each with another slice of whole-wheat bread, this time coated with yellow mustard. The end result is two super thick sammiches.

It doesn't taste like your conventional tuna sammich, but if I get the proportions right, never a given, it's yummy, as it was that night.

The side of Lima beans mixed with a tiny amount of broccoli, coated with Tangy Bacon Catalina Dressing worked out well too.

Yeah, my research found the same thing; Pears have a relatively short shelf life. Yet for some reason I have the opposite problem. The pears I find are usually rock hard. (To be fair, I sometimes find one or two somewhat softer pears per weekly purchase.) I at first considered this a good thing, even keeping them in the fridge to insure they didn't go bad before I got around to them. Instead, they remained over hard the entire week.

I eventually started storing them out of the fridge. This can helps to an extent, but still results in too many over hard pears. This past weekend, I unearthed a method to soften pears 'quickly': Put 'em in a closed paper bag with a banana. I did so soon as I got home from Monday's grocery run. I've checked the bag daily since then. Results? Over hard pears as of today, Thursday 05 May.

All this said, when I manage to get my hands on a properly ripe pear, it is yummier than any apple I've eaten in years, by a healthy margin. I ain't giving up on them.

Speaking of fruit, the week's worth of bananas I bought about a month ago were super flavorful. Soon as I bit into the first of them I realized that I'd totally forgotten what a really good banana tastes like.

Bananas have to be ripe - or better over-ripe - for this to work. When over-ripe, they start emitting a "fruit pheromone" that causes the other fruit around them to start ripening. Which is why you are not supposed to keep bananas in a fruit bowl with other fruit as everything goes mushy in no time.

However, I found the same problem with pears. It seems that fruit must have reached a certain degree of ripeness on the tree for it to be able to ripe off the tree, and many pears I think are picked way too early. So they never ripen and only rot. Some varieties are better than others, over here I found "Conference" variety to work best - they are green-brown in colour, not that attractive, and often a bit misshapen. But they ripen quickly in a bowl and they are so tasty then. I think you have the same variety in the States, but may be called differently.

And then there are pear varieties that are meant to stay hard - they are for cooking.

Agree that a properly ripened pear is delicious - but elusive.

Today I ate b-day cake

As my throat has begun to clear up, I'm gonna enjoy a couple of Gorby's soon. Of course with grillkrydda on them



I should probably stop putting foreign words into my posts, you reckon?

I had breakfast pizza and coffee.

Home made popcorn

Coffee and home made strawberry cake with lots of custard and whipped cream

Some time ago, you guys recommended freezing bread to keep it fresh longer. I've done so ever since, toasting it afterward to thaw quicker and for a firmer support for WowButter Sammiches. Turns out, there are health benefits from doing so, aside from avoiding mold, according to this short video!

Glad the bread freezing is working well for you.

Really? I've frozen bread for ages as I always buy a lot when I go food shopping.



Also; eating apple.

Apples are better turned over. Or flanned. Or strudelled.

Only two of this week's Walmart's d'anjou pears felt soft/ripe enough to eat right away. To allow a little extra ripening time, I bought two almost-too-soft Bartletts, a pear I've not eaten (as raw fruit) in decades. They're what I've munched on these past several days. For my money, they aren't nearly as tasty as ripe d'anjous. Oh yeah, "Red Pears" were in stock. I don't believe I've seen those before. I bought one. It's too hard for a proper taste-test, and will likely remain so for days to come.

Nothing yet, but I hope to gorge down a pizza later!

Yep. Like chocolate and coffee, pizza is one of the primary food groups.

Did you ever get to eat the red pear?

<nods> That I did. It's a good pear. Flavorful, sweet and juicy. I bought five this week, Walmart having only two green D'anjou in its bin. Maybe my luck's bad, but based on reds bought to date, they seem to behave the opposite of greens. Greens tend to take a LONG time to adequately ripen. Reds tend to ripen too fast. Of those reds bought this week, the last turned to mush by the time got around to eating it. It went in the trash rather than my mouth. Two others were overly soft, but edible. Conversely, both this week's greens, the first of which I ate half of at lunch, are still under-ripe/hard, with an unpleasant aftertaste.

I've thought of returning to Fuji apples, despite them tasting nowhere near as yummy as they once did. To the plus, they are a more nutritious fruit, good taste or not. To the minus, apple prices have soared lately, making them hard to justify on a $50US weekly food allowance.

Add popcorn and sammiches and you have the full set!

This week, neither Walmart nor Kroger stocked green D'anjous. Reds, which have been quite affordable, shot up in price beyond what I'm willing to pay. Any apple that tickled my fancy was also on the expensive side. I settled for Bartlett pears, priced at $1.14US per pound.

Neither Walmart stocked WowButter. The good news; Kroger still has some. The bad news; it's a dollar more there. I both a jar anyway.

None of the three has Smucker's Sugar-Free Apricot Preserves. Thankfully, as much as I'll miss it, it's not an absolute must-have.

Kroger came to the rescue with Distilled Water in gallon containers, both Walmarts being out. Enough remains of my current gallon to make it through the week. But I like to stay an extra gallon ahead, since running short keeps me from using CPAP treatment. Who knows if any of the three will have any had I held off until next week?

Apfelstrudel hot out of the oven with ice cream cold out of the freezer. I proclaim this dish to be medicinal because when used against headaches, it has about as much effect as penicillin (which is an undisputed medicine) but tastes far better.

Frozen pizza!

We're getting weekly healthy recipes emailed at work. I would have preferred weekly tasty recipes instead.

And also: of course that beefsteak is vegan! The cow was a vegetarian!! (Vegan beefsteaks are the latest invention in our supermarket.)

Green Pact hypocrisy:
"Can I eat grass?"
"No."
"Can I eat deer?"
"Of course."
"What do deer eat?"
"Er. . . grass."

Pears having disappeared from their bins, I've returned to apples these past two weeks. First week I bought "raves", those being cheapest per pound at the time. They are edible. Not a great apple, but not bad. This week Kroger sold Fuji's at 60 cents per pound less than Walmart. With some misgivings, I bought a week's worth. I should have heeded those inner warnings. Those eaten so far have varied from barely tolerable to obnoxious. Such a sad fall for what was once one of my all-time favorite foods.

I've switched to Wishbone Garlic Basil Vinaigrette dressing from my salad-suppers. It's not overly flavorful, but a small dab of yellow mustard perks it up sufficiently. I tried Kraft Garlic Parmesan before that. I like its taste, but it gives me a pre-migraine buzz. Not worth the risk.

Sad news. Kroger sold the last of its Wowbutter supply. Both Walmarts had been out for a month or more by then. Neither chain had a restock date online last time I checked. (Admittedly some days ago.) I'm not sure what I'll do once my current jar runs out. Maybe skip lunches altogether? I doubt it will do me harm. I eat a fairly substantial breakfast (oatmeal and fruit) which should tide me over until supper. <crosses fingers> (Regardless of what I do, I'll continue eating half an apple or pear at lunchtime.)

Don't know about price comparing, but looks like Amazon has Wowbutter. Maybe an option in a pinch?

I've checked out that option. Alas, too expensive. At least double local store prices. Of course, next time stores get some in stock they too might sell it at a too-high-for-me price. Such is life. On a related topic, this month's (Sep 2022) food expenditure came in $3.50US under budget. A miracle! Admittedly, this came about due to a few staples not being available when I needed them.

High- and lowlights of this week's grocery run:

- Still no WowButter. Kroger says their warehouse is out. They keep requisitioning it, but no luck.With much hesitation I broke down and bought an over-expensive (for my budget) jar of SunButter (sunflower seeds sammich spread) at Walmart, but have yet to try it.

+ Kroger had Sugar Free Blackberry Jam in stock and on sale. It's not Smucker's. I don't like it as well. But it's okay. I bought a jar, Walmart being out of Smucker's SFBJ. (I could have held out until next week, but wanted to take advantage of the discount).

+ The Walmart I don't normally go to had Smucker's Sugar Free Apricot Preserves in-stock for the first time in around a month. I bought a jar. A good thing. The Walmart I normally shop at still has none.

- Neither Walmart stocked its house-brand tuna. I was again forced to buy more expensive StarKist (or do without).

RELATEDLY, I recently decided to cook up rice as a substitute for lettuce for that day's supper. I hadn't cooked rice in forever, and have made it only a few times since acquiring my current Microwave Oven. I couldn't recall exactly how to do it, but thought I remembered the gist of it. So much for thinking. What I ended up with was a large bone-dry circular paddy of rice-hardtack. Needless to say, that went into the trash. I had my normal salad-supper after all.

Well poot. Today Walmart not only had no Wowbutter, but has removed its SKU-sticker from where it used to be on the shelf.

No Smucker's Sugar Free Strawberry Jam. I don't know that I've ever seen them run of it before, even when most other sugar-free Smucker's varieties vanish. There's still plenty of sugar-free Grape Jelly in stock. Likely because it doesn't sell. I tried it once. Never again. (Famous last words?)

As suspected, no house-brand bags of frozen Broccoli. I resorted to a far more expensive Name Brand. If it keeps up, I'll just do without, much as I might wish otherwise.

Bought Ambrosia Gold apples at $1.78 per pound. The cashier range them up at $2.28 per pound. Luckily, I looked over my receipt while in-store and had Customer Service refund the difference. As to how those apples taste, we shall see come lunchtime.

Bought another jar of Sunbutter (Sumflower seed spread). I don't like it all that much, but need something to replace Wowbutter. Sooner or later I'm going to have to figure out a tastier, healthy, cheaper Wowbutter alternative or simply forgo lunch (other than a half-apple). Either is a viable option; one more satisfying, one budget friendly.

To the plus, house brand tuna is again in stock. I bought a 4-pack, at a decent saving over what I've been paying for StarKist.

No bags of frozen peach slices. Thankfully, I've enough to last through the week, maybe next.

I bought the store's last bag of frozen Limas, only because someone had sat the bag in the wrong place. Thankfully, I keep a one-month supply of frozen Limas in the freezer, so have a lot of wiggle-room.

Bought two red onions instead of one. Every onion bin was empty save reds, and there weren't many of them. Better safe than sorry.

In other words, it was your average late 2022 U.S. grocery shopping experience.

Popcorn!

Time for pizza!!