neotoma

I got my second Covid shot yesterday, and so far I've felt extremely tired and a bit congested, with a bit of a headache. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow and it will be over.

Half-gallon of chocolate milk (last week's purchase turned out to be a half-gallon of Mocha Moo, which is chocolate milk and coffee powder. Oops. Well, at least I was awake), apple-pecan strudel, masaco (pork-plantain-cheese) empanadas, a vegetable empanada, 3 Mango Jalapeno Chicken Sausage handpies, a salted caramel whoopi pie, a buttermilk cake slice, 2 smoked gouda mini-tarts, a sage sausage corn muffin, an extreme chocolate cookie stack, and a chewy ginger cookie stack.

The organization that runs the market was giving out PPE boxes (sponsored by Square...?) that include hand sanitizer, vinyl gloves, and disposable face masks. So I have that box, but I might give away the hand sanitizer -- I hate hand sanitizer, as it has exactly the same sticky texture as BBQ sauce, and only use it when there's no way to wash my hands.

I also went to the hardware store and picked up some vegetable seeds -- mostly tomatoes, but two kinds of tomatillos, an eggplant variety, and North Georgia Candy Roaster squash. I also got sunflower seeds for my birdfeeder, a new jar for my pie weights, a pair of small bowls, and replacement Brita water filters.

I got my flu shot today. It would have been nice if the drug store chain that's local to me hadn't kept trying to re-direct me to a location miles away when I looked up availability, but I called the one that's walking distance from my place and they had it available for walk-ins.

This year it's pretty critical to avoid flu, so I'm doing my best.

Yesterday I finally went to a grocery -- I hadn't been since March 23rd. I was careful to make a list so I that I didn't get distracted from necessities that I can't get at the local farmer's market like ginger root, cream, bananas and parchment paper, all of which I was out of.

I went about a half hour after noon, so it wasn't too busy. They were surprisingly out of almost all bar soap -- just a package of Irish Spring, a package of dial, and few individual bars of a fancy coconut oil soap left on the shelves. Dish soap and dishwasher detergent weren't quite as stripped bare, but they weren't much better

Also they were out spray-oil, having only Pam with flour and a toasted sesame oil left. I would have liked to get some, as it makes oiling a bowl for bread to rise in easier, but neither of those would do.

The canned beans were pretty ravaged, and also the mac-and-cheese aisle. There wasn't much sugar left, though there was some. They did have restaurant-labeled bags of flour, but I don't need 25 lbs of flour; that's definitely overkill for a one-person kitchen.

Most people were good about masks, though there were a few who had them pulled down to expose their noses, so yeah.

Next time I'll bring my shopping cart. It will make carrying things easier and I'll be able to judge how much I'm buying better.

I stopped by the Safeway coming home tonight and picked up a pack of toilet paper, another box of kleenex, two cans of soup, bagels, cream cheese, skyr, and a couple of packs of ramen.

I don't think I've had cheap ramen since I was in collage, but I'm reasonably sure that I can dress it up into something acceptable by cracking an egg or two into it, and maybe adding a scoop of kimchi or half an onion. Basically, I bought some 'I have no energy to stand for five minutes and cook' food or 'I've been stuck in my apartment for three weeks due to quarantine and have almost nothing left' food; the canned soup can be donated if I don't use it, and the ramen will wind up in some experiment or other.

I also picked up 4 bag of mixed dried berries on clearance, and a bag of peppermints -- at the very least I'll have something to nibble on if I do get stuck in my apartment, and it's not like they'll go bad.

Now the only things left on my list are Dayquil, chocolate, and Brita water filters.

If you haven't been reading siderea's pandemic preparation series -- about taking reasonable and measured preparation for Covid-19, check it out. She also did a great series on the 1918-1919 Pandemic Flu in Boston.