Random thoughts on food

I mentioned the other day that Ross and I went to the Trafford Centre to do a little shopping.

The Trafford Centre is basically a huge shopping mall.  It's pretty over the top, decor-wise.  I think Donald Trump may have consulted on the design.  That said, it's an interesting place to go for shopping and people watching.  The food hall is designed to look like a cruise ship's pool deck- complete with lounge chairs and a "pool" fountain.

The Food Hall.... exciting and new...

While we were there I noticed a few things that I'll now blabber about pointlessly to you.

Selfridges was our first destination.  We went to get some new pods for our coffee maker.  As soon as we saw the fancy Nespresso Boutique area, we worried we were in for some serious hurt in the wallet department.  Surprisingly- the coffee was very reasonable, actually cheaper than online!  

I did a little wandering and found this lovely item:

Seafood Tea Towel

I just love the coloring and the graphic design of this tea towel.  You may have noticed that we eat a lot of seafood in our house so this totally caught my eye.  I can totally imagine it framed and hanging in our kitchen.  5 pounds from the purchase goes to the  Zoological Society of London to set up and maintain fish reserves around the world.  At 11.95, it's a pretty good deal.  How cute is the little seagull in the bottom corner?

Selfridges is notable because their awesome food hall (a British department store regular feature- which is awesome!) has particular "American" foods for purchase.  I've never bought any of it, because it's slightly stupidly expensive.

Lucky Charms for a mere 7.49

They had a seriously bizarre assortment of Pop Tart flavours and little bags of what I call Goldfish Crackers- labeled as "Flipz".  Also on offer- jars of Fluff in both regular and raspberry.  I can't say that there are too many American foods that I can't get here that I really miss.  It's funny how quickly you adapt to what's on offer.

I will say that being married to Ross has changed my eating habits more than moving to another country.  Since Ross is a pescaterian (he doesn't use that label, but it's the quickest way to describe his diet) I don't cook any of the meals that were standard in my life growing up.  I've made good friends with fish and vegetables.  I always liked veggies, but I just eat way more of them now.  We never eat fast food.  In America, fast food was far too big a part of my diet.  People questioned how our dietary differences would impact our relationship, which always made us laugh.  The truth is- it doesn't.  Sure I've changed how I eat, but really it's so much better for me.  If I want something with meat- I have it.  Really though, it's easier to just eat what Ross eats.  I notice that even when we are out to eat, I end up ordering something meat-free more often than not.  In the end, I only notice the change when we're back in the States visiting my family.  They're always concerned about providing food that Ross will be able to eat since it's so different to what they eat on a regular basis.  I'm always surprised by how much people struggle with it now that I'm used to it especially since Ross makes an effort not to be a pain about his dietary restrictions and can generally find something to eat from what's on offer.  

What changes have you made that are different from your family of origin?

Has your significant other had a significant impact on any area of your way of life?