Random, but mostly about food

[trinityofone]

I got a package from mciac! She sent me Kate Atkinson's Case Histories and lovely bath stuff and, best best of all, chocolate! Scharffen Berger--so the really good chocolate. Chocolate so dark, eating it is kind of like getting attacked by an army of cocoa beans. But in a tasty way.

Thank you, mciac! Finding the package slip in my mailbox was exceedingly exciting. Seriously, if anyone wants to send me empty envelopes, I would still appreciate it, because really, I just like getting mail. I'm a mail whore.

***

Marks & Spencer, further solidifying its status as THE DEVIL, is selling mini mince pies, 12 for 3 euro. I was in there the other day, and all these packages of happy, Christmas-looking pies are stacked up by the cash register. Now, I really shouldn't be spending money on anything unessential. So I thought: I know! I'll get the cashier to tell me that mince pies are essential! Watch:

Me: Are those mince pies?
Cashier: Yes.
Me: Not the kind with meat?
Cashier: No. Fruit.
Me: They don't have that kind of mince pie in the U.S.
Cashier: *blank look*
Me: You know, where I'm from?
Cashier: *blankety blank*
Me: See, accent? Oh, never mind. But yeah--I've never had a traditional Christmas mince pie.
Cashier: *is supposed to say, "No!" "That's awful!" "But you must!"* Do you need a bag?
Me: No, I've got one. *starts to pack groceries into used Arnott's bag, because in Ireland, supermarkets charge for bags* You know, just the other day, I was telling some friends of mine that I'd never had mince pie, and they were like, "How have you lived?"
Cashier: That'll be 19.24.
Me: *sigh* Why don't you thrown in some of those mince pies?

So Marks & Spencer really needs to train more enthusiastic cashiers. Because damn, mince pie is good! If you've never had any...How have you lived?

***

Random fic revelations, specifically regarding character shortcuts I sometimes use to write:

1. John’s dad is the dad from Dirty Day. Which would make John Bono. Which is weird.

2. Rodney’s mom is my Grandma Jan. Which would make Rodney my dad, which is BAD and DIRTY and WRONG and we are all going to pretend that this sentence DOESN’T EXIST.

***

My mom is awesome. Last night she sent me this e-mail:

*

From: trinityofone's Mom
To: trinityofone
Subject: Just so you'll know--

--and keep fingers crossed--I'm trying to book our Christmas dinner
(it'll be lunch, really) at The Clarence. You know--Bono's hotel?

Mum

*

I wrote her back:

From: trinityofone
To: trinityofone's Mom
Subject: OMG!

YOU WIN AT LIFE!

*

And she replied:

From: trinityofone's Mom
To: trinityofone
Subject: Re: OMG!

Heh--your internet parlance cracks me up! I'll let you know when it's confirmed.

Yr Mum

*

So I guess it's okay that LJ has eaten my brain, because it amuses my mother.

***

Finally, since I had five minutes to kill yesterday, here's a little cartoon mini-me:


Yep. Definitely plotting something nefarious. Just look at those shifty eyes!

***

Okay, I lied. To make this post truly random, we need a pointless poll.

[Poll #613884]

Comments

[taelonmahal.livejournal.com]

What's Scharffen Berger?

So Marks & Spencer really needs to train more enthusiastic cashiers

*lol* Very nice story.

Out of curiosity: where do you usually go shopping?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Scharffen Berger is really potent chocolate. It's often used for baking, but some crazy people (i.e., me) just eat it. The company's native to Berkeley, I think, but it's spread to the rest of California, if not farther. Pretty soon, it will conquer the WORLD!

Embarrassingly, I shop at Marks & Spencer much more than I should. My dorm has a really crappy kitchen--the size of an airplane bathroom, with a fan oven and a hob that doesn't work--so it's difficult to cook, and I end up relying on the M&S ready-made meals. When I need basics, though, I make the trek to either Tesco or Dunnes. I assume there's a similar situation in Limerick?

[taelonmahal.livejournal.com]

Thankfully we have a rather large kitchen. In fact our house has the largest in the whole village, I think, because of the way the houses are arranged. I bought some ready-made meals, but I didn't eat them yet. As long as I have potatoes there's no need for them. ;)

I usually go shopping at both Dunnes Stores and Tesco - I prefer Dunnes Stores, but when I have other things to do in the city (the university is in a suburb) I shop at Tesco. I've also been to the Lidl two times. That's a cheap German supermarket. If you want to save some money you should try to find one in Dublin. Shopping might take a bit longer, though, because you might have to search for the English translations of what you're buying... but there are usually loads of non-Irish folks there - so if you're having doubts just ask them what the hell it is you're buying. ;)
There's also a SuperQuinn and a Spar in the suburb itself, but I haven't been there yet, because I heard that they are more expensive than Dunnes and Tesco. There's even a tiny village shop in the same house I live in... but the stuff there is really, really expensive. I only buy fruits there, because the stuff I buy in supermarkets tends to go bad pretty fast. *sniff*
I haven't seen a Marks & Spencer yet, btw.