Crystal trees

I know, I should have braved the cold icy morning to get some pictures of the crystal trees, the enveloping fog, the broken tree banches. But I wimped out and stayed indoors. Sadie Mae, our little Yorkie-Bichon mix, decided to take her alternate path off the side of the front step onto the pebble-lined "path" under the roof overhang. No chance of her running off when it is icy outside. Like me, she prefers warm and dry.

The ice didn't melt down until the afternoon, so we headed over to UKrop's around 3. I hadn't been yet; Dick was not too thrilled to go to a big grocery store (he was a meatcutter all his life) but when he got inside he went bananas over row after row of gluten-free products. Lordy, he filled the cart to overflowing until I reminded him that GF stuff is 4 or 5 times as costly as regular items. For example, a blue box of regular (so-called) mac and cheese runs 50-60 cents on sale. The GF brand is $3-4 a box. Annie's brand is the best but UKrop's didn't stock it and Kroger has stopped carrying it, for some reason. Dick went right over to the young woman running that section and was able to order an entire case for himself. They will call him when it arrives. (See, I told you he worked as a meatcutter, so he knows how to get these things done.)

We did enjoy shopping there. Their cheese section is wonderful; I have a recipe for a healthy version of mac and cheese, using GF macaroni and calling for three or four different cheeses, and the young woman working in that section was very knowledgeable. I also found sweet paprika in the spice section, and boxed ground chicory in the coffee aisle, to add to my coffee brew here at home.

OK, that's my commercial for UKrop's. Dick drives to Roanoke once a week for allergy shots, so now he'll be able to stop for his GF products. Like cookies. And bread crumbs (actually GF cornflake crumbs...you would think there would be no wheat in cornflakes, but think again.) And GF cake mixes. And his favorite: GF pancake mix. When you are told you cannot eat wheat, you crave what you cannot ordinarily have. I drain a can of corn and plop it into pancake batter, and he thinks he's died and gone to pancake heaven.