In a pickle

Shops are now open to sell anything on their shelves and we are no longer restricted to purchasing whatever some government official has deemed to be “essential”. We popped out to The Shed yesterday as I needed some parcel tape to package up some things that I need to be posting off. We had to hunt, it wasn’t in the Stationery section, but we eventually found it in the DIY area. It’s not of great quality so I am nervous regarding my packages and whether they will make it as far as the UK.

As per the usual case, we unintentionally bought a mass of stuff. I was happy to secure a further supply of the Mercurey that we had sampled on Saturday night but we did also come home with some chocolate Orangettes, Japanese Peanuts, and Tortilla chips. I purchased two further packs of zippered net laundry bags for washing my new skirts in. Not too bad on the rubbish front overall but we did, alas, behave like That Brit:

Pickled Onions! Not Hayward’s, nor Garner’s, just a cheapie brand, but… Pickled Onions! Now I shall need to compound the ex-pat crime and find Cheddar Cheese, or Pork Pies…

I know where to find the pork pies. The Montybutcher makes a nice pie. Not a proper pork pie as any Yorkshireman knows it (he’s a Scot) but they are very moreish, I must say. They are encased in the Scottish style of pie pastry, like his most excellent Scotch Pies, but filled with pork. Very, very good when eaten still warm!

Cheddar Cheese is more challenging. Most supermarkets stock the plastic-wrapped, rubbery kind of cheap Cheddar that we would eschew back in the UK, but I have yet to see a good Cheddar. Perhaps in the cities perhaps, but we are country bumpkins. No, Comté will not do. It’s nice, but it’s wrong. Plus, it’s way too expensive to serve with pickles. Cantal might be good with pickled onions but again, probably a bit of a sin.

It’s a dull and drizzly day today, not overly cold but feels miserable. I am sitting by the woodburner and trying to galvanise myself.