Suspicious and suspiciouser

In England I never shopped in Lidl. Not out of snobbishness, but because the nearest Lidl is far away up a hill in Hawkinge and Sainsburys, Tescos and their ilk are much closer.

But Lidl not only sells 13 kiwis for 0,99 Euros (7p a kiwi, people) it also gives away free extras that you don't expect.

I purchased a bag of spinach earlier today to go in a salad. After slaving away over a cold fridge for the best part of half an hour to create an awesome dinner I slid Ben's plate in front of him. Whilst I was turned away he popped something off the plate into his mouth and then made this noise: "Bleurrgrrrrrhhh!" and scooched his chair back from the table in an attempt to distance himself from whatever had so disgusted him.

"What?" I asked, scanning the plate for un-Ben friendly foods - he'd already reminded me not to put spring onions on his plate, had I forgotten? But no, everything on there was usually to his taste. To check I ate a few bits and pieces off his plate (perhaps more than strictly necessary) but it all tasted a-ok.

"It was lemony," he said, screwing his nose up.

We continued our dinner with no further unexpected flavours until I hit upon something stalky and decidedly un-spinachy.

I am not much of a botanist, but I think it was a nettle.

Bleurgh indeed. But at least we discovered the whereabouts of villainous salad infiltrator, right?

Then Ben nibbled a leaf, pulled a face and said 'It isn't whatever I had in mine."

Which means that we did not recieve one unasked for mysterious extra in our spinach, but two.

The generosity of Lidl knows no bounds.