Friends

15 September 2011

Happy Days

The picture below was taken at a local garden centre that had an added extra. Before reaching the plants and other gardening paraphernalia the shoppers had to pass a small, rather quaint building from which emanated a tantalising smell of cooking. Within, there was a sight for sore eyes: beautiful china, modern cookware in fabulous colours, and rows of goodies in jars. On the far side was the cause of the smell. A chef, resplendent in white and wearing the traditional chef's hat, was cooking sausages and slicing them into small portions for the customers to taste. And taste I did.

The sausages were home made and simply faaaaaabulous. I confess to going back for more. There was pork sausage with honey and ginger, pork and leak, pork and herbs, pork and apricot, pork and apple, to name but a few. My favourite was the one with herbs. None of your prepacked goods there. Further on there was a a freezer full of home made ready meals, a section for cake lovers, home made sweets, and a display of locally made sauces for the connoisseur. I treated myself to a small round pot of cranberry sauce, as much for the unique pot as the sauce.

The photograph reminds me of the old sweet shops when sweets were in jars and children waited impatiently for the shopkeeper to weigh out a couple of ounces before shovelling them into a pointed paper bag. Ah yes, I remember it well. All in all the visit to the garden centre was like going back in time. Happy days.

15 comments:

  1. oh i want to go...between the sausage and the candy sounds like a rather nostalgic and fun place to be...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love those sorts of places. I love your photo 'sun shines on the righteous' featured at Ron's blog today Valerie. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I came by from Ron's to tell you how poignant and lovely your photo there is

    and now I'm hungry ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brian, it was an unusual experience ... for a garden centre.

    Pearl, Ooooh I haven't centured to Ron's blog yet. I take it mine is up and running.

    Dianne, thanks you so much for your comment about the photo. I aim to pop over to Ron's to see what's going on. Could I offer you a biscuit to help with the hunger problem?

    ReplyDelete
  5. GREAT shot, Valerie!

    And HAPPY DAYS is right!

    This photo reminded me of when I was a kid and going into the old time candy shops where the candy was stored in glass jars, just like this!

    Have a great weekend, dear lady!

    X

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a cool shop! I don't think I have ever seen one over here! I may have to look harder! This sounded so good, I could almost smell the cooking!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The sausage sounds wonderful - Looks like a fun place to wander around in!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh my gosh....I'm not the only one who got candy scooped out on one of those metal scoops and shoved into a bag! I so wanna go back to this (seemingly) simpler times.

    And I giggled at the photo and it's title at Rons' place. Lovely capture--I hope you have that one framed and on display. Thank you for sharing it with us.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I would love to have those sausage samples Valerie. I've already had dinner but now I'm hungry again :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I would love to have those sausage samples Valerie. I've already had dinner but now I'm hungry again :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. stopping by from ron's blog, love the photo and the lighting is spot on. i love sitting outside in the sun.

    ReplyDelete
  12. hi Valerie - candy shop sounds good to me please :) Clicking over from Ron's to say how much I like that wonderful photograph of yours. Isn't Ron just the absolute best? It's fun to meet some of his friends.

    ReplyDelete
  13. ...Popped over via Ron's site and just wanted to tell you how wonderful the photo is you submitted - lovely!

    ...And I have to say that THIS is my kind of Garden Centre! :o)

    ...Blessings

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy days indeed. Sounds like whoever is in charge of that place is pretty darn smart. Nothing like getting the senses involved to help promote some of your other projects. Have a good one, Val.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Got me licking my lips here, Val. And the sweets... though I reckon my teeth wouldn't stand up to a quarter of peanut brittle anymore.

    ReplyDelete

If you're new to A Mixed Bag you might find something to interest you, a bit of mirth, a story or two, or some pictures. I'm so pleased you popped in, do leave a comment if you have time.