Don't Grocery Shop (Or Read This Post) Hungry

Do you ever meticulously write a grocery list and put it somewhere that you're sure to remember it? Then you move it about five times before you leave for the grocery store- jacket pocket, purse, pull it out again to add something. You get to your car and realize you've left it inside and have to go back in to get it. You get to the store, do your shopping, and at the checkout line as you're pulling your wallet out realize you never glanced at the list the whole time? 

Going to the grocery store in a new place is cause for stress. I enjoy cooking big, polychromatic meals with fresh ingredients, so finding a grocery store that has great products, is clean, reasonably priced, and convenient is harder than actually cooking the meal (and when you're living on the island your options are finite). My first whole day on the Vineyard I decided to tackle this inevitable task as nutella sandwiches were leaving my stomach with a certain rattle. I checked out two local stores, signed up for a member card, and came out pretty satisfied. 


Not pictured: the can of chicken noodle soup, nutella sandwich, and goldfish that constituted my "meals" the first while 





Roasted multicolored carrots, red potatoes, and asparagus with tricolored penne.



The Black Dog Bakery is just down the street- s'mores squares, everything bagel, and multigrain rolls.



Luckily mozzarella was on sale, but it's just not the same without fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden! 



It was my roommate's birthday, so I bought all the groceries for some of my best dishes and let her pick. She decided on tacos (I think the deciding factor was the margarita pairing).



Serbian salad, leftover pasta/potatoes, and a steamed artichoke (with lemon butter)

Thanks Annette for the homemade granola!



My family and I spent a few summers road tripping out to Cape Cod. These memories are some of the clearest and most fun that I cherish from childhood. The five of us would kayak, go whale watching, go birding (much to mine and the boys' dismay at the time), eat seafood (again, the boys and I had chicken tenders for a week), and spend time on the beach. I'm sure we drove our parents crazy, but boy did we have fun.  One vivid memory is of going to the market and buying some artichokes followed by picking out a lobster at the fish market. My parents cooked them that night while the boys and I played wall ball with a bouncy ball in the huge empty basement. That is the only time in my life I've ever had whole steamed artichoke, so I always associate artichokes with that night. Last night my roommate instructed me so that I could cook my second whole artichoke, pictured above. Thanks Mom and Dad for spending the time, effort, and money to make our childhoods fun.