The Raisins Are Back

NOT  Travelling With Raisins During a Pandemic

At the Tall Ships Regatta, Ontario

I haven't posted for the series Travel with Raisins (their term not ours) for sometime now. Here's an update.

Many of us are self isolating or social distancing now and listening to news of the pandemic, from around the world. I thought this might be a good time to share with all of you a little of the light humour that's happening in our lives right now. Please join us and The Raisins, in some well-intention-ed fun.

They've been sticking close to home lately and only venture out for necessary errands - groceries, Walmart, the LCBO. Then they relax, kick off their shoes, quickly change out of their clothes and back into their PJs ... “whew it is nice to be home”. Several times a week they manage to attend the latest event at their local Arts Center – an AC/DC tribute band (they're big fans) or Led Zepplin, theatre, comedy; whatever goes. They are VIP members and attend most shows. These are ‘date nights’ – a lovely dinner, a show, maybe a bottle of wine, always leftovers! Life is good.

Along comes the Covid-19 pandemic. Our Government is telling us to stay home, don’t go out unless absolutely necessary, wash your hands, sanitize! We have just returned from 8 weeks on the island of Cozumel in Mexico and are now in self-isolation for two weeks. We are unable to do much to help The Raisins out, ATM. Luckily they have technology; they know how to online shop, bank, email and basically entertain themselves. I check in; do they have enough food? Answer, yes we have enough to last until September ... LOL.

Their local grocery store is open for seniors at 7 am; they can shop in a clean, sanitized environment. For them, it means rolling out of bed, showering, getting dressed, preparing breakfast, drink coffee, check email ... all this before 8 AM; that's not going to happen.

Tomorrow we end our self isolation. We tell them, we'll shop for them. They tell us their grocery list should cover them for a month.

I get an email. They have 35 items on their grocery list, but it's too long to type up; we should talk on the phone. I grab my pen & paper! The list is sorted by fruit, vegetables, canned goods, dairy, baked goods. Perfect! This will definitely help when going through the store. This isn't just any old list; this list also comes with mandatory requirements!

____________________
The Telephone Conversation.

Raisin: 4 bananas, red grapes, strawberries. "Make SURE they are from Ontario – the others aren’t any good!", ... oh! and blueberries 

Check – no problem with that.

Raisin: 5 lbs of potatoes, preferably the red ones. "Whatever you do, DON'T get the ones with yellow flesh, it's just wrong eating a potato with yellow flesh. It’s like eating a purple carrot – it is just wrong!"

Oops I remember serving them rainbow carrots once – I thought they looked really pretty on the plate. Check – got it no yellow flesh potatoes.

Note: The original carrots were purple.

Raisin: more veggies are listed and then the conversation comes back to carrots. We want one small package of carrots. I make the mistake of asking "do you mean baby carrots?" "NO!!! There is something wrong with eating baby carrots, we ONLY want regular orange carrots and it has to be a SMALL package" 

OK – check, got it.

Note: The origin of baby carrots.

Raisin: 4 onions. "JUST 4, ONLY white or sweet, NO Spanish onions, they are too strong." 

OK Check.

Raisin: one small turnip. "If you can’t get a small one then make SURE they cut it in four for us since we can’t deal with it." 

OK Check.

Raisin: the list goes on, evaporated milk ... "Make SURE it is whole.", 1 small jar of peanut butter,  ... "Make SURE it is smooth, we ONLY want the one with sugar and salt, NONE of that natural, organic stuff with oil in it." 

OK check.

Raisin: two cans of diced tomatoes 28 ounces - "ONLY the ones with herbs; don't like the natural ones." 
Check.

Raisin: one package of grated cheddar (Raisin number 2 yells (they both wear hearing aids) from the background ... "Old, just like us." )

Check.

Raisin: four liters of 2% milk - "Make SURE it is the filtered milk, ONLY the filtered milk - it lasts longer".  
Check.

Raisin: variety pack of yogurt "You know the little, individual ones - fruit flavoured". (Raisin number 2 " JUST with peach, berries"). 
OK check.

Raisin: baguette, white. "NONE of that whole wheat stuff."

Check.

Raisin: one package of buns. "You know the ones for sausages, the SOFT ones." (Raisin number 2 yells from the background ... "Make SURE they are soft.") 

Check.

Raisin: OK that’s 35 items altogether, oops "Nope we need 1 more onion now.", so that's 36, oh no we "Need a 750 ml jar of sweet green relish; NOT that yellow, corn stuff - that's not relish." added. 

Raisin: Wait, (Raisin number 2 yelling) - " One 'party sized' bag of Tostido chips - NOT the whole wheat, ONLY the white corn and make SURE they're the round ones."
Check.

I think you all get the picture. I just got such a chuckle out of it and then thought about how I would give our grocery order to someone else. I would be exactly the same or possibly even more particular! We all have our likes and dislikes, my order wouldn’t have been the same as theirs, but I am just as picky as they are. So good for you Raisins ... you know what you want and we’ll try and deliver.  Love you both, hope we put a smile on your faces.

Newsflash – the list just grew to 39!!!