"THE Incident"

I've been in my new home for a little over a month now, and so far, settling in has been going great.  I know everything I have written about so far has been on the positive side, but there have been hiccups along the way.  Hiccups are to be expected, right?  Of course they are, it's what makes life funny..well, not at that moment, but in hindsight at any rate.  Looking back, I'm having a laugh right now as I think about what Ben has started referring to as "THE Incident".

I had started thinking about things like, food in general (thanks Pinterest)...which in turn lead me to thinking about grilled chicken, which in turn made me start thinking about side dishes for grilled chicken.  Side dishes...hmmm...potato salad!!  Yes, and potato salad has pickled relish in it.  Pickled relish, oh I needed that, because then I could make tuna salad, egg salad, deviled eggs, and chicken salad...you can see how my train of thought quickly derailed and honed in on the pickled relish and all things surrounding it.  Needless to say, I spent the rest of the afternoon fantasizing contemplating all the wonderful things I could do with one jar of pickled relish. 

Fast forward a few hours... My amazingly wonderful dear hubby walked through the door after he got off work, and announced he was going to the market.  I nearly squealed with delight!  He asked THE question I wanted to hear "Do you need anything?"  Why yes, yes I did.  I looked at him with eyes full of hope (much like a child as they sit on Santa's lap and whisper their Christmas wish list) and said, "Do y'all have pickled relish here?" He was thoughtful for a minute and then proceeded to tell me how they have aaaaaallll kinds of relish here.  Yes, that's great...but that did not answer the question of if New Zealand has pickled relish.  I tried again..."ummmhmmm...do you have pickled relish?" He looked at me and said, "What do you mean by pickled relish?"

I quickly realized that we were about to have some cultural difference issues, and decided that I would personally oversee the purchase of  the relish.  I told him it was okay, I would check it out when I went, and requested a Milky Bar instead.  Milky Bars are basically white chocolate bars, and it was just what I needed since my relish dreams were smashed for the moment.  One Milky Bar and a couple of days later, I had all but forgotten my pickled relish infatuation. 

Life continued on, and I found other things to obsess fixate occupy my time.  The weekend rolled around, and we did our normal errands like, grocery shop.  We were fighting the crowd and participating in buggy wars, and I had still not thought about my beloved relish...until we walked past chicken.  You guessed it...the wheels in my brain started turning, and everything in my head stopped and immediately returned to zeroing in on pickled relish.  I became possessed...must have pickled relish NOW!!!  So, we immediately went to where all things relish was located.

I happily pranced up to the shelf, and I surveyed the many different types of relish.  Nope...no dill pickled relish...no sweet pickled relish...no cucumber pickle relish of any kind.  I was slightly disheartened, but hey, it's okay...I'm from Alabama...I can improvise!!  I can dice up my own dill pickles!  Problem solved!  I march myself down to the pickle section, with Ben in tow helping me search, and I see all kinds of pickled vegetables.  The one thing I did not see was dill pickles.  How can New Zealand NOT have dill pickles?!?!?!  I was heartbroken!! 

I start to rant and mutter about not having dill pickles, and who eats stupid gherkins...much less bread and butter gherkins, and come to think of it, why are their no dill gherkins, does New Zealand not know what dill is?  Ben was wanting to know what's wrong and what did I mean by a dill pickle.  Ummm...you know, a pickle that is dill flavor...NOT bread and butter and NOT a gherkin.  "A pickled what?" he asks.  Apparently, we were having a cultural difference, but I was too distraught to notice, or care. "A CUUUU-CUM-BER!"  At this point, I noticed that I was on the verge of becoming irrational and I just wanted to go before I started crying in the middle of the grocery store. 

Ben, bless his heart, was trying his hardest to help me out, and he continued to look for pickles.  I was becoming more agitated by the second because I knew it was futile...all of my hopes and dreams were ruined, and all I wanted to do was bawl my eye balls out.  "I don't want them, they're not here, let's go home." He looked at me like I had lost my mind, and I had...I wanted pickles, they weren't there, and I have pregnancy hormones running through my blood stream...need I say more?  He continued to look and explain to me that it helps when I clearly describe to him what it is I'm searching for.  My irrational emotions make it harder to contain my tears, and none of this is what I want to hear at the moment, so I do like any woman, and quickly repeat that "I want to go home" before saying nothing. 

He finally gives up on the pickles, and we make our way through the rest of our shopping with me replying "no" to everything he asks from that point forward.  The ONLY thing I wanted was dill pickles, and they did not have them.  I managed keep my composure, and we got in the car to head home.  At this point, I'm still not speaking because I know how silly it is that I'm this upset by the pickles, but there's nothing I can do about it.  I just wanted to go home and wallow in my sorrow.  Poor Ben, he just wouldn't give up, and he pulled into a Mediterranean specialty store to see if they had them.  I knew from the moment I saw what type of store it was...there were not going to be any pickles, and I was not going to be any happier about the whole situation.  After my knowledge was confirmed, we then once again, made our way home.

Once we got to the house, I was finally able to console myself.  I sprawled across the bed and cried before having a nap.  4 1/2 hours later, I woke up feeling a bit better.  I had a little more sense about me, and went to the source of all knowledge...Google!!  If there were dill pickles to be had in New Zealand, Google would know!!  Apparently, this has been a topic of interest from others that moved over, and I did manage to find a couple of recommendations as to where they might be carried...including an American specialty store in Auckland.  Ben, checked them out online, but unfortunately, they don't have online shopping.  It's okay, we're headed to Auckland in a couple of weeks, and if I have not found pickles by then, I will be checking them out while we're there!

So, there you have it....the story of my temporary insanity and my unsuccessful quest for dill pickles in New Zealand.  My Momma had to hear this story shortly after it happened.  She did NOT make me feel better...she laughed at me, and then she told my Granny.  I found out about Granny knowing when I called to see how she was doing, and after exchanging pleasantries, she said, "So, tell me...how are the dill pickles in New Zealand?"  She immediately cracked up laughing. 

Now, every time I say something positive about New Zealand, I'm quickly informed of how tasty the pickles are back home...LOL  I can get a laugh out of it now, and I think someone in my family is going to take pity of me and ship me some.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I find them here, but if anyone wants to send pickles my way, I'm willing to provide my address! :D  Until next time...everyone take care and eat a few dills in my honor!!