See Woo

Jan had been talking to John, one of the local boaters who mentioned he liked cooking Asian food and shopped at a chinese supermarket in Reading.  After living in SE Asia ourselves we both enjoy chinese food.  A Google search produced See Woo which claims to be the largest supplier of oriental food in the Reading area.  Having a rental car obviously placed a visit on the itinerary. 

However the first task this morning was a visit to Thatcham to purchase more red diesel.  Unfortunately it was raining when I pumped the diesel from the containers into the Hurricane tank which meant I needed my left hand to hold and activate the new 3v pump and my right hand to hold the pump nozzle in the tank filler point.  My middle hand was used to hold the umbrella over the operation to prevent any water entering both the 20 litre jerrican and the boat tank.  As I only have three hands it wasn’t possible to take a photo of the pump in action.  Maybe next time!

Our folding sack trolley has been used to transport the 20 litre diesel containers between the car and the boat.  Thus far it’s proven to be very good.  However we don’t have any ratchet tie-down straps to secure to the containers to the trolley so I was forced to transport them individually.  The trolley is rated at 80kg and with tie-down straps we should be able to move two at a time.

We had a chuckle after entering the post code for See Woo into the gps.  It’s located around the corner from the Enterprise Rental Car office in Reading and is only a short distance from the canal.  I mentioned to Jan we should consider looking for a temporary mooring and make another trip to the supermarket on our way down the Kennet & Avon to the Thames!

So many sauces to chose from……..

We decided against buying any frozen frogs legs but did purchase some oyster sauce and soy sauce.  No 100 year old eggs in stock… maybe next time!  However Jan was able to buy a large bag of ginger, so ginger cake is possible in the offing?  I’d like her to bake ginger gems but can’t convince her to buy the iron!  

Dinner tonight was steamed dumplings and dim sims.

Top taken off the bamboo steamer for the photo

More conventional shopping followed with trips to Aldi and Sainsburys.  Jan was particularly euphoric when she discovered a £2 voucher in the bottom of the empty Sainsburys shopping trolley!

Having the car meant we could shop in bulk.  36 litres of milk and countless bags of flour made manoeuvring the trolley a challenge.  Oh….. It’s not fresh milk; long life!  The rubber wheels on Jan’s little shopping trolley were almost worn to the rims by the number of trips it took to get all the food from the car to Waiouru. 

The tread has worn off the soles of the shoes I bought when we started fitting out Waiouru.  They are a hazard and have gone into the bin.  I could use my summer ‘All Terrain’ joggers but they are expensive and it would be a waste of money using them as general ‘knock about’ shoes.  We called into Sports Direct to look at what they had in stock.  It must have been our lucky day because the prices had previously been reduced and today they were advertising a further 10% discount.  Finding a pair my size (8½) provided somewhat problematic but eventually Jan found a pair which fitted me; had a good sole; and were the ‘right’ price!  

Tomorrow is the last day with the car……