100% butter

Mothers, we wouldn’t be here without them. I was just thinking about a visit from my Mum from a year or so ago.

As I’ve gotten older and have been purchasing my own groceries, I’ve tended towards the more natural/100% whole food type items. When I buy juice I like 100% juice products. I don’t buy soda (to which my friends can testify, much to their annoyance when they’re at my house), and I normally purchase a vegan spread.

My Mum is really old school when it comes to food, and is sure that everything everywhere should cost what it does in New Zealand. She is often pleasantly surprised by some of the items for sale in the US, and has told me on three separate occasions (in person, in writing & a late midnight call) that if I’m running low on cash, for just 99 cents I can get a wonderful baked potato from Wendy’s – a nutritious meal at an unbelievable steal.

We were shopping for her stay with me at Trader Joes. We couldn’t purchase the bread there as it was “too expensive.” She didn’t understand why I wanted to purchase milk from cows not treated with bovine growth formula. Then I was mentioning the spread that I purchase, but said that we’d get something different for her she exclaimed that the butter here looked sick. (Admittedly, New Zealand butter is a vibrant bright yellow when compared to the pale , lackluster yellow you find here.)

So, I picked up a Swedish whipped butter spread, which I thought had a nice yellow butter pictured on the label. She grabbed it from my hands & I thought I may have picked a winner, however this was not to be, Instead she flips it over & exclaims “OH NO! We’re not purchasing this, the main ingredient is water! I’m couldn’t pay over $2 for a spread that’s made from water.”

We left, without bread, without butter, but with me wishing I’d just done the shopping before she arrived.