Grocery store adventure

Yesterday morning after my writing jaunt at Panera Bread, I had to go to the grocery store to pick up supplies for Superbowl Sunday. One of the dishes I wanted to make was Sloppy Joe's. For those of you who don't know what a Sloppy Joe is, it is sometimes referred to as a loose meat sandwich. For those of you who have never had it, you don't know what you are missing.

No, this is not the kind you make from a can of Manwich. My Sloppy Joe's is a recipe that my family has used for years and years. It's also the simplest recipe in the world, or it would be if you can find one of the main ingredients. What are the ingredients?

Sloppy Joe's Recipe:

1 pound of ground beef cooked and drained
1 can Campbell's Chicken Gumbo soup (condensed)
Ketchup (or Catsup)

You mix that all up, heat it up, and add Ketchup to taste. The longer it simmers the better the taste. Then you put a scoop on a yellow potato bun by Marie's. You want these because they are soft and yummy. If you want to add a little more flavor to it, add a slice of cheese on top. That's it!

Oh, yeah, don't forget to serve a spoon with each one so the eater can scoop up what meat falls off the bun.

Now, my issue yesterday was the fact that I could not find Campbell's Chicken Gumbo soup. I went to two grocery stores and couldn't find it. I even called my parents while standing in the soup aisle and asked them what else I could use. My father informed me that they could no longer find the soup in their local market either.

I finally found some brand of chicken gumbo, but that was the only one and it was not the same. Why do grocery stores stop selling stuff that has been around for years? Please put this back on the shelves.

Now for the fun part. At the end of my two grocery store excursion, I was checking out when a flash of red to my left caught my eye. I had to do a double-take. Sure enough there was a man standing next to me in a bright red body suit. As if that image was not bad enough, he had on the smallest blue sweat jacket I had ever seen.

While the cashier bit her lip to prevent herself from breaking out in a fit of laughter all I could do was wonder two things. One, did he not know that it was flippin' freezing outside and two, did he have any odea how ridiculous he looked?

You know how your mother always told you to never go out wearing anything you wouldn't want to be caught in if you had an accident (basically, wear clean underwear just in case)? Well, holy cow! I don't think this man kept that very good rule in mind.

I wish I had had my camera with me.