Day Eight - Of Lewis & Clark, Cheese & Crackers, Chips & Salsa

Grocery List in hand Cassie and I hopped into the car, headed to Winco and Market of Choice, read labels - like crazy - and came home with a second week's supply of 'unprocessed' foods.

Caroline had been craving cheese and crackers, plus corn chips and salsa. Tom had been hearing the siren song of chocolate bars in the vending machine at work. Cassie and I set to work looking for whole foods in these categories to calm, comfort, and satisfy our family members. Like Lewis and Clark, we were on a Voyage of Discovery.

Honestly, I had my doubts as to whether we'd find crackers with only natural ingredients. The long stretch of choices spread before us. Cassie started on the left, I on the right, both working toward the middle. Box after box selected, label read, box returned to shelf. Nope. Nope. Nope. The very last choice, Late July brand crackers, had both saltine and buttery crackers. Our last hope at putting a smile on Caroline's face, cracker-wise. "We have a winner!" Cassie victoriously proclaimed. Yes! We snatched up a box each of buttery and saltine. Cheese was easier to find. Corn chips didn't take too long, but salsa did. Found a jar with a homemade-type label that qualified. Chocolate was hard to find. Teeny tiny labels, lots of choices. But, we finally found one bar, 73% dark cacao with crunchy nibs, that fit the requirements. Handling it like gold we placed the treat into the cart. Until that moment, we'd sincerely believed we'd have to go a month without chocolate. "Tom's going to be delighted!"

Groceries rounded up, we headed for check-out and home.

Tom, Caroline, and I had an evening conference to attend and Cassie needed to skedaddle off to work soon after unpacking our bags. We're hungry! Need food! "Cassie, you're in charge of the chicken. Caroline, do the dishes and set the table, I'll prep the broccoli, potatoes, and pears."

Clockwork.

Delicious.

Bellies full and appointments kept with plenty of time to spare.

Afterwards, in the family room, joined by Jessamyn (Hi, kid!), we gathered for a sort of apres work/conference unwinding. Laughter! While the girls caught up, Tom and I prepared cheese and crackers for a taste test. Thumbs up all the way around. Caroline was like Toad in The Wind in the Willows, eyes happily focused and a bit swirly at the lovely snack food. Smiling. More laughing and talking.

I fetched the chocolate bar, let everyone have a long sniff...mmmmm.....then, broke it into pieces. Plop, plop, plop went the little squares into mouths ready for the Food of Heaven. Again, all thumbs up.

Somehow the evening was even more special because Jessamyn, Cassie, Caroline, Tom, and I remain interested in this food challenge, this opportunity to snoop out new products, new ingredients, new tastes. To have a late night snack that is actually good for us, well, that was icing on the cake.

Salud!