More on Shopping and a Sincere Apology

Yesterday, I drove to Philadelphia to meet The Diva and her Significant Other for a Vietnamese meal in Chinatown. On the way, I made a pit stop at the Whole Foods in Plymouth Meeting, which according to the market's website is - at a mere 45 miles away - the closest of their stores to my humble abode.

This was only my second visit ever to this temple of organic eating, my first being back in November when I quickly ducked into its sister establishment in Fort Lee, NJ during my Mitsuwa pilgrimage. Readers may recall that some of my most successful gluten-freedom ingredients and products were serendipitously purchased during this brief foray, including Dowd and Rogers chestnut flour and lemon cake mix and King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour, the only flour I will now use for general baking.

There were a few things listed in my shopping app for which I was on the prowl. Since my last WFs visit, I have become passionately devoted to organic russet potatoes and cauliflower, which are not always available locally.

In addition, I had been hearing a lot buzz on the web and elsewhere about Bionaturae pasta, an Italian gluten-free product that is supposedly beyond excellent. That, too, is unavailable nearby. I have not eaten pasta in weeks and weeks, as the only varieties to which I have access are not worthy of the name. I was briefly encouraged by a locally-available brand of corn spaghetti until a batch literally disintegrated and disappeared down the drain one evening when I accidentally tipped the colander into the sink. It was heartbreaking and I swore never again. But I am a sucker for the shilling that goes on in Bon Appetit magazine, so I was determined to give the Italian stuff a try. What do the Canadians know about pasta, anyway?

I presented myself at Whole Foods at 2:30 pm sharp, iPhone and recycled shopping bags in hand, and didn't get out of there until an hour later. Sadly, the Plymouth Meeting branch doesn't carry Dowd and Rogers products (shame! shame!) but there were many other riches to console me:

Two kinds of Bionaturae pasta (rigatoni and spaghetti); King Arthur Flour g/f chocolate cake mix (which I just know will be awesome); a new variety of spice cake mix; sweet biscuits from Glutino, makers of the best g/f crackers of all time; and two beautiful jars of fancy-schmancy preserves for corn-bread* adornment. I am also the proud new owner of several bags of organic vegetables and tubers, which should keep us going for weeks.

I now have the material for several days' worth of trial and experimentation and will be reporting my findings in due course. Who knows? This time next week, I just might be eating pasta again.

*
Fractured Amy apologizes for an egregious typographical error in her cornbread recipe. The blooper was discovered this morning, after a disastrous episode involving a hungry family anticipating Sunday breakfast; two newly-opened jars of sour cherry jam and bitter orange marmalade; and an over-leavened pan of burnt cornbread that proved inedible to man and beast. A hasty check of the recipe revealed that tablespoons rather than teaspoons of baking powder and soda were mistakenly specified in the relevant posting. This inaccuracy has now been rectified.

Fractured Amy's only defense is that the procedure was published on January 1st, when a girl is never at her best. She humbly apologizes to any readers inconvenienced by the lingering effects of her New Year's Eve revelries and assures one and all that she has now Learned Her Lesson.