I'm not a shopper.  I loathe going store to store looking at clothes.I shop for clothes only out of desperation. When that last pair of pants start looking really shabby, then I resentfully head to town and spend as little time as possible replacing worn out stuff. I make my choices, head to the check-out and breathe a sigh of relief and hope I don't have to do that again for a long while.  You would have better luck getting me to cuddle a snake than you would convincing me to try something on in a dressing room. I mean, they have those "enlarging" mirrors in there. I know for certain I am not as big as though things make me look. Yeah, right. I won't even start on the lighting.

Food shopping is another matter entirely. I do like to food shop. Hmm... maybe that is why I hate those mirrors in dressing rooms so much. This may sound strange, but whenever the MOTH and I are traveling, one of the things we like to do is peruse the grocery stores of whatever town we are in. I like to see what sort of different things they stock for the locals and Jerry heads for the bean aisle to look at their Bush Bean display. He should get a dedicated employee prize or something for that I think. I have even caught the man rearranging the shelf to make the cans look better. Nothing sends me into swoons faster than a fancy, gourmet type of grocery store. I can stay for hours, looking at all the interesting stuff that I read about in food magazines. I keep a running list in my head of unusual ingredients I come across in my recipe reading and then I look for them in the fancy stores. That's why I now have three kinds of Paprika in the pantry, Walnut oil in the fridge, and duck fat in the freezer. I just learned that duck fat makes great fried potatoes. I bet duck hunters already knew that though. I will be trying it soon. Last year, I went in a huge Asian market in Knoxville and almost fell to my knees; there was a strong odor of fish. The other reason?
Displayed before me were all manner of exotic vegetable and cooking ingredient. In a matter of minutes I was clutching baby Bok Choy and Lemongrass, my heart thumping with the thrill of finding these two Asian staples. I could already taste the soup these were going in. The little Mexican markets that are popping up everywhere do the same thing for me. I go in, ask questions, get lots of head nodding, smiles, and polite, "Si's" and come out smiling swinging my bag of hot peppers  or Chorizo. I am learning to write everything down before heading into one of these places. That way, I can just show them what I am looking for. Prevents too much confusion.

I also must admit to enjoying internet shopping. What's not to enjoy about sitting in your pj's, sipping tea and perusing the world's wares? The gas mileage is great, the lines are short, and there aren't any pushy sales clerks. And no dressing rooms. That alone induces me to do most of my clothes shopping online. The rule around here is if you shop online, you have to put the cash in an envelope to pay the bill at the end of the month, so that does keep me reigned in. I did a little shopping this way yesterday in fact. My acquisitions include a Brown Betty teapot (more about that in another post), some British foods for a tea party I am having for my girls, cultures for cheese making, herbs for tincture making and yarn. Always a little yarn.

OK, I admit it. After reading this, I guess I am a shopper. You sure learn a lot about yourself when you keep a blog.