Shopping Spree at Slotnicks

T-4 days. It's been one hell of a preparatory ride these past few days. My head is spinning faster than Bush's speech writer.

The longest shopping list of my life is STILL being written. There are only 2 Seattle-based opportunities to load the boat. The first was 3 days ago, the second, tomorrow.

My friend spent the better part of Friday with me making quick work of my budget. We were like Laverne and Shirley in that classic episode where they win a shopping spree at their local supermarket, Slotnicks. They only have so much time to load their carts (and their bodies) and cross a finish line. They had hams up their pants legs and boxes and boxes of cookies (if I remember correctly). They couldn't even move they were so overloaded. When they finally staggered toward the finish line-eventually crawling on the floor- the bell went off and they each reached forward crossing the finish line with only one item. Everything else had to be abandoned. This, my friends, is my own worst case scenario and the stuff of my nightmares.

The customers at PCC Fremont had their mouths agape as we approached the checkout line. Saying the polite "oh, no, please, go ahead of me" was pretty much par for the course as we pushed our bloated cart up to the belt. One somewhat surly man just kept staring at the cart and then at me and then at the cart and then at me. We had huge, overflowing bags of bulk items: beans, rice, nuts, flour, cornmeal, pastry flour. Bags and bags of chips, salsa, and pretzels. Cartons of milk, dried fruits, spices, sausages, and shrimp. Nori, bottles of vinegar, oils, pasta, cartons of energy bars. I was so tempted to just look the man in the eye and say with a straight face "My friend here, she just gets ravenous when she's pre-menstrual!"

We quickly loaded up the car and then headed over to the marina on west lake union where the boat is tied up. Our co-captain revealed to us all the possible nooks and crannies where I could store the provisions. One of the primary places to store food is under the seats in the main "dining area". It's fairly remarkable actually because you simply pull off the velcroed back cushions and pull the hydraulic seats and they smoothly lift up revealing plenty of storage. I feel the bizarre need to remember exactly where every item is stored so that I can impress my diners by saying "excuse me sir, can you please stand up, I believe you are sitting on my fish sauce!"

I'll be honest: it's been hard for me to get to sleep at night because I have so many things running through my brain. Little details about recipes and fears of not having enough food (not a chance!) compel me to turn the light on so I can jot down another note about supplies. Mostly I can't sleep because I can't remember the only items Laverne and Shirley came away with at Slotnicks? Was it Bosco syrup and mallomars? Help!