The other day after church Doug and I wanted to make cookies for some of our new friends. (Or shall I say, the people who will be our friends after being slowly worn down (but fattened up) by baked goods until they finally accept us into their social circle.)
Unfortunately, we realized we were missing a few minor ingredients; like salt, vanilla, butter, baking soda, baking powder, a mixing bowl and cookie sheets. (But hey, I had chocolate chips and flour!)
So today I went shopping with my mind geared towards stocking the pantry with essentials as well as trying to remember the stuff I threw out, couldn't bring, or gave to my neighbor before leaving. (oil, yeast, salt, corn meal, cookie ingredients, etc.)
But when I walked into the Base Commissary, this is the first thing I saw...
Nutella.
Beautiful, brown, chocolaty, Hazelnutty, fatty goodness in a jar.
The big-size jar!
Then all of the sudden I thought of my friend Marni. She recently wrote a blog post about preparedness and how we need to be ready in case of a disaster. And instantly my mind switched to FOOD STORAGE mode! (For those of you non-Mormons out there, Mormons like being prepared, and we like our preparation to come in #10 cans, wheat barrels, and thousand gallon drums of water.)
I was overtaken with my dire need to start stock-piling food. For the last few months in Rhode Island, I was under the false impression that the Air Force wouldn't transport food so we were busily eating away our very meager food storage. (Come to find out, they'll move just about anything that isn't liquid or flammable.) Consequently we brought very little food with us. No large plastic buckets of whole wheat, no 48-packs of Cream of Chicken Soup.
So here I am, in a foreign land, and if tragedy or a natural disaster strikes, where will I be?
In Japan. With no Nutella.
So I put 6 jars in my cart.
Then I took 2 out in case people looked askance.
Then I brought it home and added it to what I bought last week.
(Otherwise known as the non-emergency short-term supply.)
And now I feel at peace.
*Today's blog title comes from the saying that was plastered on all the boxes of food we had in our food storage room down stairs. I still remember the 70's style orange umbrella logo. I believe the brand was Rainy Day Foods...?
