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Saturday, July 23, 2005

Mundane?

I love grocery shopping.

I love walking through the supermarket and looking at all the things on display. It's like looking at all manner of endless possibilities - things I need around the house, things I would love to have, ingredients for new and exotic dishes, tiny luxuries and necessities, activities I could be doing...

Grocery shopping with MDH is really fun as well. We pass by items on the shelf and discuss what we might be eating this week, what bargains we have found. We take turns choosing certain items that we buy weekly - cheese, milk, bread, ham.

This week, it is my turn to choose the cheeses - so I picked Red Leicester and Double Glouscester. I've been wanting to try these ever since I heard the Monty Python cheese sketch. They look as if they'd melt nicely when I make grilled sandwiches.

MDH has chose granary bread and white soft baps, and (to my utmost dismay) liver sausage slices.

In retaliation, I have been allowed to get semi-skimmed milk instead of the usual full fat.

We both spent alot of time in the fruit section picking out this season's summery produce - punnets of deep red strawberries, ripening nectarines, juicy-looking blackberries and raspberries. I can hardly wait to blend them into smoothies or eat them with vanilla icecream!

The best part about grocery shopping today is that it has put things in perspective, for me at least. In the grocery shop, no one is talking about the events of the past week. Children are begging their parents to buy sugar-laden snacks, staff members are stacking shelves, old ladies totter along with their shopping trolleys. There's a wonderful smell of roasting chicken coming from the rotisserie, there's some loud voice saying 'Harry Potter Books Are Now For Sale', and I'm pushing a squeaking trolley and trying avoid running over toddlers.

And I know that Tony Blair is right, and all of England continues moving swiftly on as usual.

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7 Comments:

Blogger Huichieh said...

When I was tutoring logic in NUS, I always make available a sound file (*ahem) of Monty Python's "Argument Clinic" for them. It actually contains a passable definition of an argument...

1:45 am  
Blogger Tym said...

I love grocery shopping too! But I was spoilled by the mega-supermarkets they have in North America. Everything in Singapore seems too small for grocery shopping to be really fun now.

I especially hate the narrow aisles at most NTUC supermarkets. (Yes, grocery shopping ought to be an aesthetic experience as well!) My favourite supermarket was the huge Cold Storage next to the former Sea View Hotel --- but like all things in Singapore, it's been torn down to make way for a new condominium project.

Maybe that's why we don't go grocery shopping and, by extension, cook at home anymore...

11:02 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ah hate liver!! urgh!! Fowl!

FairPrice sux. I still remember the time when, at the end of a long queue, I asked the staff why they did away with the Quick Check-out counter (for those buying 6 or fewer items). And they told me people didn't want to abide by the rule, so they scrapped it. Bleargh!! Cold Storage still has these counters though.

-budak-

4:30 pm  
Blogger tscd said...

huichieh: heehee I remember that skit!

tym: I totally agree - America hypermarkets are so amazing. I am especially impressed at their range of breakfast cereals.

I think hawker food in Singapore is so cheap and good, it's not worth cooking.

budak: I know! Tell me about it! It's got that metallic aftertaste and everytime I eat it, I keep thinking of Hannibal Lecter and his chianti.

7:30 pm  
Blogger cour marly said...

I love going grocery shopping! It's one of the first things I look for in any city I visit, and I usually get cranky if I can't find a decent well-stocked supermarket or gourmet deli.

And like tym, I neither shop nor cook in Singapore anymore. No more pies and cakes and home-made soups. Oh well.

1:19 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, I love browsing in the supermarket too! R doesn't understand why I'd do that instead of window shopping.

I usually get my stuff at Cold Storage or NTUC, but to indulge my senses, I'll go to Tanglin Market Place at Tanglin Mall. The fresh produce are beautifully packed and stacked, and they stock a comprehensive selection of American foodstuff. Mostly, I just gape and admire; they're too expensive for me!

3:19 am  
Blogger tscd said...

cour: It's a shame you've given up making pies and soups...they are so yummy when they're homemade!

julia: I think alot of expats shop at the Tanglin Mall market - probably because you can get decent red onions there.

7:39 pm  

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