bgood360

The grocery store (and even the convenience stores and gas stations) look a lot different now that I have my Hiker Goggles on.

Where I used to scan the shelves and look for best price or a favorite brand, I now find myself picking an item from the shelf and weighing it in my hand and deciding if it's worth the weight and volume it'll occupy in my pack. Never mind that I'm not actually shopping at that moment for food for my hike, the mindset has already taken residence and established its habits.

I used to get a lot of pleasure from finding odd or uncommon ingredients and knowing that there was one special recipe in which I could use that item. Now I look at ingredients and ask, "How many different ways can I use that and how long will it keep?" And, even more important, I ask myself "Will I get sick of it after a week or three?"

And, what I used to skip over -- either because I thought it was nasty (I'm looking at you, Spam) or, to the contrary, because I considered it a guilty pleasure -- I'm now pausing at and rethinking its place in my diet. Spam, you don't look like a questionable pink meat-like substance of dubious and most likely slaughterhouse floor origin; you're now protein presented to me in a convenient single serve pack. And, those fancy hot chocolate packets that ounce for ounce are in line with the cost of certain entry level caviars? Well, one or two of those now seem like the perfect thing to stash away for particularly nasty days when the rain and cold won't quit and I need a little perk to keep up my spirits.

And, don't get me started on those little bottles of adult spirits and what have you. Yes, they're overpriced, especially when you consider that for a tiny six-pack of those airplane bottles (as we call them) you could buy an entire full size bottle of Jameson or Captain Morgan or whatever your favorite poison may be. But, take one of those 50ml bottles of Gray Goose or Absolut and pair it with one 5-1/2 ounce can of Mr & Mrs T's Spicy Bloody Mary Mix and you have a diminutive brunch beverage in the making for one lazy Sunday morning on the trail.

Now, if I could only figure out how to get a celery stick and an olive to stay fresh until then...

-- Hat, 2012 NOBO AT