Shopping is us

So now we were heading toward our new life adventure - and as usual, our eyes teared up as we crossed the border into Scotland. I don't know why - it just affects us that way. I won't describe our homecoming - that's in our book - but it was wonderful to be back and know that we wouldn't have to leave again for a long time.

The myriad projects for setting up a new household in an old stone cottage kept us busy for the first few weeks. We went over the mountains to Ullapool and set up a bank account at the Royal Bank of Scotland. We drove up the Wee Mad Road to Lochinver to find wellies (high rubber boots) - a truly necessary item, to be kept by the door and stepped into every time we left the house. It wasn't easy finding boots to fit Jack's size 13 feet - but we went to the fisherman's store (Lochinver is a fishing port) and found just the right pairs. We drove our rented car across to the east coast and bought a used red Mini in Dingwall so we'd have transportation - a necessity since all real sources of provisions were over the hills and far away. We also stocked up on the best haggis in Scotland (a prize awarded every year) at the butcher shop in Dingwall.

We went grocery shopping in Inverness - the only super market available within a two hour drive. Here I learned that the old adage that says that Britain & America are two countries separated by a common language, is indeed true. I asked for eggplant and zucchini - and got only blank stares and regrets that they didn't carry anything like that and didn't even know what they were. (I found out later they are aubergines and marrows in Scotland - and they were available there.) The choices of sugars and flours were truly staggering and all I could do was guess, since none of them were familiar. There were items you couldn't get at all at that time - baking chocolate (unsweetened was unheard of), chocolate chips (no one baked cookies - any kind of cookies), pumpkin, corn, cranberries, popcorn, pickles as we know them (pickle there was closer to a chutney - a dark brown mix of veg and fruit & vinigar), real smoked ham, edible sausages, and any kind of good packaged bread (I would have to bake my own). Cooking was going to be a challenge for a while.

There was no freezer space in the two small refrigerators in our kitchen so we also bought a small freezer in Inverness. It could be delivered in a few weeks. So far, so good!