Grocery Grumble!

Posted by Vulnadia on Dec 23, 2008 at 07:01 AM Okay, so I feel stupid! Yesterday, I must have spent about 30 minutes in the frozen food section alone, in search of something simple, or so I had thought. I want to make squash casserole for Christmas dinner (the recipe is under thanksgiving concoction in the recipe section-otherwise I should have quite forgotten it by now!) So, there I was, looking all sorts of perplexed, searching for frozen squash of all things- even the cute little old ladies were taking pity upon me, and helping me look for it... I had started to think I was crazy, when one of the managers walked by, & apparently noticed us & our plight-that or we looked silly, who knows- But, low & behold, would you believe that THEY DONT CARRY FROZEN SQUASH !!!!!! Now what is that all about, i ask you? Who doesn't have a frozen bit of squash? I mean, they have it in BREADED SO I CAN FRY IT but not normal so I can cook with it. What is that all about?? So, I was forced to resort to using the real deal- something I have no idea how to buy, or how to measure (which was the kicker i suppose)-so there I stood, figuring that if it was shriveled or too soft, that it mustn't be worth buying- I bought it alright, but it wasnt nice & it wasnt fun- I mean, so folks don't like to eat squash? Then I wanted something else weird- I even went to several places to try and find it, too. You see, I wanted to make chocolate chip pecan pie, and chocolate pie, and share it with people- like the neighbors, or my best friend who lives in Dallas (far far away.) So I got it in my head that I should find tart shells and make mini-pies to put in gift trays/baskets for the neighbors, and so I could mail it to my dear friend in Dallas who always misses out on my attempts at cooking that he finds so darn amusing. Do you know that tart shells are aparently antiquated and not stocked locally? I finally did find some graham cracker ones of all things. That wasn't quite what I had in mind, but I bought them anyways for fear that I would never EVER find the real deal locally. Thankfully, although Brookshires doesn't feel that we should subject ourselves to the perils of frozen squash, they do believe in carrying some facsimile of a tart shell. They weren't with the pie shells or pastries in the frozen food section, though. Of course, they were right where I would think to look (insert sarcasm here.) Tart shells can be found right next to the cobbler, on the uppermost top shelf where I have to jump to try and reach them! But, I did find tart shells, finally! And, yesterday afternoon, I went home, and started Christmas cooking. I got a little carried away, and made squash casserole, green bean casserole, chocolate chip pecan TARTS, and the first batch of chocolate chip cookies of the season.