Monday, April 26, 2021

A Trip to Whole Foods

 

I was thrilled to see this building! It was my first trip to Whole Foods in over a year and it was an artful experience!


 Are you like me at Whole Foods, the whole experience filled with eye candy where you're in an alternative world floating along the aisles, trying to take everything in as if you're in a fine arts museum, the produce department as breathtaking as a Cézanne still life?

No? Then you must go there so often that it's just another food market to you. I go there rarely since we moved from Valley View, which was only twenty minutes away. Even before the world was shut down, it was RH who most of the time went every month to Whole Foods for me, just to pick up these three products:


 A shower gel that is kind to my sensitive skin and two supplements that I take. As these products are sold in a separate building from the food, RH would park, run in and buy these three products and leave. He's not as fond of Whole Foods as I am so when I had my first opportunity a few weeks ago to go there with him, I enjoyed the whole trip immensely.

We drive through one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Nashville to get there and at this time of the year everything was in early Spring bloom.

 

I always forget to take pictures inside the store, too much in my own little world to think of blogging, but it was mostly produce that we bought this time and non-perishables as we were headed on to Kroger's and Costco afterwards.

But I was so taken with the Flamingo pears I picked out, never seeing them in our neighborhood stores, that I tried to be artsy with them.


 

Definitely lacking something and since PicMonkey got too complicated for me to navigate, I have turned to BeFunky for editing and just don't seem to be able to delicately make adjustments. I'm sure it's my whole lack of skills but everything I try seems to be not enough or too much.

 

 

What! I was hoping for something a little less than this but it will have to suffice. 

As will my pear, cheese, and cracker platter. I would spend time online trying to master this skill but feel sure it would be a waste of my time.

But I have four of these pretty little plates with a pear on them and wanted to use them.

And I had two jars of walnuts in honey that I had left to pickle for two months and wanted to try it.
 

Absolutely amazing! I saw this on a Japanese YouTuber's channel and the preparation seemed easy enough for me to handle: simply pack the walnuts in the jar and keep letting honey trickle in until the whole jar fills up. So good with crackers, cheese, and apples or pears. Or on ice cream or buttered muffins. 

We get our honey locally as all honey should be gotten, although I think my two favorite honeys so far have been the sourwood honey we always get in the North Carolina mountains and the Tupelo honey we once got in Apalachicola, Florida.



And who were the men with discriminating palates I served this snack to? 

RH and his brother and our grandson who had been working on outside projects all morning. With their luncheon meat sandwich on a paper plate. They were a sticky mess after eating the honey and walnuts but claimed it was very good, almost finishing the whole platter. They thought the platter of pears, cheese, and crackers was beautiful and said I could practice on them anytime.

8 comments:

  1. delightful! our Whole Foods is 30 miles away. it's a special place.
    to think of three big men loving your artistic and delicious platter...
    and Telling You So!!! a treat in itself! xo

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    1. Tammy, it's strange that you should write that last line because I remember thinking that day after the men went back outside to work that if their response was so sweet after such a humble offering, what might it be if I actually made something worth their thanks--like a pie? I guess now I'm committed to that!

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  2. The closest WF here is 1/2 hour away and I rarely go there. We have so many other grocery stores in the nearby vicinity, that are just as good and much lower in price. I wish I could magically whisk you here and take you to a private grocery store just two miles down the road (built just 1-1/2 years ago). It's called Woodmans and the place is massive. The first time we went there, we spent three hours walking up and down every aisle! The different ethnic aisles alone are amazing. We went grocery shopping there yesterday and got beautiful organic produce. I guess one good thing about living in a metropolitan area is that we have basically any kind of food item we want at our fingertips. But those pears though...now those I have never seen! They are beautiful.

    I had never heard of covering walnuts in honey! I bet that tasted amazing, especially with pears and cheese and crackers. Our good friend who lives just on the other side of our little town, is a beekeeper. So guess where we get our honey? :-)

    Have a wonderful week!

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    1. Melanie, I would simply adore being whisked away to Woodmans with you! And any other of the fascinating places you discover around your vicinity. I would buy some of your local honey, your local produce, and especially your local antiques. Wouldn't that be something!

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  3. Your artistic arrangements, both in pics and on platter, are very appetizing, Dewena, and I'm sure those hard-working men appreciated both the aesthetic and delicious effect of the pear/cheese and cracker combo.

    Greeks have been coating walnuts in honey since ancient times, and for centuries, the tasty duo has been part of the Greek Orthodox marriage ceremony, representing sweetness and fertility for the bride and groom. The walnut, which separates into four parts, symbolizes family origins and future offspring. Today, the country devours these two in Greek yogurt.
    Your own made in the USA natural honey looks and sounds scrumptious. Is it scented with the fragrance of wildflowers and thyme, like our Greek one?

    How pretty your drive to Whole Foods is! Blossom filled branches glowing in the spring sunshine are a magical sight. I'm glad you got to visit your beloved supermarket for your specialty items. It's a good feeling.

    Enjoy the season's delectable harvests on your charming plates and keep snapping lovely shots of your beautiful styling for us!

    Sending love,
    Poppy xoxo

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    1. Poppy, I love it when you tell me more about your Greek culture! I've never heard this about the walnut, that's seriously beautiful.


      Our local honey does not seem to have the scent of wildflowers, although it's color changes from season to season. But the North Carolina sourwood honey, if it's fresh crop honey, does indeed smell like the blossoms, in my memory at least. We've driven through the North Carolina mountains and valleys in late June when the sourwoods are in fragrant bloom and it's the best smell in the world to me. Wish I could smell some of your Cretan honey!

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  4. I know how exciting it is to get out and about! I had been doing the grocery shopping sporadically when I grew tired of having my orders messed up. Now I'm venturing into Target, Michaels and such. I've been to Whole Foods once. It really is a wonderland with beautiful produce. I don't eat wholly organic so I prefer a few grocery store chains that have never let me down. Those pears look marvelous and I'm going to try the honey and pears!!❤️

    Jane

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    1. It is amazing to be able to get out and shop again, isn't it, Jane? I hope I never complain about having to go to the grocery store again! When I think back to the simple grocery stores I grew up going to with my mother, I can't help but realize that our markets today have almost everything a person needs in them. And maybe that's why I get sensory overload when I'm there!

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