Easter dinner anyone?

Thoughts about Kish's visit to the regular Canadian grocery store...

We’re all used to seeing the grocery stores stocked with ham this time of year. On a trip to the regular store yesterday, I ran across all sorts of interesting things. When I say “regular store” I mean regular. I’m talking your average Safeway, Albertson’s, Jewel, Vons or Ralphs-type of regular store. I found things you might find at a special butcher, but I’m thinking these things are more likely found at a taxidermist.

The price tag ($64.99) first caught my eye…but a closer look brings a whole new image to “leg of lamb.” This is a frickin’ CARCASS of lamb. A sixty-four Canadian dollar carcass of lamb.  I had to start taking photos with my iPhone.


The next section brings me to the RABBIT....

All I could think of was the Easter Bunny. Who serves rabbit at Easter? These frozen rabbits are conveniently packaged without heads as the label says. Good thing, I know I wouldn’t want to deal with the head issue. And the price? Right around $20. My brothers used to shoot rabbit in our back yard in the Arizona desert…wait until they realize this missed business opportunity.

Then there was this full container of SPRING LAMB....

I’m not sure of the difference really between this Spring lamb and just plain lamb -- is it because it’s supposed to be spring? This “Spring” lamb was nicely packaged though. I don’t have an issue with lamb, really. But, I typically stick to gyros and I have never thought to ask about the meat. After all, it doesn’t resemble Mary’s Little Lamb when it’s on that spiral thing. Plus a little sauce, onion and a good pita makes one forget all about the origins.

I stopped taking photos when I got to the very large selection of veal since the grocery store people started following me. Not that there’s anything wrong with veal, it’s just that there was so much in this meat display. I got busted at Home Depot for taking photos of light fixtures so I’m always on guard when a store employee is watching.

I’m still not sure why this grocery store visit freaked me out. Is it because it was so…commercially domestic? Seriously. It was not uncommon to find a frozen rattlesnake in my mom’s freezer when I was a kid. They were usually shot by one of my brothers and why they remained in the freezer for years is still a mystery to me. Perhaps it was served for dinner and I don’t remember. I’ve heard it tastes like chicken. Another time my dad was boiling a mountain lion scull in a large soup pot on the stove and we grossed out our friends. He was cleaning it up so he could put braces on the teeth and display it in his office (he was an orthodontist). And my friend Jenny Belk’s mom always had plastic pitchers of “Duck Broth” next the Popsicles in her freezer. Seriously, I can’t make this stuff up. But the canvas covered $64 lamb carcass at the typical grocery store in Montreal put me over the edge.

I think we’ll stick to a honey baked ham for Easter. Nice and pink and fake looking.

In other grocery store news…

I thought gas was expensive at .95/litre. What the? A can of maple syrup for over $9 Thankfully, our kids are used to Mrs. Butterworths.