THE HSP FOUND HER NEW SHOPPING ROUTINE

The first few days into the New Year 2021 - and I am very happy that my choice of changing my shopping habits work out pretty well. 

Instead of buying from big supermarkets or convivence shops I decided to find what I need in small shops. First of all it is stress to shop in the big stores. Loud music or advertising over loudspeakers, way to bright light, many people and an overload of goods. Instead of only buying what I need I often find myself drag a heavy shopping bag home. 

Convivence shops are convenient because you find them on every corner and in every street. I stepped into one for the very last time a couple of weeks ago when I found bananas on plastic trays wrapped in plastic on the shelf. That sight shocked me enough to avoid those shops for the rest of my life.

Please join me on my new created shopping tour:

In my handbag there are two or three totem bags, several small bags made out of curtains and an Yves Rocher bag, which recently became my "bread bag". Occasionally I also bring a plastic container for when I fancy some cookies on the way or I bring a tin drops box to treat myself with some fancy chocolates. But more of that later.
When the weather is playing along I combine my shopping tour with a nice walk. Because my favourite shops are on a walk-around-tour from my home in Gzira to Balluta Bay in St. Julians along the open sea to Sliema and back home. 

My first stop is The Fre(n)sh Bakery in Balluta Bay. It´s located in one of my favourite buildings: The Balluta Buildings

"Bonjour, Madame. Welcome!"

"Bonjour."

Stepping into that small bakery shop is something I am really looking forward to. Well, stepping in is a bit much said. Right now in the crisis I don´t step in at all. I stop at the entrance and that´s really enough because standing in the entrance is basically being in the middle of the shop. That´s how small the shop is. A cash desk, a higher shelf with the variety of bread, a smaller glass vitrine with the sweet sins and behind that the bakery itself. 

I guess the shop is a family business. So at my last visit the wife was behind the counter and the husband brought a basket of fresh baguettes to the shop before he stepped into the bakery again. 
Even with their masks on you can feel their welcoming smile. 

"Ah, there are two new styles of bread I haven´t seen before."

"We, this one is with white flour and very fluffy (the word "fluffy" is so adorable with a French accent!) and that one is with white and brown flour and a mix of cereals."

"Perfect. I would like to have the cereals bread please and can I get it directly into my bread bag please?"

"We, of course. Merci beaucoup. Thank you for that."

"No, I thank you! I want to buy package free and you make it possible. Merci."

After paying Madame says something in fluently French.

"Aehhm, you do know that I don´t speak French at all, right?"

We laugh. 

"Well, this would be the perfect change to practise it, Madame. I said - xxxx- , which means: have a nice day."

"Merci beaucoup and you have a great day too. Au revoir."

"Au revoir, Madame. Merci."

While turning around to leave, the husband appears behind the glass vitrine: "Au revoir, Madame."

I turn back and wave at him: "Au revoir" (Forgot to add the word "Monsieur") 

Leaving the shop Madame carries a big grin behind her mask. It is such a pleasure to buy bread in that little Fre(n)sh Bakery. And I got my bread not only fresh and fluffy (please read it with the French accent), I also get it completely package free!

After that I walk from Balluta Bay to Exiles, where one of my favourite café is located. First I thought of having a coffee there. But the weather is just too good to sit inside. That´s why I am happy that I brought my plastic container for cookies with me.

So, my second stop is Dolci Peccati - an Italian café with great coffee, amazing sweets, great food and delicious ice cream.

See the huge marble ball? Look what is written with it:

"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrowed it from our children."
- Native American proverb - 

Now please guess if I like that monument and if I always stop there to read the proverb ...

I LOVE IT! 

In

In Dolci Peccati I´ve got six of my favourite cookies directly into my plastic container. 
The cookies remind me of Christmas cookies my mama used to make. Here I get them with apricot jam (like my mama made them), with chocolate cream and with pistachio cream. 
Two of each - fit perfectly into my container!

Sweet treats - completely package free! 

With the Italians working in Dolci Peccati I do not speak Italian. But you feel the Italian spirit as soon as you enter the café. And when you are lucky you will listen to Eros Ramazzotti while sipping your coffee or eating your pizza ...  

Now it´s time to leave the Bays and head toward the open sea.
Seriously, every time I walk that road I tell myself how blessed I am to have a shopping route like that. I can´t get enough of the sea, the clouds and the seagulls! 

My next stop is my vegetable and fruits supplier in Sliema. I wrote about that shop before. Remember? The story where I got that nice chestnut bag? 

Here I fill my curtain bags with everything that looks fresh and mouth-watering: avocados, apples, mushrooms, bananas, carrots, potatoes, pepper, zucchini, grapes, pomegranates, oranges, leek, etc., etc.
I usually don´t have a list of what I need. I get inspired by what I see.

And again I buy completely package free!  

Now it´s time for a break. Happy that the sun is out I decided to skip coffee in Dolci Peccati to have a coffee stop at a little kiosk in Exiles Park.

Love to sit in the sun, sip my coffee and write diary in that quiet park. 

 

It´s only the last stop on my shopping route, which is not package free. But this is the shop for everything healthy and pure!

In Casa Natura in Sliema I get everything I need beside fruits and vegetables. They have a large assortment of organic and Fairtrade goods. 

A Post It on the shelf made my day:

I bought agave syrup in a glass bottle before. Now I know that I even can buy the syrup in bulk, bring the glass bottle and get it refilled. Me happy! 
At home I remembered the glass bottle of maple syrup I once bought and which I kept because there was a picture of a Native American on it. Now I can get it refilled with agave syrup. Me even more happy! 

While talking to Esther, a sweet Hungarian girl, who is totally into astronomy, I fill my bag with almonds, chia seeds, linseed, fresh peas in a can, oat flakes, an organic milk and a vegan dark raspberry chocolate, hazelnut milk and as a special Christmas treat for myself - pink clay for soothing face masks.

Last time I bought organic peanut butter in a large glass jar. Sweet heaven! If you ever tried organic peanut butter you will never ever buy peanut butter from the supermarket anymore! It´s an explosion of the taste of fresh peanuts! 

Esther and me chat about the Winter Solstice and about the meaning of Christmas. She tells me that she is totally into hot chocolate right now. So I mention the fantastic hot chocolate I was served in Balance Bowl (the vegan restaurant in Gzira which is my second home) and which I already tried at home.

Esther writes down the recipe:
one fresh beetroot - diced and cooked
a mug of your favourite plant milk boiled  - I prefer hazelnut milk for my hot chocolate
2 tea spoon of organic cacao powder
2 tea spoon of agave syrup (or anything you use to sweeten your hot drinks)
a hint of cinnamon

"Put everything in a blender and mix it up. Your taste buds will dance around because you have no idea how well the fresh beetroot goes in a hot chocolate!"

And with that last stop my shopping tour ends.

I´ve got everything in my totem bags and I am ready to carry them home while walking along the pier of Sliema harbour and watching the boats rocking in the evening sun. 

At home I put the bananas and avocados on a colourful painted plate on my kitchen counter. I put the vegetables and fruits on plates or in glass bowls to store them in the fridge and I empty the bulk plastic bags of almonds and all kind of seeds into empty glass jars to store them in my kitchen cupboard.
The -fluffy- bread goes into a plastic container I once got for a take away meal and ever since then I reuse it as my bread box. 
The pink clay goes into a beautiful glass jar and I make space for it on the shelf underneath my bathroom mirror.   

Now that´s my new shopping routine. How do you like it?

I LOVE IT!

Not only did I get everything fresh and natural and most of it package free. I had an amazing walk next to the sea and a relaxed coffee in the sun. I talked in English and French ... :-) ... with people from different countries. Had a chat with a likeminded soul about spiritual topics and I love the thought of me purchasing the healthiest stuff for myself by supporting small shops in my extended neighbourhood. 

A simple thing like "daily" shopping became a habit of nourishing my HSP soul on a high level. 

It is so easy to change daily stuff into something wonderful.
Go and try it!
Find your own routine that makes you happy! 

THANK YOU!