There are many variations on the phrase that starts with “A little bit of knowledge” and none of them end well. Every few weeks (or days) we fall victim to that concept and our most recent encounter could have indeed made us victims but Bill’s keen sense of smell saved us from that fate. We were looking at outdoor grills and everything that goes with them when we spotted this huge bottle you see in the photo that seemed really cheap for such a quantity of flavoring to give your food the smell of smoke. Just look at that delicious corn on the cob, steak, sausage, and asparagus and the words “barbeque, liquid, and grill”. Just don’t look at anything else on the label!

Yes, we bought a bottle of fire starter. The price did seem awfully cheap but it was at the end of the season so we figured that it was a clearance price. Since getting it home we’ve tried to pass it off on our neighbors but no one wants it. Even when I point out that picture of all the smoky food on the label, everyone just says it gives the food a bad taste.

Soon after we got to France all of those tiny airplane-safe bottles of liquids started running out so we went out to replenish them. Here’s a picture of our first purchase: hand cream. My gosh, it was only 79 cents for ¾ of a liter and we were already familiar with this brand called “Everyday” from previous trips over here as being a good value for a basic product. The first time I pushed down the pump out came a creamy liquid not much thicker than water so I examined the label more closely. While it does say the words “cream” and “hands”, in our haste we overlooked the other large word “washing”. While not as deadly as flavoring your food with lighter fluid, it was still an inconvenience.

Now that we’re working on the house everyday, we have lunch over there and it’s almost always a salad. We normally make our own dressings but at the moment it’s just more convenient to pick them up at the supermarket and here you’ll see the bottles of Ranch and Thousand Island dressing we found on the shelf. Granted, the labels don’t actually say those words but the color was certainly right, you can see a tomato and lettuce on the front, and one of them even says “salad”. Yep, mustard vinaigrette; one with white wine and the other red. At least we’re getting closer.

So what’s the solution? I suppose we could take even more time than we already spend in the supermarket figuring out what we’re buying. However, I like Bill’s attitude better which is “Ah, we’ll use it someday.” We still have that huge box of salt that was sitting on the same shelf with all the other dish washing powders. At least it was cheap!