Grocery shopping and Wistful thoughts

Well, I think the homesick stage has officially set in for me.  I started to feel it last week and now am really feeling it.  From what I understand this is one of the stages every expat goes through.  They call it the "culture shock" phase.  Not sure that is exactly it, but I will say, my attitude is a bit off these days.  Probably not the best time to be writing about grocery shopping, but I needed to write and this is what I have been thinking about.


Just a quick update, E is better and no more asthma symptoms!  Yeah!  Although, we do have meds that we will continue and the Dr. says no cows milk for a while. (want to see if that is a trigger)  It doesn't help that while at the Dr. yesterday I forgot to grab the bag of meds.  So now I need to take another shuttle over to the mall, go up 5 floors, then back down and either wait on the bus or take a cab home.  All in all about a $10 trip just because I forgot the meds.  I guess there are some things that I just might not get used to!


Good thing is that I can run by the grocery again since I forgot to get eggs yesterday.  


So, grocery shopping:  It has most definitely been an adventure!  I finally took my time yesterday and did a full exploration and that took me almost 2 hours.  It takes a while to find what you are looking for here.  Especially if you are looking for something specific, which I usually am.  There are 4 main places that you can shop for groceries.  Carrefour (like a Super Walmart), Giant (Super Kmart), Cold Storage (HT like), and Fairprice (BiLo esc).  I have done all of them and several times.  We have spent a good deal of money just stocking up and replenishing what we know we will need regularly.  Oils, spices, sauces, butter, flour, sugar etc.  Everyone has been asking me, "how are the prices?".  Well, everything is much more expensive.  Remember that mostly everything is imported.  Somethings aren't as bad as you would think and others are outrageous!  Fruit and veggies are reasonable, but meat, cereal, alcohol, and anything american are crazy!


Just to give you an example - I decided to make my own playdough for E.  That required food coloring.  Each regular size bottle was about $1.50 each, which wasn't bad, but they didn't have any primary colors (only orange and purple).  I could spend about $8 to get a variety of colors or I could just spend $10 on the 4 pack box from McCormick.  So, yes, I spent $10 on food coloring.  I know that sounds insane, but when playdough itself costs about $5 for a single can I figured I was not only being green, but saving $.  I have also decided to go ahead and treat myself now and then for a beer that I actually like to drink.  Yep, spent $17 on a 4 pack!!  (they don't have blue moon here or much like that, so I bought the next best thing) And a fifth of vodka runs about $60 for something that isn't going to give you a headache.  The kind we usually get was about $115.  Just couldn't justify that.

So, I have decided I will just need to get over the sticker shock and go with it.  That's hard for me as I have been a penny pincher for a long time.  Although, I will say there are some good things about shopping here, like the amazing fruits and vegetables and the interesting things that you can get that you can't get at home.


So, let's talk vegetables.  Green is good here and the options are endless!  I need to learn more about the selections and how you prepare them.  To be honest, I really don't know much about greens like I thought.  In the US is it lettuce types and the few greens that you buy in the south, but this is a whole other world!

They still have most of the veggies that we normally eat; broccoli, zucchini, carrots, cucumber, corn etc.  But there are so many other things that I have never heard of.  One day I will add these to my Fruit /Veg of the week, but I haven't ventured out much on the veggie side of things.

This one is called an "old cucumber", not sure what makes it old, but it feels like a regular cuke.  It is just yellow-green-brown in color.  (I'll need to research this one)

I will say that the selection of mushrooms is amazing!  And the prices are great!  I buy mushrooms pretty much every week now.  I just wish E would like them.  She hates the things.  Funny, when I was a kid I hated them too and wouldn't touch anything with a mushroom on it.


Like I said the fruit selection is amazing as well.  And things you have never heard of.  Many I am not afraid to try.  (like the Pomelo and the dragon fruit) But, there are some that are more intimidating.  Like this one, the Longan.  I have read about them and recently the blogger for "100 days of real food" went Asia and had these.  I think they might be next for me.  They are very plentiful right now as they are "in season".  

Another adjustment has been understanding the weights.  Everything here is in grams or kgs. I know metric pretty well, but when you order deli meats it can get a little confusing.  Yesterday I decided to get some ham and ordered a pound.  The lady looked at me confused.  So, I remember that it was in grams.  So I ordered a 1/2 of a kilo.  (which she repeated 500 grams)  So I ended up with just over a pound of thin sliced ham.  (probably more than I needed, but I could freeze half)  That ran me about $19.  (crazy again!)  


Oh yeah, and btw, they don't have pepperoni here.  I never thought that would be an issue for me, but it is a mission for me now.  To find pepperoni!  I bought some yesterday that was called "pepperoni" from the deli section and so far it is the closest I have come, but still not the real deal.  It was much more spicy.  What they call pepperoni is more like salami.  Even on the pizza here.  No American pepperoni!  I will find it, somewhere!


So, back to fruits and veggies.  One other thing is that everything must be weighed before you take it up to the checkout.  Typically there is a queue (line) to wait in.  I have only found one store that weighs at the checkout.  A couple of times I forgot to get my weighing done; if you forget, they put your items aside and unless you want to go back, weigh them and check out again you are out of luck!  Now I look and make sure if it needs weighed or I buy items that are already weighed or select things that are priced by the item.  Took some getting used to!


There are many things that are distinctly Asian here.  Like the plethora of dried fish.  They are usually in the bulk or fresh area.  So many kinds!  They are kept in bins and you just scoop out the dried up fish (or fish parts) and put them in a bag/container to be weighed.  Not sure how they use them.  I'm not sure I will venture that far in my cooking skills, but never say never!

Dried up fish (tiny white fish, you eat the whole thing)

Of course it wouldn't be Asia if you didn't have your many choices of soy sauce and rice.  Pretty much anything you want and in many flavors.  I am amazed!  How do you know what kind to get?  We just buy white rice or jasmine rice in the US, here there are 50 different kinds!  I bet there is some major culture shock for asians that come to the US.  I bet they say, "What, only one kind of rice?"  I guess you need to look at it from both sides.

 Soy sauce anyone?

What's your rice?

The last thing I'll write about is the coffee. Not as expensive as some of the other things, but still more than the US.  Interestingly, they do a lot of instant coffee here.  They have what they call 3 in one or 2 in one.  That is where it already has cream or cream and sugar in the packet.  They also call it Kopi.  Little tea bags with coffee in them.

I also thought this was interesting.  Coffee mixture.  Take a look at the label.  50% coffee and 50% maize.  Maize?  Why would you put corn in coffee?  Is that so that you don't need to buy as much coffee and makes it cost less?  Humm, not sure about that one either.  

Well, that's about it for today.  For those of you reading, Please send pepperoni and coffee!  (just kidding!)  I guess my homesickness will wear off.  They say it takes 6 to 8 weeks to get over the hump.  We get our shipment on Friday, so I am guessing that will take my mind off things.  Honestly, I can't wait!  E will have her own bed, we'll have bikes to get around and my kitchen will be stocked with all of my cooking items!

And, one thing about the Asian culture, they are extremely positive.  Thank goodness!  As I left the store yesterday this sign was just above the checkout lines.  I really needed that and to be honest, it made me smile!