Hugh does most of our grocery shopping. That wasn't always the case. When we lived in Utah, I bought all of the groceries, but sometime after we moved here (maybe when our old car broke down and our replacement was a stick-shift, which meant that I didn't technically know how to drive it) it evolved into Hugh's job. I told my friend Andrea this and she said that if she sent her husband, Austin, to the grocery store for more than just milk and bread he would probably have a melt-down, but Hugh does a pretty good job.
The only problem is that sometimes Hugh brings something home that, while technically fitting the description of one of the items on my grocery list, is not actually what I wanted. This is partly because I have a lot more experience with grocery shopping, and with food in general, than Hugh does (Hugh's favorite kind of food is the kind that appears magically in front of him), but it's partly also because what I think is "normal" and what he thinks is "normal" are not always the same thing.
Sometimes the discrepancy between what I meant for him to get and what he actually got is relatively insignificant, like when he brought home a tiny bag of flour (I guess we'll just get some more in a couple of weeks), or when he bought an enormous container of feta (looks like we'll be having lots of Greek salads this week). Sometimes it's a little more frustrating, like when I sent him for a can of black olives for Asher and he brought home a can of whole black olives (as in, still containing pits) because he didn't realize that people actually sold canned black olives that hadn't been pitted, so he didn't read the label very thoroughly. (We broke them up and used them on pizza instead.)
This week, one of the things on my grocery list was cornmeal because we were almost out and Hugh had requested that we have cornbread for dinner.
Hugh: Could we have cornbread for dinner sometime this week?
Me: Sure. Do you want it with chili?
Hugh: No, just cornbread... like for the main dish.
Me: Um... I guess so.
As Hugh was heading out the door, I almost told him to make sure that the cornmeal was stone-ground, but sometimes he has a harder time navigating the grocery store than I would, so I decided not to make it any more difficult for him. It turns out that I didn't need to make this request anyway. Hugh bought stone-ground cornmeal all on his own. However, it was also white cornmeal. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with white cornmeal. I just wanted yellow. I assumed that "cornmeal" meant yellow--the "normal" kind, and that if somebody wanted white or blue, they would specify. Still, pale cornbread is a small price to pay for not having to go grocery shopping.
4 comments:
This is an amazing post, and I happened to read it after going all the way to New Jersey to buy groceries. I love your description of Hugh's favorite food - it made me laugh out loud.
That cornbread looks delicious! May have to go pick up some cornmeal next time!
Isn't that everyone's favorite kind of food, especially if it's cooked by someone who does both healthy AND delicious meals?
I ate some olives this week in a baked pasta dish and I thought that maybe if I ate them regularly, I would start to like them.
Haha! I bet Hugh has learned a ton! Actually, I probably would have done the same thing as Hugh with the cornbread. That's not saying much, though. :)
By the way, that dish looks soo delish!
You have a lot more faith in your husband than I do in mine, or something, because I can't send Ty to the store without empty containers in hand of the things I want or a picture on his phone of what he needs to get.
Once we sent my brother-in-law to the store for cream of tartar for gingerbread house frosting. We tried to explain that it was a little white powder in a little spice jar, but he came home with tartar sauce. "It's creamy!"
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