“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life.” So goes the old adage.
In our ‘modern’ society, it’s not so simple.
Today, in order to eat we have to risk life and limb and overcome obstacles which make the 12 Labours of Hercules seem like child’s play.
I speak, of course, of the shopping mall.
Like the Underworld faced by Orpheus; once inside, you’re trapped and it’s made as difficult as possible to ever get out again. Entrances are made to look identical so that you come to the place where you’re convinced you left your car, but there’s no sign of your vehicle. This leaves you wondering whether it’s been stolen or you’re losing your mind (with the latter option being the most likely).
Like Odysseus, we are lured by the siren call to possess things which we don’t really need but marketing geniuses (or is that genii?) have worked out how to make us believe our lives are empty and meaningless without them.
We have to overcome shopping trolleys which have minds of their own and are determined to bring us into catastrophic contact with other travellers – creating the potential for lawsuits seeking damages and restitution.
This is bad enough in an area with which you’re familiar. When you don’t know where you are and the entire area is strange it’s horrific. As an urban nomad, I face this horror on a regular basis.
This week, on the way home from visiting our post box, I decided to stop off at a supermarket near our new home.
I knew we were out of rice milk and as hot chocolate (recipe below) is a major food group and constitutes the base of our nutritional pyramid (of course, you realise, the standard pyramid is a marketing ploy by the grain board – but I digress) it was imperative that I acquire the necessary ingredients as a matter of the highest priority.
In order to do this I had to face my fears and enter the above mentioned realm of the devil.
The first challenge was to find my way in. After some time attempting to understand the workings of the carpark (and going against the direction of the arrows a couple of times), I eventually located a spot which was within sight of a sign which said “Shops”. That’s usually a good indication you’re on the right track.
It is, of course, that siren call to lure you to your fate.
As I travelled from my car I noted the significant way points, like Hansel & Gretel’s crumbs, so I’d be able to get back. I’ve become quite good at that and now it takes only a few hours feeling lost before I can find the car. Of course, getting out of the carpark in time for the parking ticket to still be valid is a whole different matter.
Having found my way in, the first priority is always to find a rest room (aka toilet). These are usually well hidden and located only after solving symbol puzzles worthy of a Mensa member.
Eventually, I found the store I was searching for and managed to acquire the few items I needed. In the process I’d also ended up with a number of others which I had not gone in for. These included gluten free pizza bases and the ingredients for a pizza (tomorrow’s lunch) and some fish in honey & mustard sauce (tonight’s dinner) at a discount price of nearly 50% off – so that was a “great catch”.
This collection was completed with a bunch of flowers.
I eventually arrived home feeling virtuous and like a real provider. Turning up with the next couple of meals sorted, combined with flowers has a wonderful effect on the female mind (or is it just hormonal?)
Anyway, we got through our first week on the beach, and are settling in, just in time to move again. Ahh, the joys of the nomadic life 🙂
Our special hot chocolate recipe
(It’s gluten free, sugar free, diary free and actually tastes great – a real contradiction.) Quantities given are for two.
Two cups of Macro Organic Rice Milk (we’ve tried others but they seem more watery – check the % of rice present – Macro is 15%)
Four heaped teaspoons (as in HUGE heaps) of cocoa (yes that’s plain cocoa, NOT drinking chocolate). We’ve also tried using raw organic cacao but due to the price difference we really couldn’t justify it.
Dash of cinnamon
Slurp of vanilla essence
Heat to point of frothing (boiling) while constantly stirring – this is really, really important. Turn your back on it for a moment and you’ll have a chocolate covered kitchen.
Since it’s very hot – drink carefully.
If you want to be very exotic you can add things like Cointreau.
Enjoy!