A Midweek Trip for Some Pantry Items and Lunch

I had a short list this week for the pantry and figured I might as well knock it out on Wednesday. The usual staples were running low, so I headed over to the big store on the edge of town. It was crowded as always around midday, but I moved through the aisles pretty quick. Grabbed a few boxes of pasta, some canned tomatoes, and the big jar of oats we go through every couple weeks. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead and the floor felt sticky in spots near the produce section where someone had spilled something earlier. I could smell the faint citrus from the oranges stacked in pyramids near the entrance, and every time the automatic doors whooshed open a blast of hot air from the parking lot mixed with the cooler inside air.

On the way out I stopped at the bakery section and saw they had a new seed bread in stock. Lissa mentioned it last month, so I added a loaf to the cart. The crust looked rough and speckled with all kinds of tiny seeds that caught the light, and when I pressed the plastic wrap it gave a little under my thumb. The package from Ren’s cousin in Halverston showed up the day before too, and it had a few extra packets of those dried herbs I like for soups. I set those aside for later. The box had been sitting on the kitchen table since yesterday morning and still carried a faint smell of cardboard and whatever tape they used to seal it.

Lunch was quick. I went to the sandwich place near the store and tried the seed bread with turkey and cheese. It held up better than the regular kind, no sogginess even after sitting for a bit. The news was on behind the counter and they mentioned another round of dust warnings for the southern counties. That has been showing up earlier each July lately. I sat by the window where the sun came through the blinds in stripes across the table, and the turkey tasted a little smoky from whatever they used to grill it. A couple of kids at the next table kept kicking the metal legs of their chairs, making a rhythmic clink that mixed with the low murmur of the television.

After I got home I put everything away and wiped down the counters. The oats went into the big container and the tomatoes stacked on the shelf. I sorted the mail that had piled up and found a couple coupons worth keeping. Ren called around three to check if I needed anything else picked up on his way back, but I was already done. His voice sounded tired over the phone, like he had been talking to clients all morning, and I could hear the low rumble of traffic behind him while he waited at a light.

Later in the afternoon I caught up with Lissa on the phone. She asked how the new bread turned out and said she had tried a version with different seeds last week. We talked about her work schedule and whether she wanted to meet for coffee on Saturday. Nothing big planned, just something to break up the week. She mentioned the way the seeds got stuck in her teeth sometimes and laughed about it, and I could picture her sitting at her desk with the phone tucked under her chin while she sorted through papers.

I ended up making a simple pasta for dinner with the new tomatoes and some of the herbs from the package. It came together fast and tasted fine. The herbs smelled stronger once they hit the warm oil in the pan, a sharp green note that filled the kitchen for a minute before it mellowed into the sauce. The rest of the evening was quiet. I read for a while and went to bed early.