Grocery Store Grace

Blueberry muffins

November 2025

The Common Household Husband and I were at the grocery store the other day.  (It’s like date night for us.)  CHH asked about the blueberry muffin mix I was holding – it’s not an item we ever buy.  I explained, “It’s for the food bank.”  

The Girl Scouts were doing a collection of Thanksgiving items, and for once in my life I was organized and had the list, which included “baked goods mixes”.  Given the cruel halt on SNAP benefits and the ongoing federal government shutdown, making a donation seemed imperative.

Suddenly there was a woman next to me, saying to me, “I overheard that you are getting things for the food bank.  If I give you $20 cash could you please buy extra to give to the food bank?”  

! ! !

I balked.  I actually prefer to give a financial donation to the food bank, but I was buying physical groceries that day so that the Girls Scouts collection would be filled with items. An encouragement to the Girl Scouts to applaud their efforts.  Also, I was reluctant to accept cash from a stranger.  

I said to her pleasantly, “This is for a collection for Local Food Bank.  I encourage you to give a dollar donation to them directly. You can donate online.  That’s very helpful to them.”  The woman enthusiastically accepted my answer, and said, “Yes, I think I can do that.  Or at Other Local Food Bank, which my church supports!  I was just so grateful to hear someone is getting things to help food banks.”  I in turn thanked her for her willingness to help out in this time of grave need.

There it is: a weird but heartwarming slice of life in 2025.  And now it turns out Local Food Bank is running out of storage space because of all the items people have donated.  A monetary donation is definitely the way to go in this moment!  Now if only the nation could be heartwarming enough to fully fund SNAP for those in need, and to pay people living wages so maybe there will be fewer people in need.  Oh, and make health care affordable for everyone and not connected to employment.  And just not be nasty and cruel.  Is it too much to ask?

2016 collection for Food Bank

September 2025

I entered the grocery store on the Thursday after Labor Day, and procured what the homegrown folks here call “a buggy,” i.e. a shopping cart.  In the cart the previous shopper had left behind a handwritten list that said:

What else could anyone need?

15 - 20s

15 - 10s

16 - 5s

2 - 1s

_____________

6 Tequila

2 Grenadine

5 Vodka

2 Rum

3 Jim Beam

1 Old Grandad

All I could think was - someone is going to have a much more exciting weekend than I am.  Both cash AND booze!  So much liquid courage!

Gin - not on the list. 
But surely, especially in 2025,
it's Five O'Clock somewhere.

A little bit of what was going on then:  

• Personally: eye doctor and ear doctor appointments to deal with non-life-threatening but annoying health stuff.  (The ear stuff is ongoing.)

• We (the nation) didn’t know if we would be able to get a covid vaccine.  (Our state legislators and governor came through for us.)

• The US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr was revealed to be a nutjob (well, most of us knew that already, but he testified in Congress - without being sworn in - and exhibited his nutjobbiness).  He had decimated the CDC and cut vaccine research.  

• We were in the midst of a soul-crushing election campaign of misinformation funded by the richest man in PA to unseat three PA Supreme Court justices so that he could better control the courts and the 2026 elections.  Severely anxiety producing.  (On Nov 4th we won decisively, and the rich guy lost. But I’m sure it won’t be the last we hear from him.)

• There was still no PA state budget (it was supposed to be in place by July 1, 2025) and I was calling my electeds about that.  Our State Rep said that dealing with the Republicans was like negotiating with jello.  (That state budget was just signed today Nov 12, 2025.)

No wonder our mystery shopper needed those items on that list.

2017.  Image of pile of
cash in our Congressman's hand.

Pin the spine on the Congressman.
Spines still needed today.

These days, whenever something weird happens at the grocery store, I think back to this, two years ago:

July 2023  

I was at the grocery store, with the pasta & sauce aisle completely to myself.  I sneezed.  A disembodied voice from the next aisle over said, “Bless you!”  After a split-second pause, I shouted back, “Thank you!”  

Chivalry is not dead.

A great mosaic

Newsworthy Achievement

I have been doing a lot of shopping lately, despite shopping not being in my nature. It’s birthday season in the Common Household, so there’s birthday present shopping.  My jeans got a hole in them so I had to buy another pair.  We’re going to the beach later on this summer, so I had to buy an SPF-50 shirt to protect my skin.  I had to buy, return, and buy bathroom rugs (but that's really another story).  We keep running out of spoons, so I bought more.   In short, I’ve been like Blondie in the comics, coming home with package after package.

Hence this recent conversation:

Me:  Today I went to Big Department Store again, and I saw this thing, which, by the way, I did not buy, and –  ”

Husband:  Whoa!

Son:  Is that a newsworthy achievement?

Husband: Yes, it is!  That is definitely newsworthy.  The staff meeting at Big Department Store tomorrow will focus entirely on the fact that Carolyn The Common Household Mom came into the store and saw something she did not buy.  There will be cries of alarming exclamation of disbelief.  A task force will be formed; markets will rise and fall…. You will learn in time, Son.

Me:  (Sigh.)

But the real newsworthy event this week is that tomorrow is the last day of school for Younger Daughter.  There have been some real challenges for her this year, and I am very proud of her for meeting those challenges with vigor.  On Friday morning, she finally gets to sleep in! (And then, get started on learning that driving manual.)

Beautiful Baking

On Thursday I thought I would make this edible Christmas craft.  It looked so easy.

I tried following the directions, honestly.   Basically this: Lay out the candy canes on a tray. Melt chocolate and put it inside a piping bag or a heavy-duty plastic bag with the corner cut off. Then squeeze the chocolate into the center of the heart shape.

This should have been the clue for me that I should not attempt this:  I do not have a piping bag. 

I melted a few dark chocolate Hershey’s kisses in the microwave, on “very low”.  I had to check it several times because I didn’t want to overcook the chocolate.  After this laborious effort, I put the gloppy chocolate into the plastic bag, and cut the corner off. 

It was very messy getting the chocolate into the candy cane hearts, which kept moving around, but I managed to make two of them.  Then there was a lot of chocolate left inside the bag, but not enough to squeeze out. 

Such a waste of chocolate!  I decided to try making the whole thing in the microwave.  So I set up the candy canes in a heart shape on a plate, then chopped up two chocolate kisses.  I was tired of tending the microwave, so I set it for 2 minutes and went away to do something else on my list.  I ended up with the very likeness of molten lava taking over an innocent Hawaiian town:

  

Sometimes I should leave the baking to professionals.  Today this is what we found at LaGourmandine, in Lawrenceville, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh:

It’s a Buchette de Noel!  A miniature Buche de Noel (Yule log).  I think it is so cute and lovely!

These pastries are so beautiful, they deserve to appear twice.

Clafoutis on the left; Marquise in the front

Also appearing:

Marquise

(Dark chocolate mousse with crème brûlée and crispy caramel)

Clafoutis

Another traditional French Pastry from the Limousin region.

Dessert made of cherries covered with a Flan-like batter.

And here is my To Do List for Friday.  

You can click to embiggen, but trust me, it's a boring list.
Also, it is incomplete.

Such things as “make chocolate candy cane hearts” and “write blog posts” do not appear on the list.  I am continually wracked with guilt that my list never includes “Procure justice for everyone” or "bring about equity in school funding."  I must confess that I seem to be utterly exhausted lately, which I attribute to this season of  “The Hap-Hap-Happiest Time of the Year When Everyone Should be Hibernating But Instead Has Assigned Themselves A To Do List Ten Miles Long.”  

But today I threw the list aside, and the three of us went to Lawrenceville in the rain, to do some Christmas shopping, and to go to the bakery which Youngest Daughter first encountered on a school field trip and has been raving about ever since.  It was a good day, largely because I did not turn anything into lava.

Pre-Thanksgiving PSA

This is a Public Service Announcement.

If it is the day before Thanksgiving, DO NOT text your husband with this message: 

“I’m at the grocery store and I’m planning to get some dish soap, some bread, and some carrots.  If you think of anything else we need, let me know soon.  Bye.”

My husband has a different view of what type and what volume of food should be served before, during, and after Thanksgiving dinner.  Despite the fact that he was at that moment driving home from work, he texted me back (using Siri, I hope) with a Magna-Carta length list:

Husband’s text:

            Nice cheese

            Nice crackers

            Cream cheese, different varieties

            Refried beans

            Little pizza egg rolls

(This is where I began to roll my eyes.)

(By the way, his list was longer, but I have edited it for brevity.)

            Sardines

            Oyster crackers

            Braunschweiger

            Deli roast beef

            Soft drinks

            Two bags of ice

            Pretzels with peanut butter inside

At that, I totally blew my stack.

My text:  Holy smoke.  I am not getting pretzels with pb inside.

He continued, with a bunch of stuff that I already got several days ago.  To his credit they were healthy vegetable and fruits.

Me:  I already have some of those.  But give me a break. We don’t have to consume every item in the store.  Why do we need oyster crackers?

Him:  In case we have lobster bisque.

Other people in the store started wondering why this woman was fuming at her cell phone.  Lobster bisque is not on the menu this month.  By this point I had reached the deli counter, and looked at the nutritional info for braunschweiger.  Braunschweiger does not belong on the Common Household menu, neither at Thanksgiving nor at any other time of year.  About ¾ of it is fat.

Me:  No oyster crackers.  I’m sorry, but you do not qualify for braunschweiger.

By this time I figured he had reached home, and found a full refrigerator of food, all reserved for tomorrow.  Before I left the store I got one last text.

Him:  Are you coming home soon?  I’m hungry.

The thing is, he’s actually right.  Our guests will consume all of it, and probably more.  We really did need some of those things.

P.S.  The real reason I went to the grocery store was to get more Brussels sprouts, because I sensed that 72 of them is not enough for 8 people (we’re having 11 people, but I know 3 of them won’t touch B. sprouts, which is great because it leaves more for the rest of us.)

In conclusion,

BUY MORE BRUSSELS SPROUTS!

I have to go caramelize all these onions.

Garden Purchase Methods

Back in May, we had the task of buying plants for our garden areas…

My husband’s method:

Goes to grocery store. 

Sees plants. 

Says to self, “Oh, these look nice.” 

Buys 3 of each for a total of 9 plants. 

Brings them home. 

Plants them in garden, wherever, or assigns me the task of planting them. 

Total time for his method:  1 hour.

Results: gorgeous.

My method:

Stand outside looking at garden areas.

Make note of which areas get full sun, which have poor soil. 

Shake head at growing weeds. 

Go to garden center. 

Look extensively at plants. 

Check whether plants require full sun/partial shade, do well in poor soil, need acid soil, how long blooms last, if drought resistant.

Consider the color scheme permutations– purple and yellow plants together? white and red together? Does orange fit in somewhere? Be sure to include white.

Decide on which plants to buy.

Buy 9 of each kind for a total of 45 plants.

Bring them home.

Put them outside, and forget about them for a few days.

Spend about an hour deciding which kind of plant goes where.

Rethink the color scheme.

Finally decide to plant them on the one day when it is 85 degrees outside.

Total time for my method: 7 days.

Results: mixed.

Example: 

He got me these plants for Mother’s Day - picked them up at the grocery store.  

I asked what they were called, and he said, “I don’t know.  I just thought they looked nice.”  They didn’t have any labels on them at all.  I took a guess and planted the spiky deep pink ones (on the right in the photo) in full sun areas.  I guessed right – they are called celosia (sounds kind of like a disease) which I learned by buying more of them at a place that cares to label the plants.  The red ones went in a shady area.  I still have no idea what they are, and I feel stupid about that.  I think the name starts with a ‘G’ – Geranium?  Gardenia? Geronimo?