Tag: Travel

the grocery store tourist in me

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Some people travel to foreign places to see the sites, the beaches, the exotic scenery, the history, the culture, and on, but there are some people who travel for the food. They travel to cities just to check out the restaurants receiving international reviews.  Others, travel, for former reasons, and combine culinary tourism along the way – as I have done before….

In 2006, I lived in London, England for a year and to this day, I remember my first visit through a local Tesco grocery store. I wandered the aisles for 2.5 hours. Yes – and it was amazing – AMAZING!  With my marketing hat on I appreciated the packaging and with my foodie hat on I swooned over new ingredients and sweets. When I’d memorized the grocery stores, I also visited as many markets as I could – my roommate would be ready to go and I could stare at the vendors’ displays forever….

A chocolatier in Borough Market, South London.

A chocolatier in Borough Market, South London.

The dairy aisle in a British grocery store.

Dairy aisle in British grocery store: orange cheese virtually doesn't exist over there

Baked beans, almost full aisles dedicated to them. Beans on toast is a common meal there, as popular as North American's Kraft dinner.

Baked beans, almost full aisles dedicated to them. Beans on toast is a common meal there, as popular as North American's Kraft dinner.

Well back then, I didn’t know I was a grocery store tourist. I knew I loved going into grocery stores, but I never knew it was a thing I could be until recently when I stumbled across someone else online labeling themselves a grocery store tourist. That’s when it hit me,

I am officially a Grocery Store Tourist.

New additions to North Vancouver

New additions to North Vancouver

Grocery store tourism, like all travel, can take place far and near… Last night, I took a little stay-cation down to my local Thrifty’s that recently opened in North Vancouver.  The shelves were lined with brand new products everywhere, freshly packaged meat, cheese, breads, produce glistening from the fresh mist of water, and the bulk candy aisle’s plastic dispensers glistened in the fluorescent lights – not yet tarnished by overuse from years of dispensing…

Neighbouring the new Thrifty’s is Bed, Bath & Beyond – a new addition to North/Vancouver proper. The combination makes for a weeknight culinary tourism spectacle.  Like my first Tesco grocery trip all over again, I wandered the aisles, dreaming of recipes I should make and the fun I could have prepping the ingredients. The basket on my arm began to fall heavy suddenly, and before an embarrassing amount of time could pass, I had to leave. So I wandered to Bed Bath & Beyond, thinking it would be a quick visit, I was soon corrected, and here is why:

BBB's kitchen section...

Part of BBB's kitchen section... I was overwhelmed!

The gadgets intrigue me everytime...

The gadgets always intrigue me: who comes up with this stuff?!

Endless organization options...

Endless organization options...

Are you a grocery store tourist? If so, tell me about it below…

#12 – A Samantha Jones Food Blogging Experience

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Yes. Really, a Samantha Jones food blogging experience, which for me parallels to the scene in Sex & The City 2, when Samantha meets Miley on the red carpet and they are caught wearing the same dress! Gasp! Granted the angle the movie took was more about Samantha dressing age-appropriate, but on another level it was still a fashion faux-pas experience. What do you when you are expected to have your own look, and you look the same?

Same dress, same shoes, same blog look – whatever your fashion medium may be, it is your look but when someone else has the same look, what does one do?  In the blogging world, there are a finite number of looks to dress your blog in for those at the mercy of  wordpress or blogspot designs (until one day you can branch out and hire a creative team to rebrand your site).

In my recent food blog scene research, I have now come across more than one  blog with the same look as Beyond The Dough – and all are also Vancouver based bloggers. Perhaps purely a case of great minds thinking a like, but at first I did not know how to react. Should I share them or try to change my look?  Personally, I feel the look of one’s blog is an important image – like hosting guests in your home – you  want to be inviting and encourage people to return.

Today, I choose to embrace my fellow food bloggers and their fabulous content – just as Miley and Samantha chose to do, gracefully. One dress can be worn in many different ways, just as a blog can.

Each of these Vancouver foodies have been blogging longer than myself and each has a different story to tell, with a different angle to the food scene than myself, and with great content of photos and stories. We each share two things in common 1) a clean contemporary blog look and 2) we are each based in Vancouver and love sharing about the food here!

For my blog or bust challenge post #12, check out each of these Vancouver Food blogging divas, in no particular order:

#12A – The Well Tempered Chocolatier – I met this food blogger in August at a food tasting event. She writes on ‘the science of sweet things’, and has been blogging since 2006!

#12B – Vancouver Good – I also met this food blogger at the same August event, her blog happens to cover ‘all things good about Vancouver for visitors and locals’ and naturally includes alot of food! Angie’s blog is organized conveniently so you can find what you want – like a local food / travel directory.

#12C – Ethnic Eats – On covering Tiny Bites yesterday, I learned this blogger is one of their contributors as well. Degan Beley not only hosts her own blog, Ethnic Eats, but contributes to a few other food blogs around town as well. Her Ethnic Eats site includes good eats, cheap eats, photos and and array of menu diversity – as Vancouver’s food scene offers. Her style is very captivating too.