Walk Like A Woman

I slept until about 9:30 this morning. Read and did my journal in bed for an hour, until Lauren got up in the entertainment area. (She sleeps on the loveseat.) We ran my Backyardigans DVD while I made Strawberry Coffee Cake with fresh Farm Market strawberries for a late breakfast/brunch. We sat at the table, sipping tea and eating coffee cake and enjoying each other's company.

This time, when we headed out, we went in the other direction to the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. We stopped really quick at the Acme to pick up my (much-needed) paycheck, then headed in the back of the mall to go shopping.

The mall was a bit of a disappointment. Lauren's not really into video games anymore, and most of the 7 clothing stores were for teenagers or hip urbanites (like the people coming on the buses from Camden). I did get two t-shirts in bright red and daisy yellow and a new pair of low-heeled brown canvas dress flats from Fashion Bug and a pair of simple denim Bermuda shorts from Avenue. (The latter were on a half-price sale.)

I was going to take Lauren to Bassett's BBQ for lunch. When we arrived there, though, we found the store to be dark. Most of the furniture was gone, and it looked like someone left in a hurry. What a bummer! This is the second time in less than a year that a barbecue restaurant abandoned that storefront. I guess people around here prefer cheesesteaks for comfort food and for their barbecue to be on their own grills.

We ended up next-door at Tu Se Bella's instead for pizza. Lauren had a slice of pepperoni and a Coke. I had a slice of mushroom and a bottle of water. It was surprisingly busy for 2:30 in the afternoon. We ended up eating in the main dining area.

After a quick stop at Marburn Curtains for a shower curtain (which I meant to buy when I was coming back from the gym on Wednesday), we headed to the Acme for our shared groceries. We've decided to try an Alton Brown recipe - pocket pies. We did cheat a little and buy pre-made, roll-out pie crust. Lauren loves pepperoni, so we picked up some for her to make pizza pocket pies. The rest of it was pretty normal - almonds (still on sale), bananas, pears, grapefruit for me, chick peas to replace what we used for the Potato-Chick Pea Salad last night, Emerald trail mix bags on sale, apple juice concentrate for baking.

(Oh, and it looks like the big Giveaway game from last summer was so successful, the Acme is repeating it this year, with bigger prizes for employees and customers. I got my first two tickets today. I also checked out my schedule, and got a bit of a surprise. I'm not working again until next Saturday! The managers must have thought I said until Friday, not Thursday. Oh well. I'll have an extra day to run errands before I go back to work.)

After we got home, we put our groceries away and went right back out again. Lauren's addicted to soda and thought it would be easier to drag it home from CVS than from the Acme. I realized on the way that I forgot vanilla on our last trip, too. I also bought our annual shared pack of Tastycakes. Tastycakes are exclusive to the Philadelphia area, so I buy some to share with Lauren when she visits. This year, it was the filled Coffee Cake Cupcakes.

It was another gorgeous day for walking. We enjoyed the sweet scent of roses and honeysuckle and watched kids ride bikes and adults chat with each other on newly-mowed front lawns. The weather was as perfect as it gets in Southern New Jersey in mid-May. It was sunny, breezy, and in the upper 60s. The sky looked as bright blue as a child's watercolor landscape.

When we got home, we once again played games for a while. She beat me twice at Go Fish. We tied at War and at Memory; we just know each other too well. We mostly ate out of the fridge for dinner. I added my own version of another Alton Brown recipe, Carrot Slaw. I liked the idea of peeling the carrots with a vegetable peeler instead of grating them; I always think that turns them into mush, too. Lauren doesn't like mayonnaise, so I replaced the mayo and sugar with a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, honey, and olive oil. I thought the syrup from the crushed pineapple used made it too watery, but Lauren really liked it. We watched Disney's new Winnie the Pooh from last summer while we ate.

Tomorrow, we're going to do what I usually do on a Saturday - hit the yard sales and the Collingswood Farm Market. We'll probably have lunch in Haddonfield, too.