Good Things: NetGrocer.com & Care Packages

I used to grocery shop daily, not because I had so much time or particularly cared to do so, but I never knew what I’d be preparing one day to the next. I’d complain about how tiring it was to go three different stores (within a two-mile radius): Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Balducci’s–each store promising exactly what I wanted anytime I needed it. These days it’s different. Say for instance I want to make macaroons (which I’ve been waiting to do since I purchased the cookbook, SugarBaby). I have to special order almond flour, or any other ingredients that I cannot find in the grocery stores in Amman in anticipation of one day making them. I’m sure there are specialty food stores that may sell almond flour, but I don’t know where these stores are located, nor does anyone I ask. I have vowed that once I get home, I will appreciate the cornucopia of options that these trifecta provide.

As excited as I was to tear into the NetGrocer box, the loot didn’t look as amazing as I remembered when I ordered it (over two weeks ago). It’s actually quite a sad lot: Saltines, Hormel pepperoni (the kind I’d never buy at home), chocolate chips, Baker’s chocolate, pretezls…It’s all normal, ordinary stuff I’d buy at ANY grocery store anywhere in the states. Nonetheless, as ordinary as this stuff may seem to those of you fortunate to enough to be able to get into you car and buy whatever your heart desires at any moment of the day, I’m so happy to have these supplies for my larder if ever I decide to make chocolate the chip cookies, brownies, cornbread, or macaroons that I desired on the day I placed the order.

And lastly, thanks to my parents for answering my plea for pork products, we finally have a small selection of salamis. This contraband is SO special that it’s going under lock and key, away from Raj, and will be rationed out and saved for VERY special occasions.