Green Beans Almondine

Is it Amandine or Almondine? Let me explain.

Amandine is a culinary term demonstrating a garnish of almonds. Dishes that include an “amandine” are usually cooked with butter and seasonings, then sprinkled with whole or flaked, toasted almonds.

Just to clarify, the term is often spelled almondine in US or Canadian cookbooks. No matter how you say it, it basically means sopped in butter and sprinkled with almonds which is absolutely fine by me.

As you may or may not know, my husband Steve is the C.S.O. of the household. (Chief Shopping Officer). He does the majority of the grocery and produce shopping on the weekends.

Although he is usually quite willing and cheerful about the excursion, here are some things that make him cranky during the experience.

1. Locating a product on the list – This is right about the time I get the phone call. Steve is wandering around in circles looking for the “said” item on MY LIST. I’m patiently guiding him through the store to exactly where it should be located. He arrives at the GPS point and tells me that “it’s not on the shelf”. To which I answer “it has to be, I saw it there last week”. To which he replies “it’s not here”. To which I reply “ask someone to look in the back for it”. TO WHICH he REPLIES “I asked and they said it’s discontinued”.
2. The “express lanes” – used for those who have 8 items or less or in most cases, those who cannot count.
3. The 15 other checkout lanes – with only two open and 10 deep with people and their carts preparing for an apocalypse.
4. The “Baryshnikov” shopping cart – you know what I’m talking about. The cart with an errant front wheel that pirouettes like a ballet dancer on crack.
5. A.R.R.S. – Aisle Road Rage Syndrome – A disease that is associated with the urge of knocking aside an AISLE BLOCKER. Those that feel they can cordon off an entire aisle for the purpose of aimlessly reading nutritional information on product labels.
6. The Super Market Social – If you were never invited to this V.I.P. event, ask Steve to get you IN. He always runs into SOMEONE who he knows while he’s there who says “oh hey, it’s so great to see you” and 40 minutes later cause another condition called M.F.Y.S. – Melting Frozen Yogurt Syndrome.
7. Items on SPECIAL – Each week we receive a local newspaper with “flyers”. I am not allowed to TOUCH his flyers until he has examined each and every one of them. He then makes a list of crap on SALE and informs me that IF I really want paper towels for $3.99 a six pack, I better get them myself because he’s not running to more than one store on the weekend. Nine times out of ten I forget to go and he reminds me that I have MISSED out on something big, something REALLY big.
8. The haul – There is always a mystery of how the final bill totals $263.47 worth of groceries and we end up going out for dinner because there is nothing to eat.
9. The checkout lady – who always asks, “did you find everything you need”? To which my husband always replies, “not according to my wife”.
10. Dislocated Shoulder Syndrome – my husband likes to demonstrate that it is humanly possible to carry ALL the groceries into the house in ONE fell swoop. This sometimes requires balancing items on his head, in his teeth and kicking the door open with his foot. It also results in a week long of belly aching because inevitably his shoulders have succumbed to falling out of their sockets from the shear weight of the 16 bags and laundry detergent he has transported from the car into the house in ONE trip.
11. Unpacking the groceries – This is the stage I offer my assistance and am denied because “I don’t know how to FIT them into a fridge that’s big enough to house food for 18 people. Apparently the technique of organizing produce is exactly the same as stacking the dishwasher – both of which I suck at.
12. The grocery list – Steve asks me to text him additional items that I would most likely NEED to use in a photo shoot and are imperative to include in a recipe. Please note the word IMPERATIVE.  While unpacking the groceries I will ask “where’s the Greek yogurt’? To which he replies “was it on the list”? To which I reply “yes, check the text I sent you”. To which he replies “OH”. “I guess I didn’t SCROLL down far enough”.
13. The Green Beans – my husband always purchases one or two vegetables that sit in the crisper for what seems like an eternity until he says “we really need to make those before they go bad”.

THIS WAS ONE OF THESE TIMES ↓

So……

Here you have it.  Green Beans Almondine….Amandine……oh whatever….beans with butter and nuts.