Friday, May 11, 2007

Goodness Me!



A couple of weeks ago, I went with my friend Michelle to Hamilton. She was taking a course at McMaster and had to pick up some papers.

Since the parking charges at the university are horrendous, she parks at a friend's place and has about a 10-15 minute walk to the campus. The day was gorgeous! Clear sky, cool temperatures - and some flowers had bloomed!








You know spring has arrived when you see the daffodils.



Tulips were even showing themselves. This is getting even better.



This is one of the best pictures I've taken in a long time. This tree was at the side of an old, old church. The flowers were such a bright pink I couldn't help but notice them from the sidewalk.

Once we finished at the university, we walked back to Michelle's car and drove to
Goodness Me! Natural Food Market. There is a location in Burlington, but I was looking for something specific for a recipe test I'm doing for Dreena and the Burlington store only had large packages that were quite expensive. The sales clerk told me the main Hamilton store had it available in bulk so I could just scoop as much as I needed. Michelle was game to go, so off we went.

This store was amazing!! They did have what I was looking for and in addition to a cart half full of things I got the following:

I just can't wait for strawberry season, so I bought some of these. They were big berries and very red .













Usually the big ones are not very juicy or flavourful, but these ones were quite good. They got eaten within a day.






I found this in the cooler. I've never seen it or tried it but it looked and sounded interesting, so I bought it. There were different flavours, but I decided on Black Bean.












This will be good for a quick meal, or to top some leftover rice for a workday lunch.
.
.

.

My most exciting find of the day....

I saw these at the checkout and shrieked with delight - I was so excited! Michelle came running to see what I'd found. The first time I had Primal Strips was when Kleo was in Toronto for her nephew's wedding. We met up and hung out for a day and she brought me goodies from California. (She's such a sweetheart!) Once I tried them, I was hooked. They are so FREAKIN' GOOD! I have never seen them anywhere around here and figured they were only available in the USA. But here they were - right in Hamilton! Michelle and I were digging through the different flavours and throwing them into the cart. The checkout girl was quite amused by all of this. The Burlington location of Goodness Me! is about a 5 minute walk from the LCBO, so I'm going over there to see if have Primal Strips. (Oh please, oh please.....I would be so happy). Since I had raved & raved about these, I opened one in the car and Michelle and I ate it on the drive home. Now she's hooked.

This store also had a bakery counter featuring
Dufflet cakes and pastries. They looked too good to pass up, so I got a couple of small ones for Jim & I to share at dessert.

This one is Key Lime. It had a creamy lime mousse in a chocolate shell. Sounded wonderful. The mousse and the shell seperately tasted good, but together - not so much so. I was a little dissapointed with this one.

I also bought a mini bundt. I couldn't pass this up. Ever see My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Jim thought the part with the bundt cake and the flowers in the middle was funny and we always say it like they did in the movie. Buunnndddttt.
.

The cake was orange-cranberry and very delicious. I would buy this one again.

Stay tuned for my post on the recipe test I'm doing. I'm very excited to try it. I'm confident that it will be da bomb because it's a
Dreena creation.

11 comments:

scottishvegan said...

That is a beautiful photo of the flowers alongside the church. That tofu looks really good…excellent for a nice fast meal! Not sure I fancy the Primal Strips, I think I would definitely prefer the cakes! Looking forward to your Dreena recipe test soon!

MeloMeals said...

Wow.. you scored! everything looks great... and I agree, that photo of the flowers along the church is amazing!

I look forward to the recipe testing photos!

bazu said...

Looks like you had a fantastic day! I love finding good markets with good finds. Never had primal strips before. Oh and the strawberries and cakes look so good! I guess key lime and chocolate just weren't meant to go together...
Can't wait to see your test recipe!

High Power Rocketry said...

Hey I have a little fun activity going on now where you can Win $10!

Tanya Kristine said...

my GOD those pictures are lovely...good job Carrie.

i make my own jerky and i love it. i used to love jerky and i missed it but now i have something that tastes similar to pemmican. mmm...but those look good too i'll have to try and find one....

aTxVegn said...

What a great outing! The flowers are lovely and the food store sounds amazing. The strawberries and goodies look super.

Candi said...

Carrie, your photos are amazing! I really love the pink flower one that is your fave too. Nice work!!!

I can't wait to see about this recipe test!! :)

Anonymous said...

strips look great. I've never seen them either...but I'll keep my eyes peeled.

urban vegan said...

I love grocery shopping. And I love this voyeuristic version of grocery shopping--great finds!

River said...

Hard to know which looks more fabulous, Carrie - the flowers or the food! All were great finds - and great photos too :) Primal Strips are jerky? Never tried jerky either in its non-veg or vegan form (are they vegan, btw?) - something to look forward to, I guess LOL

Huge hugs.

Shananigans said...

What lovely flower pictures! I love spring bulb flowers.

Mmm, primal strips. I was shocked to find the mesquite lime ones have pickles as one of the ingredients. I hate pickles (more than a person should be allowed to hate any food really, they’re just nasty!) but they must have hid them in there good because I love it. My favorite is a toss up between the teriyaki and the thai peanut. That cake looks delicious. Great finds, all of them, lucky you :)