Sampling-savvy without worry

Starting the week off with a [more or less] clean slate I have to admit my camera decided to tag along and – as opposed to me –  stay the same way until now. Clean. In terms of food pictures, that is. Hence why today’s What I ate Wednesday won’t feature any foods eaten this week but recent ones with some pictures courtesy of my phone [not exactly my camera of choice but it works]. Looking back there’s a trend of one food category making up a rather large part of the last weeks: free food.

Granted, this first one is a bit of a stretch in terms of free. But how could I go without mentioning the fantastic lunch at Vapiano that rounded out the marvelous Sunday I spent with my mum?

Liking it a lot the last time I went with their Pasta Arrabiata again – this time with whole spelt fusili – while my mum’s fettucchine dish had feta, sundried tomatoes and parmesan.

As I mentioned in my last WIAW post I take my lunch breaks for short walks. What I didn’t mention, though, was the destination of the latter. Situated in a industrial area of the city the office doesn’t offer the nicest walking environment. Nevertheless I’m making the most of it in the foodie sense by taking the ten-minute walk to two large stores close by. Sounds boring? Not so much to me if one of them is a fairly large organic supermarket [Alnatura for any German readers]. Summing up the benefits of this in just one word: samples.

Cookie Monster cookies …

Unfortunately, the idea has yet to spread far around here so it’s mostly organic supermarkets dishing up samples. Admittedly, I can go a little crazy on these … but that’s actually the upside to my sample-savvyness. While I still can’t pride myself with being completely [calorie-]count-free I’ve noticed how much more comfortable I’ve gotten with bits and bites. Sampling trays have helped a lot here. Who could say no to free food? Not me at least. Cookies, chocolate, truffles, bars, … as long as it’s vegan or has only a little bit of dairy I’m in.

… and fresh fruit is an obvious one.

All of the above free or paid-for-by-others foods came [mostly] guilt-free, too. Considering free foods free of calories, too? Maybe not all the way [yet] but I’ve decided not to feel guilty for eating them anymore. Eating the equivalent of five cookies in one sitting? It might have happened before. Yet if I was offered them at any other time I’d likely still dismiss the opportunity. For now it’s still taking baby steps and  but this one feels quite freeing. It’s like sampling the freedom of mindless eating which I’m hoping to reach eventually. One sampling at a time …

Which better way to end an almost-last-of summer WIAW post with ice cream [samples]? Naturally I didn’t whip out my camera in front of the store employees scooping out the samples. Yet I decided to buy some and when pondering aloud which flavor to get was even offered a spontaneous discount so I could buy two [never mind that I might have done in anyway]. Apparently that’s what a little flirting with the hottie employee gets you ;). Don’t mind if I do.

Strawberry Lime Sorbet

Now if only I could make Jenn‘s Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread appear on those sampling plates around here 😉 …

Happiness inducing today: Talking to one of cousins – it had been too long already again.

Are you a sneaky sampling snacker, too?

What are your favourite foods to sample?

Random question: Is it starting to feel like Fall where you are yet? I wish summer wasn’t slowly fading away already.