Sunday = Monday

Here in the desert, Sunday is the start of the work week. That means Friday and Saturday are our weekends, and Sunday = Monday. Sunday also comes with a case of the Mondays, as it were.

I decided to run to the mini grocery for a few things we'd missed at Carrefour this weekend, and it was supposed to just be a quick trip out to pick up a few things and come home. Well, a quick trip turned into classic "expat problems," and was a little longer than I'd expected.

We usually pick out a few recipes at the start of the week to make for meals, and this week Jon decided chili sounded good (despite being in the middle of a 100+ degree desert...), so we picked out a recipe and got, with a few exceptions, most of the things during our big Friday hypermarket run. Last night, I made Bacon Bbq Apple Chicken in the slow cooker, which was delicious. But we still needed a few things for the chili recipe that we couldn't find at Carrefour, and we were pretty sure we'd seen them at Spinneys. Quick, easy trip. Maybe hop by the liquor store to pick up some cider to enjoy.

This blog brought to you by my spirit animal, Grumpy Cat.

I got to the mini grocery using the shuttle, and dropped by the ATM to grab some cash, only to discover that once again, it was out of order. Oops. Well, no big deal. I walked into the grocery, grabbed a basket, lamented that I hadn't written a list, stood around for a few seconds recalling what I needed, and then went hunting. All I wanted was some baking soda so I could make some cookies and muffins (here, it's the British "bicarbonate of soda"), black beans, and pumpkin. Now, I knew the last thing was a long shot, but both Jon and I had seen it in stores before (he very enthusiastically pointed it out to me one time). We are being seriously affected by the influx of pumpkin in all of your Facebook feeds from back home, since it is approaching fall and Starbucks brought back pumpkin spice early and Pinterest is awash with pumpkin recipes. So, if you could kindly STOP TAUNTING US, maybe I wouldn't have to run all over the city looking for the elusive pumpkin.

They had my bicarbonate, and that was it. No black beans, no pumpkin. Well, that's fine, it is a smaller grocery and wasn't apt to have the more selective items. I put the bicarbonate back on the shelf and left. No big deal. I decided that since I was out and about, I'd just suck it up and head to its larger cousin in the city. Surely, they'd have what I needed.

After a 30 dirham cab ride, I was totally expecting to walk in, find everything I needed and walk out, champion of grocery shopping. Not so much. Not only did they not have the pumpkin (not really a surprise, again, it's pretty obscure and maybe we didn't see it there after all), but they didn't have the black beans, and I knew I'd seen those there. Strike two. Well, I figured, all is not lost, because this being the same chain they surely have my bicarbonate. 

My face in the baked goods aisle.

All they had was baking powder. You can find baking powder everywhere here, but good luck finding baking soda. Even the stores I knew had it seemed to be out of it when I went looking. You know, Murphy's Law and what not. So I grabbed some produce since it looked fresher than my previous stop, picked up those frozen pizzas and that bread Jon loves that you can only find at this grocery (a while I'm here situation), and picked myself up a bag of cookies for the trouble, since I figured I wasn't going to be baking any this week, obviously. I hopped a cab back home, with only frustration, a lot bread, and a 60 dirham total cab fare deficit to show for my outing.

Sundays, man. They are just the same as Mondays. So enjoy your extra weekend day today, America.

P.S. - Despite the overall grumpy nature of today's blog, it does have a happy ending, because when I got home I put out an APB on the housewives' network for baking soda, and my good friend Rachel came to my rescue. So I do have muffins this week. And some extra cookies. Thanks, Rachel.