Grocery shopping is one of my most dreaded ordeals. Not because I dislike buying, of course, but I cannot stand milling about with the hordes to buy food. Most of the time my husband will take on the grocery shopping, but today I decided to go along as it was very early. To my chagrin, there were more people out and about this morning because of the Christmas season. By the time we left the grocery an hour later the place was packed. I shudder at the thought; I’m uncomfortable in crowded areas that are boxed in to boot.

 

At any rate, we are now stocked up with foodstuff for the next little while. Because of my dislike of crowds, I normally don’t see the inside of a grocery store but once (sometimes twice) a month. In fact, if I had my druthers I’d order all of my food and other supplies exclusively through the Internet and local delivery services. I’m not a hermit per say, but misanthropy runs in my family so it’s no surprise to me that I feel as I do. I come from a long line of Irish folks who’d rather stay home than venture out into the world, a trait that also seems to afflict my Canadian mother to a lesser degree.

 

Tonight (from the peaceful confines of my kitchen) I made a tomato sauce using Italian sausage as a base, along with green bell pepper cut into strips, onion, and plenty of minced garlic from the spice-bottle (which only seems to grow more overpowering the longer it sits on the shelf). I also used a large can of generic tomato sauce, and let the whole lot simmer after browning the sausage. Even after all of the shopping this morning, I forgot to purchase regular spaghetti pasta, so I was forced to boil linguine to go with our meal. However, I did remember to pick up a twenty-five ounce bag of Rosetto cheese ravioli, and this was a nice accompaniment to the linguine. Baguette garlic bread topped the meal, and I have to say it turned out well. Lots of leftover sauce (as usual), but I think this batch would also do well on top of a pizza crust.