to market, to market . . .

for some people it's clothes. for others it's food. i'm a foodie. and one of my favorite places to go is the grocery store.

despite the snowy weather, i made my usual rounds this morning to two of my local grocery stores. i grabbed my cart, pulled out my list -- and then wandered the isles looking at all that could be ours. (i really only get to wander when i shop alone. when mr. pike comes along, i stick to the list.)

now fortunately, i have somewhat mastered some self control -- so even though i wander, i usually only get what's on the list. there's no better feeling than when you have a cart full of wonderful ingredients you can't wait to cook up.

i believe my love of grocery stores started as a young girl, when i often accompanied my mom grocery shopping on saturday mornings. she knew how to shop for deals - and so we usually went to 2-3 stores before heading back home. i now follow this same model. i get excited when the grocery store circulars come in the mail, and i can start planning a new menu and a new grocery list.

today's trip was particularly successful - a sale on orange juice, yogurt, ketchup, turkey from the deli, clementines, red potatoes, and gala apples. i was so excited to tell mr. pike about all the yummy things i bought for a good price.

now that our fridge and pantry are full, mr. pike and i are going to enjoy our snowy evening with homemade pizza (we made homemade BBQ sauce earlier this week and love using the leftover for BBQ pizza!) and a movie we borrowed from our library. what a nice end to a very satisfying day.