red herrings!

despite careful planning and two trips to the grocery store earlier this week, i still had to go back there today. twice. on thanksgiving.

why, you might ask? because i was fooled. fooled by the red herrings strewn about the store by the subtly devious ralph's employees.

Case #1: the noodles
so i was charged with bringing the vegan entree to tonight's dinner. no problem, i thought - i like vegan cooking and it gave me an excuse to prepare my family's famous "roasted butternut squash and mushroom tofu pesto lasagna," which first debuted to rave reviews at christmas a few years ago. sure, we added some cheese, but the original recipe is vegan, and apparently there's going to be a vegan in the house tonight, so i figured i'd keep it strict.

all was smooth sailing, until i prepared to assemble the lasagna. a closer examination of the no-bake noodles i'd bought revealed that they contained eggs! you heard me - EGGS! who puts eggs in dried pasta? it's unheard of! i mean, in fresh pasta, sure, but dried? i never. trip to the grocery store #1 revealed that every other lasagna noodle was vegan. thanks a lot, barilla.

Case #2: the pumpkin
as my mother and i were scanning the aisles on sunday, i remembered that i needed to get pumpkin. for the pie. and there, conventiently stacked in three seperate aisles, were large towers of Libby's pumpkin. or so i thought. it was not until today, when i opened the can, that i realized: no, i hadn't bought pumpkin. i'd bought pumpkin pie MIX! gag. that's simply not the way things are done around here. yes, i admit that a closer examination of the can in the store would have prevented this little crisis, but really? who uses pumpkin pie mix? why put it on such heightened display while hiding the pure pumpkin on the back of some dusty old shelf? so back to the store i went. ralph's is clearly to blame here. jerks.

although they did save my ass by being open 24 hours on thanksgiving.

so yes, ralphs, despite all you put me through: i suppose i'm thankful for you.

and the true spirit of thanksgiving shines through, yet again.

the end.