A perfectly drismal day.  Dreary, dismal, cold, rain… Perfect for a quick shopping trip and back home.  Well…  not that quick of a shopping trip.  Victor went shopping with me, today!

I do the majority of the grocery shopping.  I also do most of the cooking.  It’s one of those divisions-of-labor that couples consciously or unconsciously make.  Victor does the laundry.  I always have clean clothes, he always has a hot meal.  It works for us.

But when the two of us are in a store together?!?  Uh-oh…

We tend to encourage the other to buy things and spend money.  I’m bad enough on my own – but with the two of us?!?  You want Sicilian Blood Orange Marmalade?  It costs $12.99 so you’re not going to buy it?  Go get a jar.  It will be our one extravagance this trip.

Sold.  We’ll add it to the collection of fabulous foods we need to eat one of these days.

So while I was shopping the store with my Wegmans iPhone app grocery list (arranged by aisle and department, thankyouverymuch!!!)  Victor was perusing the Italian dinnerware.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) the only one he liked was open stock for a dinner plate, salad plate, and soup bowl for $185.00, give or take…  Since we would need 4 of each to match our numerous other sets of 4 of each, we decided we really didn’t have a place to put them.  Or the $740.00 plus tax.  They were nice plates.  Just not that nice.

Back to that iPhone app for a moment…  It’s marketing genius.  Search for products, add them to your list, bring up past register receipts and click on items to add to your list…  And the final saved list is grouped by aisle and department.  It’s a tech-junkie’s paradise.  I found several items that I knew I would be needing soon for the holidays and picked them up today.  I had no idea they even carried the stuff until I went through the list.  Marketing genius.

Because the app drew me over to the meat section to get suet for my Christmas puddings, I espied a fresh turkey breast.  Dinner tonight, sandwiches, a big pot of turkey soup…  a lot of meals can be made from one of those.  Sold.

I have to admit I restrained myself a lot with this.  Turkey can often just take on a life of its own…  Dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce… Craziness can (usually does) ensue.  Tonight, I made turkey, sweet potatoes, peas and gravy.    That’s all.

It was more than enough!

The sweet potatoes were the star tonight.

I peeled and sliced the potatoes and put them into a big bowl with a half-cup of flour.  Coated them well.

Meanwhile, I took 6 tbsp butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, a half-teaspoon of cinnamon, and a half-teaspoon of ginger, and placed it in a small saucepan and brought it all to a boil.

I took the floured potatoes, placed them in a buttered pie plate and drizzled the sauce over them, covered the plate with foil, and baked at 350° for an hour.

They were really good.

They made enough for 6 people, easily, so we’ll be enjoying them for another day or two.

Drismal outside, fun inside.

Life is good.