Giant Food

Lee-Anne's doing okay. Me and her parents visited after she had the electrodes implanted under her skull. She was a little groggy from being put under and the anaesthesiologist said that she likely wouldn't remember her first interactions after coming to, but we visited her again the next day and she said she remembered us being there.

On her request, I'm going to cover a topic that she's wanted me to write about, but I've struggled with finding a way to express in an engaging way.

One thing about me that surpises people, and something I don't often think about, is that I've never been to Costco. It doesn't seem like a big deal to me. As far as I'm aware it's just a bulk shopping centre. But for some people the Costco experience is something distinct. I'm told that it's chaotic, and I've heard from otherwise withdrawn people that they "get a little intense" when they go shopping there. 

My mother-in-law brought me there as a belated Christmas present. Going in, what I knew about Costco was that its gimmick is that you can buy things in large quantities. It's got a little restaurant area with suspiciously cheap hotdogs and enough people handing out free samples that you can fill up on them. Apparently they pay their employees decently and their brand, Kirkland, has a policy that none of its products can be released without meeting or surpassing the quality of its highest performing competitor. I don't know how they determine quality, but I can at least confirm that Kirkland brand toilet paper is really nice. A corner store near where I used to live sold it.

Going there, it was basically a warehouse that you could buy things from. Maybe that's part of the appeal for people that haven't worked factories. There were a few places that were overseen by employees, including some electronics and a jeweller. We could have gotten our wedding rings from Costco.

They had some pre-made cauliflower crust pizza shells that we've been gifted by others but haven't been able to find anywhere else. Weirdly, we weren't able to find ground or whole bean coffee. Only K-cups.

Being able to bulk shop at Costco is handy, as grocery prices in Ontario have been insane lately. I've got a full-time job that requires a post-secondary education, I live in a dual income household without children in an apartment with comparably affordable rent, and food prices are still scaring me. Higher end grocery stores like Sobeys and Zehrs seem completely inaccessible now.

My mother-in-law is a creature of habit and comes from an optometrist's household. She traditionally shopped at Sobeys, but has has converted to Wal Mart due to inflation. If they lost her, I have no idea who those stores are targeting.

And yet... should you adventure far enough into a Sobeys you'll find a gigantic sandwich for only $15! It's big enough that me and Lee-Anne can have it for dinner and have enough leftovers for another meal. I thought it would be a lot of bread and lettuce, but they don't skimp on the meat at all. Overall it's weirdly high quality. I don't know what's happening here, it must be a loss lead to just get people into the store.

Apple for scale.

We've had three of these giant sandwiches so far, one in each of the options they provide: classic, donair, and Cubano. 

The donair was good because the meat has the same spices as shawarma, just topped with a sweet sauce. I really want to like the Halifax donair, because then I could claim it as a part of my Canadian identity. But while it's good enough to be in the same conversation as other Mediterranean/Middle Eastern inspired foods, I still prefer classic shawarma, shish tawook, and falaffel. Better than Kofta though. In this iteration, having something that is typically in a pita on a sub roll felt like a weird choice, though.

I like the cubano best. The meat is less processed than the classic sub and the pickle gives a nice crunch.

If you go in further you will find they have an even more ludicrously huge bags of chips. I don't think you could get them at that size at Costco.

Giant sandwich for scale.

Another thing we found at Sobeys were these little Wintergreen flavoured tablets. I really like the taste of Pepto Bismal, the stomach relief medicine. Apparently this is divisive, with some people hating it and others loving it. I've tried a few things that people said taste similar, like strawberry milk, but it's just not the same. I'd long thought that the unique flavour I crave must have something to do with its medicinal quality. But someone mentioned that the flavour is simply something called "Wintergreen". Trying it, it really does taste the same!

Now I can eat so many candies that I upset my stomache, then relieve the pain with Pepto Bismal! Full circle wintergreen