Clearance of Conscience

Have you ever made a homemade hard taco shell? Me neither. I make homemade tortillas, but the thought of getting the shell just right...little brown flecks in the corn, a nice crispy texture, just the right shape...it's just too overwhelming for me. Taco shells can occasionally be found in Turkey, but only for a price that would be equivalent of what I spend on my kids' birthday gifts! But oh, we want what we cannot have. The girls request tacos sometimes for a birthday dinner. I am left with alternatives like : spending an entire afternoon making them from scratch, sheepishly asking a friend with Base Access to buy me a box, importing them from America in our luggage (which results in more of a crushed taco salad type dinner), or just doing without. But Saturday night, a friend and I hit a new grocery store in town called Kipa. I had heard positive things about it, and indeed, it was a good store. But things went from good to great when I spotted taco shells. Taco shells at 1.75 YTL ($1.00US). Ignoring the stares, I climbed canned good shelving to get every last box on the shelf. Stacked mile-high in my cart, I think I talked about them for a good 30 minutes. Then I began to feel a twinge of guilt. I took them ALL. I thought of all the other foreigners in our city who might want some. So, I made a couple of conscience clearing phone calls, "Hey, need any taco shells?" "No? Great. See you Sunday." and "Oh, just one? Sure, I'll get you 'just one.' " I still had plenty. Then who should round the corner but a whole slew of my mommy-foreigner friends. "Sara Campbell!" I spoke pleasantries, then finally blurted out the whole story, "Just take them! They have taco shells for $1 and I bought every single one. There's not a box left on the shelf. I can't stand this, get them right out of my cart!" My friends died laughing.

We also found Campbell's soup for $3YTL ($2.00US). Normally it is nearly double that, so we bought a bunch. I once again climbed the shelves to get these, this time using a prop to propel all the cans down to us. I thought of those primates in the jungle, who have been seen 'using tools to gather food'...hmmm.

When I came home and told my kids about my find, they threw their arms around me and yelled, "You're the best!" as if I had anything to do with this divine provision. Then I pointed out to them the name of the soup...Campbells. "Campbells?!" (quizzical look) they replied, "That's us!" We live a sheltered life over here!