Why Yes, I Work In The Dairy Aisle!

I never knew the dairy aisle at Food Land could be so interesting, but I was totally proven wrong today! As I debated over shredded mozzarella cheese and block cheese (you must know it really was a debate... and the price difference was about 100 baht = $3.00), this little Thai lady bumped right into me and as I turned around her eyes lit up. At first I thought that was a little strange (can you say "awk-ward!") but then I realized she needed some, ahem, help, and was so excited over finding an English-speaking person.

Here she was looking for cottage cheese, which I finally figured out after naming all sorts of cheese ("cream??? shredded??? cheddar??? Ohh! Cottage cheese!"). Once we got that squared away, she wanted to know what you do with it. I'll admit my first instinct was to laugh and say "EAT it!" but I didn't. Instead I tried to think of ways to eat cottage cheese and the only thing I could think of was eating it with apple butter or putting it in casseroles. Not very exciting, but apparently this lady was satisfied with my answer and wanted some.

I started scanning the shelves desperately looking for "large curd" or even "small curd", which would have worked in a pinch. But alas, no cottage cheese. She went to go find someone who, you know, worked there, and they couldn't find any cottage cheese so we ladies parted ways and I went back to my debate.

I kid you not, five seconds later a Thai guy smiled broadly at me and said he needed help with buying some cheese for his friend who is from England and wants some red cheese and he didn't know what to get and could I please help him, pleaszy please?? (The pleazy part he didn't actually say but I know he was thinkin' it!) The only thing I could think of with red on it is the red wax that surrounds some cheese but he didn't like that option, so he actually called his friend and I talked to a complete stranger about cheese. Once the man on the other end said mild cheddar was fine (whew, I could handle that!), I passed the phone back and grabbed the cheddar. The Thai man looked at it with a quizzical look, but I assured him that it was what his friend wanted. He thanked me and walked away while I went back to my cheese... and ended up buying something else.

As I walked out of the dairy aisle, I noticed the Thai man in another aisle looking at some sauces.... and on the phone again. With a smile on my lips, I quickly skirted by and went to the checkout. The dairy aisle was enough for me to handle for one day!