GREAT finds

Last Monday I brought Lorenzo (what his soccer coach calls him) to HK Park. The sun was blazing and after a spell in the playground, we opted to stay in the shade and watch the turtles sunning themselves. On the way we met a yellow butterfly and red dragonfly. I love it when my little boy gets exposed to nature. It got too hot after a while, though, so I had a wonderful idea! We could cool down in Pacific Place's air-conditioned confines, and I could stroll around Great and window shop.

Great, however, had a different idea. It decided to act all weird and seduce me with its sights, sounds and smells. Lorenzo curled up in my grocery basket like a big stuffed teddy bear, voraciously eating his whole wheat croissant, while I pretended to ignore the tempting (and expensive) goods that were beckoning.

I am a weak, weak, person though, and as much as I tried in vain to leave with only the croissant on my bill... sigh...I bought a number of items that are strictly NOT on my weekly grocery list.

The charmers that got to me are as follows:

Brianna's Lemon Tarragon Salad Dressing
Raspberry Chipotle Sauce (for barbequeing)-- ooooh, since I couldn't find chipotle in adobo sauce, I had to settle for something, anything with chipotle in it
White Wine Vinegar
Roast Turkey Breast
Beef Pastrami
Danish Feta Cheese
Cambozola Cheese - Shy's suggestion
Emmental slices
Plus a few more items I can't remember

Yesterday I dressed my mixed baby salad greens with the lemon tarragon dressing and it was divine. I so love lemons and this dressing is slightly sweet and tart, scented with tarragons. I made myslef a sandwich using five-grain bread with some melted cambozola, turkey breast and dijon mustard. A tall glass of ice cold Snapple made my 3pm lunch a sensory delight.

Being in such a good mood put me in mind of treating hubby to something nice for dinner. Nice meaning his faves -- nothing too healthy, fried if possible, nothing green, all meat. My healthy, logical self reared its ugly head right before prep time so it was a compromise of sorts. For appetizers I crumbled the feta cheese and mixed it with some chopped spinach and made Pinaputok na Kesong Puti. I googled the recipe of CPK's Kung Pao Shrimp Pasta and tried o recreate it at home - with smashing results! Hubby loved it, although I definitely will add more peanuts next time and use spaghetti instead of capellini. The sauce was way too rich and thick for a delicate pasta strand and weighed it down. I had to substitute some of the ingredients (sherry with white wine, so I just added more sugar to the recipe; white wine vinegar for the red wine vinegar) but al in all it was hardly noticeable.

Today I prepared some herbed pan-fried salmon for lunch, which served as a topping on my usual mixed salad greens. I drizzled the lemon dressing all over, and crumbled the remaining cambozola. Tomorrow I shall have my favorite beef pastrami sandwich with emmental cheese.

Next week it's back to teaching for me, and that means I forego lunch and grab something bland, cheap and quick from a nearby snack shop at 4pm. So excuse me while I enjoy my Great finds this week.