Monday, September 3

Eavesdropping can be such fun at times. Wandering about in a Supermarket can be damn boring but it can also be fun, if you prick your ears up.

Overheard one day.
Talker "Well, I am hoping I recognise her. We haven't seen each other since we were at school, all those years ago."
Same speaker, before the Listener has time to draw breath.
"Oh and did you hear about Olive! She lost her stomach!"

This was too intriguing not to listen in on, so I casually inched up the freezer cabinet pretending an inordinate interest in the Pizza selections. Four cabinets of them! Who knew there were so many??
Thinking 'How can someone 'lose' their stomach'??
Bending right over to inspect the bottommost Pizzas.



"OH!" gasps the Listener "What..."
Quickly she is cut off by the Talker. "Well, she had something, ...her gullet, ...it collapsed & killed her stomach. She was days away, probably hours away from dying!"
Listener, "How...?"
Talker, "Well I think they had to take out all of it."
Listener, "Is...?"
Talker, "She has lost so much weight. She is lucky to be alive!"

I think that might be debatable, & I slink slowly off down the Freezer pretending to inspect Meat Pies. Where GOM stumbles upon me & says in amazement, as he knows I dont eat them, "What are you looking at those for?"

I shrug & we move off to collect some potato chips- or French fries as some of you might call them.

GOM has always had a fascination with electrical gadgets, & for Birthdays & Xmases has often requested such things as an Ice cream Maker, a Waffle Maker, a Milkshake machine- so he could make his grandkids milkshakes!
And one year he wanted a Deep Fryer. Which was used once or twice, like most of the fancy electricals, then retired to the back of the cupboard.

But recently, when we were having friends for drinks, we got it out, & decided to try it for deep frying some Yum Cha style Chinese food. And it worked really well. So we tried some chips- well, GOM cooked them. And now he is addicted to them, & suggests them almost every night for tea.

As I recall the main reason for retiring the Deep fryer in the first place, was because at our age, we really dont need much in the way of deep fried food!

We got one of those George Foreman Health Grills, so we could eat healthy meat, & bacon, & not have tons of fatty food. And it has been a great success. So much so that we need a new one, as the first one is worn out. It has lost it's non stick surface. I hate to think we may have eaten some of it!

We both have no problems with cholesterol, & I try to feed us on healthy meals. I am just wondering how the chip eating marathons will alter the fat factor in our lives. I will often not have any chips. I like microwaved potatoes in a little light sauce. I love plain cooked rice. I love my steamed vegies. But GOM is not a vegie eater, unless I do a casserole type meal.

Thank goodness Summer is coming. GOM loves his salads, but then,... I suppose chips go rather well with salad too.

When we first got married, I was a pretty good cook. I had come from a line of good cooks. GOM didn't know much about cooking, but he was eager to try his hand. Cakes were his 'thing'.

He decided one Sunday, that he was going to do some baking. He chose to make Afghans, which seemed to entail yards of flour, wheetbix, & cocoa strewn about the kitchen. To say nothing of the egg white dripped all over the cookbook! It has never been the same again, & bears the scars all these many years later.

It was really only ever baking that GOM was interested in, & meals were never his forte, in our home. Though when we had the hotels, he loved to get in & be the Grill Chef, if one of the mad lunatic chefs got the huff & stalked off the job.(And that seemed to happen with monotonous regularity. I tell you, they are a breed apart!) And he was a damn good steak cook, & never had any complaints about his meals. Our kids loved to go down to the Restaurant one night a week, & have their Dad cook them their Bangers & chips.

I can see we might have to try & get a leeetle more exercise than we currently do!


Bread, If.

15 comments:

Tanya Brown said...

Your eavesdropping anecdote had me roaring with laughter. You're such a nice person, pretending to not listen. I figure if people are going to be indiscrete enough to talk in a supermarket, they aren't too worried about being overheard. On the other hand, one doesn't want to risk their getting spooked and not finishing a story!

Stomper Girl said...

My Dad loves those sort of kitchen gadgets too. I've had to talk him out of buying some for me, I don't have the storage or the bench space!

Lee said...

Come on! What happened to the lady with no stomach??? I wont sleep...

I did once cook a hamburger in the galley of a naval frigate. That's as close as I got to cooking in a proper kitchen. And why? The cooks (can they be chefs?) were off doing a PR video for the Navy and left all the ingredients out for us to DIY.

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

Normally, all that talk about food and cooking would have me salivating but this time, I couldn't shake off the fact that Olive lost her stomach. I certainly hope that her gullet did not collapse and kill her stomach, whatever that means.

meggie said...

Hi All, once again I am sitting her laughing over all the comments. I am afraid...haha, very afraid!... I dont know what happened over the missing stomach. I was left in limbo too, which is why I drifted off to the Meat Pies. Which sounds obscene, but they were in the next freezer cabinet.
LGS, As I understood it, her gullet did kill her stomach, but I an not sure how?
And, yes I have an unnatural interest in food in these latter years of my life, but I must admit, that story did put me off for the rest of the day!

Ragged Roses said...

The Mystery of the Missing Stomach - makes a great read! Please solve this for us Meggie. Get back to the supermarket immediately! I love chips once in a while too
Kim x

Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

Perhaps poor Olive lost her stomach because she was over-consuming the deep fried chips??

At least, that sounds like a convincing cautionary tale. :)

Jellyhead said...

Meggie you are hilarious, pretending a deep interest in frozen foods! I loved this post - it had me grinning like an idiot!

Jeanette said...

Hi Meggie, Hahaha now were all wondering about the lady who's gullet killed her stomach, pizza and pies GOM come along at the wrong time.now we will never know...

Joyce said...

People in my supermarket are not half as interesting! You should have invited them for coffee and got the rest of the story or at least the name of the woman with the stomach. Lol.

Leigh said...

Poor Olive! I wonder what she did to cause her gullet to collapse in the first place?

ancient one said...

Sounds familiar! Took my mom to the doctor last Friday. It was soooo crowded... at last there were only three people left in the waiting room... the other woman out of nowhere started telling us her life story... How her husband had left her years ago with three small sons.. how he had tricked the bank into giving him all her parent's money, etc.. etc... and just as it was getting so interesting they called her ... and we were left wishing we could follow her to hear the rest... I know how you felt about not getting the whole story...LOL

Catalyst said...

Ah eavesdropping, a favorite hobby of SWMBO and I. We were so frustrated when we made our single trip to Europe. The people there speak foreign languages!!

Sarah Nopp said...

I love that you are able to reconstruct your delicious eavesdrop... I am never able to do that- just the surroundings and feeling.
But I have to lauch at your description of you tired Foreman grill, as ours is much the same. I jnow coat it with some olive oil before grilling. I figure I have already eaten the non-stick (or hopefully just scrubbed it off). So I am not going to buy another. Just olive oil.
By te way, do you ever prepare couscous? It has become a favorite pasta here- I usually add a bit of soup stock to it and then throw in veg, especially frozen in a bag tyoe. Your GOM might actually like that. Mine does.

Ali Honey said...

I wonder if someone made haggis, you need a stomach for that!

I'm lucky Meggie my DH has no interest in cooking cakes etc but will have his turn at cooking the main meal. We both do different recipes. I never complain even if it is something fattening he cooks - wouldn't want him to give up. Both my sons are good cooks - I made sure of that - an essential life skill.