There is quite a learning curve in the grocery store. Not being able to read the packaging is only part of the fun. There are a couple stores here that have a few "American" foods and brands, and you would THINK you would be safe buying those products. But you know that old addage "read the packaging carefully"? Well, that's fine if it's in ENGLISH. But what if the name of the product is in English, but nothing else on the package? We bought a box of Ritz crackers. It said Ritz right on the box, and looked like our Ritz box at home. Then we got them home and opened it. I looked at Rob and said "oh, I guess these are the filled ones". You know the ones that look like the Oreo cookie sandwich? They had an orange colored filling. Cheese filled, right? Wrong! They were orange filled. That's right. Orange! Upon careful inspection of the packaging "look, there's a little picture of an ORANGE on the package!" Arggghhhhh! Buyer beware. Picture this. Remember those orange flavored Creamsicles? Now picture that taste in the middle of 2 Ritz crackers. Talk about confused tastebuds! Your brain doesn't know if you're eating an ice cream confection, a piece of orange candy, or a tasty cracker. Interestingly, not as terrible as it sounds, but not something I'll intentionally buy again. I've been warned by a friend here that they also come in lemon filled. Mmmmm! Yeah, not going there either.
When we moved in our relo people gave us a little care package of foods and goodies to get us started. Among the package were ketchup (because we hear Americans love ketchup I guess - it was in the American section of the grocery store so they must) and blueberry flavored Lay's potato chips. Yes, blueberry. I have one question. Why? Again, not as totally disgusting as they sound, but leave the potato chip alone. It's good the way it is. It made the bag of cucumber flavored Lay's potato chips they gave us almost seem normal. Again, not a great idea, but at least palatable if you're hungy enough for a snack.
They also gave us a little spice bag of salt. But not salt like you know salt. It's very fine and the consistency of damp sand at the beach. I'm not sure how one is supposed to use this salt unless you're measuring it cooking with it. It's nearly impossible to sprinkle on food unless you want clumps of the sea sand like stuff on your food. And do we put it in a sugar bowl type container and use a little spoon, or how are we supposed to use the stuff at the table? So now I'm in search of a salt shaker which I bet comes already preloaded with..... salt! Either way, there's going to be a learning curve with dispensing this fine damp powdery substance out of a salt shaker.
So as you can see, we have a lot to learn about food and shopping here. So far I'm just trying to stick to what my driver tells me are beef and chicken and then moving on from the meat department. Not ready to try the various sizes of eyeballs or the chicken feet, which my husband tells me are a lot of work for a little bit of meat - kind of like chicken wings. Yeah, I'm gonna take his word for it. And I'm not ready to tackle the food out on the street yet either. One of the offerings on the street are chunks of breaded meat on a stick. I have no idea what kind of meat, but I'm steering clear of it. I've been lovingly calling it "dog on a stick", although my friend assures me that they would never put dog on a stick because it's much to stringy - or something like that. Nice! Somehow that doesn't reassure me.... and how does he know the consistency of dog!? Hmmm?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment