Since my husband offered to do the weekly grocery shopping on his own, it has left me with the luxury of taking my time doing the baking and cooking and cleaning on Friday morning, leaving us with ample time to take long, extended walk in the woods after he returns with the fruit of his shopping expeditions.

He enjoys food shopping, and in fact does very well at it. On his return when all that he has brought home has been tucked away in the refrigerator, it is stuffed amazingly, for the immediate consumption of only two mature people and two little dogs. But we do go through the fresh fruits, the vegetables, the dairy products, and all else that find their way into our refrigerator.

It can be a bit of a head-teaser, not to be the one who makes the weekly selections, since I'm the one who prepares the meals. There is a bit of a problem since my husband has a tendency to go overboard and commit us to more than I would bring home, so immediately my head buzzes with appropriate use of the cornucopia that crowds our refrigerator, dredging up from my mental filing cabinet recipes that match what I've got, to work with.

I had suggested also that we try out the organic milk sold by a supermarket other than our usual shopping venue, this one noted for the superlative quality and range of the products teeming on its shelves. It's a full-fat milk product, organic and rated highly by someone who recommended it to us. We both use quite a bit of milk on a weekly basis, albeit not daily. The milk comes at a hefty $4.95 per litre, with an additional charge of $1 for the glass bottle, refundable when returned. But we found the taste of the organic milk no more agreeable than what we usually use; commercial lactic-reduced 2%.

And while shopping there my husband was seduced by a very nice-looking bread. Made with organic flour and distilled water, containing organic seeds. It was, needless to say, twice the price of conventional commercial bread, but if its looks were supported by superior taste, obviously worth the outlay. Alas, not so. The bread was utterly tasteless, the only taste sensation that of an abundance of salt, obviously used in excess to mask the lack of taste. Scratch that one, too.