Provisioning Day

After a good eleven hour sleep by me, 13 hours by Shay and a record breaking 7 hours by Russ, we got up to our first Maine Morning. It was foggy and cool, a bonus to us. Thankfully we had stopped at Trader Joe’s in Portland and gotten a few things so we had breakfast foods.

After our avocado toasts we started the lists of things we needed. Not just food, but a dog bed for Shay, as we forgot one, and pillow cases for the extra pillows that don’t have cases, shampoo. With a list in hand we planned out route to provision the house, not just for us, but for the guests we will be having.

Our first stop was Beth’s the farm market we love best. As far as I know, every road in the mid coast leads to Beth’s and you know it from the rustic hand painted signs pointing you in the right direction of the big farm. They grow so many fabulous vegetables that I am always discovering a new type of squash or variety of tomato. I held back from buying much jam on this visit as I know I will be returning when Karen visits. We did get a blueberry pie as Russ was craving that first thing.

I did not think we did too much damage until our cute check out lady turned the cash register screen to show me that the total was $222.22. I realized I forgot basil, but didn’t want to mess up that perfect amount.

From Beth’s we took the rural road to Ocean State to buy mustards and tinned fish along with the dog bed, bath mat and pillow cases. I held back from buying the $199.99 inflatable paddle board, but I was a tempted.

Our last stop was Shaw’s, for toilet paper, chicken, yogurt and other perishable staples. We filled the car on these three stops so it was time to get home to Shay who was most unhappy about being left at home. At least now we have plenty of food for any kind of meal and only need to run out for ice cream.

We did have a new visitor today who we have not seen before. I think he is a woodchuck, but I welcome corrections if you know better. He was eating things in the grass near the oceans edge. When Russ went out on the deck he scampered down the rocks.

For dinner I made Russ the same meal I made him the night he asked me to marry him, pasta primavera. I had never cooked anything for him before he proposed. So he was very happy when he tasted my cooking and realized the bonus he got. It was quite a feat, since all my friends had always said, “Whomever marries you is going to do it for your cooking.”

So 33 years later I finally get around to recreating that dinner thanks to the vegetables we got at Beth’s. Or course they are so much better than the one’s we bought at the Acme Supermarket in Cinnaminson,NJ, but I love Russ more today than I did 33 years ago so it should be better. He deserves the best all the time.

Being in Maine with him is the best.