Monday 4 July 2011

You know you're middle aged when...

…Pretty much the highlight of your weekend was a trip to Waitrose.

I love Waitrose. Usually, I refuse to set foot in any supermarkets, preferring instead to stump up a fiver a week for a man in a van to bring my shopping to my front door. I have stopped even attempting to justify this to myself – it is a luxury that I point blank refuse to give up.

Waitrose, though. That’s another thing entirely. We had originally gone over there because I was craving roasted belly pork and we wanted to check out their meat counter. And we not only scored a beautiful 2 kilo slab of the stuff (bargainous at £12 – it will easily do 6 if not 8 meals) but the seemingly pre-pubescent butcher offered us a hefty discount to relieve him of three slightly tired looking pieces of pork fillet. So now we have rather a lot of pig in our freezer – if anyone has a particularly good piggy recipe to volunteer it would be most welcome!

And I finally realised why paying out for shopping delivery is a good idea. D and I wandered the aisles quite happily for a good long while (engaging in particularly earnest debate in the substantial gin section before we came away with a bottle of Tanqueray Rangpur) but on the whole were reasonably restrained. It therefore took an awful lot of willpower to keep my jaw from dropping open when the final tally came to over £75. I mean, that’s a week and a half’s shopping budget for me normally. And it doesn’t matter how many times I try and remember that I’ve got the basis of around twelve portions of porcine based suppers now, it’s still painful.

Fortunately, I was able to sooth my troubled spirit with gin (tasting notes: very fresh and citrusy. Nice.)

8 comments:

  1. Have you had the Martin Miller gin? I really love this one - lots of aromatics. Not that I have it any more, damn diet.

    Px

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  2. And did you see this?

    BISTRO DU VIN, SOHO
    36-38 Dean Street, London, W1D
    The newly opened Bistro du Vin is part wine bar, part restaurant and part cheese monger. Their specially-designed refrigerator contains over 70 cheeses and their bar is stocked with an extensive wine list, including card-operated dispensers that allow you to sample wines by the glass. Try a 2009 Bernard Defaix chablis (£7) paired with comté, or a 2009 Craggy Range Te Muna pinot noir (£8) with manchego. Then add some cured smoked salmon (£8.50) and Ibérico bellota ham (£10.50) and you have got yourself a very special evening.

    Sounds fab - see you there?

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  3. Ooooh, Peridot, Martin Miller gin is a household favourite. Beautiful and fresh tasting. Although I very much enjoyed this Rangpur blend as well. I'm on a mission to try every gin known to man...(at least it's less fattening than cider...)

    That Bistro du Vin place sounds great! Oh for some manchego and Iberico ham right now with a glass of smoky red to wash it down (looks sadly at her chicken sandwich and wonders how long it would take to get from Leeds to Dean Street.)

    :-))

    Sx

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  4. Personally I'm a Hendricks-with-sliced-cucumber girl when it comes to gin ... mmmmm..... gin....

    Waitrose is awful like that, and yet I still love it. I get highly frustrated that having moved from sleepy little Malvern to big bustling Bristol, I've gone from having a decent sized Waitrose to none-at-all ... grrrrrr. But I dropped into the one at the motorway services on the way back from holiday on Saturday, knowing the fridge was completely bare ... £23 later for a couple of meals over the weekend ... shocking!!! Mind you, chicken Forestier pate was to die for :o)

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  5. i hear you on the waitrose thang...it is the closest supermarket to our new pad and i spend a bomb every time i go in for milk (and wander the aisles and pick up more than i need)...everything just looks so pretty and tasty and gourmet! as for the gin...it is only monday! :)

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  6. Mmmmmmmm Gin.... Bombay Saphire and Tanqueray are my faves.

    Would it be the Waitrose they've opened near the Morrison's in York by any chance? It "got" us when it first opened and we ended up with a considerably lighter bank balance due to Mr B's habit of just putting things in the basket with out thinking!!!

    Lex xxx

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  7. Waitrose is my local supermarket and as much as I love it - I am always aghast when I pop in for a couple of things and never fail to spend less than £25.

    Oh Gin, how I love thee. I'm currently a Plymouth Gin girl myself - but I will have to try both Martin Miller and the Rangpur blend. Any excuse.

    Bistro Du Vin.... sounds amazing.

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  8. Loving the fact that all you lovely ladies are fellow gin fans! And Waitrose fans come to that. If I win the Euromillions tonight I promise to bestow Waitrose vouchers on all of you!! :-) (Oh, and treat us all to a slap at lunch at Bistro du Vin.)

    Sx

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