$24.03

Ok, well as I am sure that you figured out from the title, I went a bit over budget. You were totally right. Twenty bucks at Whole Foods. What was I thinking? So let me start by saying, "Wow. That was tougher than I thought." I probably spent an hour in there sipping on my juice, aimlessly wandering the aisles; searching for inspiration. At first I thought that I should get a bunch of healthy, organic stuff. And then I thought "Healthy and organic stuff just doesn't look that pretty," and I wanted to give you a pretty picture. Then I started craving cheese, and the decision was made. Because once I start craving cheese, I then start craving crackers, and then wine, and then chocolate. So I head on over to the cheese section. Cheese is expensive, and overwhelming. I thought rather than let it slow me down, I would just reach in and try and find a piece under five dollars. I came up with a small sliver of Haystack Mountain Dairy Sunlight (what a nice name). Described as "A washed-rind semi-hard raw-milk cheese that’s aged at our farm for 60 days. It has a mildly piquant, somewhat sweet flavor." I'll let you know my thoughts on that in tomorrow's post. I'm not there yet. Oh yeah, I also tasted some amazing parmesan reggiano, and noticed they were selling a bunch of the rinds. Apparently it is great for stews. Who new? Well, you probably did; I didn't. Now some crackers - - I need something exciting. Something flavorful. Something cheap. Well, two out of three ain't bad. $7.99 for a 6oz box or crackers. Yikes. I bit the bullet, because they looked amazing (and they were). Lesley Stowe's Raincoast Crisps in rosemary raisin pecan. Fortunately for me the crisps were within arms reach of the olive bar. Every kind of olive you can imagine, and only $10.49 a pound. Ha! I bought 4. That was all I could afford. Two picholines and two large green cerignola olives. But these were not just any four olives. These were the most beautiful of the bunch. Trust me, I checked. Now my biggest challenge thus far. Cheap wine at Whole Foods. I knew I wanted red wine and I found only one that fit the bill (on sale for $6.99). Here's the problem. I can't remember what kind of wine it was or even what the exact name was. Andrew and I took the wine to Houston's last night and left the bottle there. Oooops. The receipt says "Carignan Old Vine" (it also says "Cashier Confirmed - - Age Over 21" in big bold letters. She didn't even ask for i.d. I guess at 36 I should expect that. Still, it's disheartening. Back to the wine.) I think it was French. There were a lot of words on the bottle that were strange to me. It was a 2006 and was described as "delicate and harmonious . . .a rich, promising wine with a divine finish." And finally, off to the chocolate section I go. Run, don't walk. Chocolate . . .Yum! Chocolate . . .Expensive! I splurged on two of the cutest little chocolate butterfly truffles you have ever seen (I had to get two, because I knew Andrew would get jealous if I only had one. He knows that I don't share chocolate.). And that was all. I headed downstairs (yes, it's a two story Whole Foods)and tentatively walked to the checkout. I was nervous about going over budget. I wanted so much to impress you with my frugality (is that a word?). $4.03 over budget. Not bad. I'll try harder next week. I promise.

Check back tomorrow for a review of the purchases.

Next week I head to Galco's soda pop shop.

Oh, I almost forgot. The butterflies were salty butter caramel milk chocolate.