Fruit Frenzy (aka Shopping List Week 9)

1.       Mangoes

2.       Passionfruit

3.       Papaya

4.       Lychees

5.       Strawberries

6.       Oranges (for relish)

7.       Green apples (for relish)

8.       Potatoes

9.       Onions

10.   CRANBERRIES!!! 

I’m starting to lose track, since I’ve been working so many hours I haven’t written in a timely fashion, but I’m pretty sure that the only food I bought was fruit! I went to Paddy’s market on my way back from my last 1Cover morning sing (as well as finding a dress for the office Christmas party that night lol I was kind of in a rush) and was thrilled to find lots of fun tropical fruit for pretty good prices! I would have gotten cherries as well, but that seemed a bit excessive.

But the most exciting moment was finally getting my cranberries! It was a bit of an adventure since I had to go to a specific frozen fruit factory in a distant suburb. I went the day after the Christmas party and didn’t get off to a very early start, not surprisingly. The train took an hour and a half, and then I had to get on a bus and walk to the shop. I had a little map I had drawn several weeks before when I had originally planned to go, and knew vaguely what I was doing, but of course that one day the internet wasn’t working in the flat so I couldn’t doublecheck it before I left. I didn’t get to the town until about 4:30, then got off the bus at 4:45, then panicked as I tried to decide which way to walk along the street to find the spot (the shop closed at 5pm, and the walk was supposed to be 600m long, so choosing the right direction was critical or it would all be for naught). One end of the road looked closed, so I went the other way but didn’t find the street I wanted. 

As the seconds ticked away, I stopped at an Anglican church on the corner where they were doing some sort of afternoon spring cleaning. The first guy I asked took out his ipad and tried to locate the street I wanted, but then his friend passed by and said that he was heading that direction and did I want a lift? He looked like a nice old guy, and it was close to 4:50 by this point, so I said sure and we arrived there a few minutes later (turns out the road wasn’t actually closed to pedestrians, though it was to cars, so I should have gone the other way). I said I was just picking up cranberries (as ridiculous as that sounded) and he waited outside the store and drove me back towards the train station (which was also really close, I’m not sure why they told me to get a bus, oh well). Anyway he was super nice and was telling me about how the whole factory area hadn’t been developed when he was growing up there, and about how his middle name was the same name as a local park, and he always joked that they named it after him (I think it was Neil, but I can’t remember). I was very appreciative, since I definitely wouldn’t have made it walking without him. Thank you nice Australians!

On the way to the train station I stopped in a random Indian shopping market and bought a korma spice packet (haven’t tried it yet) and a little almond sugary treat thing. Overall the trip was a success, although I kind of bought too many cranberries (2kg is quite a lot, and I still have some left to eat) but I couldn’t go all that way for a paltry amount!