Around the aisles

With a free afternoon, some hit the beach, others wash laundry, snowboard, hunt, watch movies, play video/computer games, facebook/myspace, and whatever other entertainment suits each.

What a person does with his/her "free" time is quite interesting. For example, this past weekend, I toiled into the wee hours of the morning to make a few necklaces and bracelets, wash laundry, and sort through a growing pile of papers. Today, I headed straight for one of the largest consumer-convenient stores in the area for an afternoon of grocery shopping (don't worry, Walmart; Spinnies' got nothing on you!):

Mental shopping list -- check.
Money -- check.
Comfortable shoes -- check.

Up one aisle, down the next. When I'm not exhausted, hungry, and in a rush, I enjoy perusing the various aisles at the grocery market. Baking goods, canned foods, pastas, rice, candy, snacks, juice, soda, chipsies, condiments, dairy, produce, bakery goods, seafood, poultry. There's so much to look at! So many ideas race through my head:

Customers should be allowed to throw all expired food at
impatiently-rude-run-me-over-with-their-cart customers.

I can make Mexican refried beans for 6 L.E. cheaper if I use Egyptian
beans (fava)....but would they still be Mexican?

Strawberries are on sale, I'll make jam.

Chinese parsley and cilantro are the same thing, but parsley and Chinese parsley aren't. Coriander smells more like cilantro than parsley.....is coriander related to Chinese parsley?

"SOY MILK!!! SOOOOOY MILLLKKK!" as I pick up my first carton of soy milk this
side of the Nile!

I don't understand a word you're saying Mr. Aisle Attendant Man, and even if you keep talking, I still will NOT buy the expired eggs no matter how good the
prices

All these thoughts eventually come to an end as I finally roll up to the cashier.....excitement subsiding as I remember that all these adventures around the aisles come at a price.

Two hours later, a jar full of home-made salsa (with coriander instead of cilantro or parsley) and a jar full of home-made strawberry jam in the fridge, a small pot of pinto beans (soon to be Mexican refried beans) on the stove, a glass full of soy milk on the counter, and yes, expired eggs in their carton, the price of a not-so-FREE afternoon strolling through the aisles of the grocery store are well worth the price........my wallet and waist size agree ;)