My favorite boy toy and I spent the weekend doing errands, including picking out a new mattress.  We badly need one and have for a while, but I so hate shopping for one.  Not surprisingly, it took two days to try them out, ask questions, and decide on what we wanted.

After a short nap on Saturday, we headed out for the evening to do some easier errands – shopping for some new kitchen tools for my favorite boy toy.  He took over the shopping and cooking for us over a year ago.  Previously, his cooking efforts consisted mostly of recipes that started with “take it out of the refrigerator and put it into a cold oven; then turn the oven on” with an occasional foray into tacos and chili.

Recently, he’s discovered that he really likes doing the cooking.  He’s no longer content to throw some chicken under the broiler and serve it with a carb and vegetable.  He’s looking up recipes, trying new techniques, and lately, he’s taking some cooking classes.  So far he’s taken knife skills and cooking sauces, both of which he loved.

Part of the reason for our trip was to replace our 20+ year old cutlery that didn’t work for what he learned.  We’ve sharpened them so much that you can’t just rock them on the cutting board in order to properly cut up vegetables.  They were a good set when we bought them – not top end but not cheap either – and we’ve certainly gotten our money’s worth from them.

I was not a particularly willing participant in this late afternoon trip.  I was still groggy from my nap and after years and years of cooking our meals, I don’t really care if he wants this or that to try in the kitchen.  He knows this and that’s okay.  His goal is to feed us well and not be going out to eat so much.  Enjoying it so much (and being good at it) was an unexpected plus.

So I walked around Sur La Table, bored and with a pretty low attention span when I started to realize that I was enjoying all the pretty colors there.  Colors everywhere – bold, gaudy, monochrome – and I was fascinated by them all.

Of course, not having my regular camera was just a small impediment.  I whipped out my cell phone and did the best I could.  The low light meant they weren’t as sharp as usual, but you can sure see why just looking at everything woke me up and mellowed me out.

Although I’m not a big fan of white (I’d MUCH rather have color), the window display was cool.  I took it from several different angles and never got it quite the way I wanted it.  Not that it’s stopping me from sharing it with you.  And as for white, it stains way too easily.  Spaghetti sauce doesn’t want to come off and most of my plastic containers have a permanent orange ring in them.  I seldom wear white shirts to work for the same reason – inevitably that will be the day my iced tea will drip down my front, never to come out again.

We don’t go to this mall very often and I’d forgotten that it was dog friendly.  Each time I spoke to this handsome dude, he dragged his owner over so he could get a pet.  After two pettings, I didn’t talk to him anymore.  I don’t think his owner weighed much more than he did nor was she as strong as he was.  He was a sweetie though and would have stayed there all night getting petted if she’d let him.  I was sorry I didn’t bring the beagle for some time alone with Mom and Dad.  He would have loved it.

I love lime green with blue and I also love it with bright pink.  It’s not a new color combination, but I enjoy it whenever I find it.  Of course, bright yellow and green aren’t bad either.  I don’t think I’d wear it though.

My favorite boy toy has learned a long time ago to not be embarrassed because I’m walking around taking a pictures.  One of the employees did though and asked me to talk to the manager, Beth.  She was pleasant about the whole thing and said she had no way to control people taking pictures with their cell phones and as long as I wasn’t doing anything problematic with my photos, she didn’t have a problem with me.  As enthralled as I was with the bright and shiny things, I have plenty of pictures to share in my blog and didn’t need these if someone was having heartburn over it.

My boy toy finally picked out what he wanted, only to find they weren’t in stock.  So off we went to Williams Sonoma to check out their cutlery.  Although they are expensive, the quality of what they carry is above average and their prices are competitive with other stores.

Yep, I kept looking for the pretty things.  Pretty shiny things.

And I found them!  My cell phone camera didn’t do badly for late on a Saturday evening.

Looking at those colored sugars made me wish I was still baking.  But my boy toy doesn’t like baked goodies and I certainly don’t need to eat them.  The salts were fascinating too.  We’ve been using more of them and enjoying their taste in our food.  It’s subtle, but fun to play with anyhow.

After I downloaded and edited my pictures from Saturday, I found that Ailsa over at Where’s My Backpack had posted her new weekly travel theme – “on display“.  She led off her post by saying:

No matter where you go,
there’s always something for sale somewhere.
The items on display in local stores are often evocative of the flavours
and aesthetics of the culture you’re in
and make for really interesting photographs.

I agree wholeheartedly with Ailsa.  But since most of my travels take place close to home, those were the displays photos I had to share.  I hope you enjoyed the bright colors of last Saturday night and if nothing else, are smiling after reading this through and realizing that yes, you did enjoy shopping with me.

Have a good week!

(Note:  Ailsa granted me permission to reprint this quote from her blog.)

Travel Theme cooking classes dog friendly mall kitchen knives shopping Stony Point Mall Sur La Table travel theme Williams Sonoma