Well having slept forever that first day and night, the next day D was desperate to get out of the house for food. Having arrived at the apartment on Saturday July 14th and it being a holiday, there had been no way to stock up on food for the apartment except to run out to one of those small epiceries which is much like a corner store back home in the states. So...Monday I set out on my first adventure in France...the grocery store ^^. We are quite lucky in our location as we are within a short distance of THREE grocery stores! All in opposite directions. On arriving to the first on ( I will end up visiting them all that week) I was completely overwhelmed with different foods and words, words, words that I didn't know. I am so dreadfully not ready for this. I really enjoyed wandering the aisles though, trying to figure out what everything was and deciphering words that seemed familiar...but not quite. D loaded our basket with goodies, and I've felt quite spoiled. I have to say that I find the grocery stores here QUITE different, although of course they have some similarities. One of the things I noticed is the HUGE section devoted to Yogurt. It's a whole aisle and the flavors sound absolutely sinful. D bought us pistachio and vanilla yogurts and the pistachio was absolutely divine! Also the bread section...but I'm sure you already expected that. The breads here are beautiful and tasty, and the pastries...Oh My! They do have some sliced bread like back home...but I've found that I just don't care for it anymore. Why would you want it when you can have something so much better? Another thing I noticed is very little foreign foods, such as chinese, mexican, etc. They do have some selections but very little. It will be difficult to recreate some of my recipes but I don't think I really mind as I have plenty of new ones to learn. So yes, quite an adventure for my first real day here. I guess I have a lot to learn before I can find my way around a grocery store here :p
Just to help you out--flour is called Farine and you usually have to buy baking soda at the pharmacy. Herbs de Provence is a mix of 5 herbs and great on all sort of food and very cheap in France. Salt is found in different aisle from the spices. You won't be able to find cheddar cheese except at great price sometimes at a frommagerie that has imported it from England. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. It is an adventure, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda for the advice. Hard to believe about the Cheddar cheese although there sure is plenty to compensate ^_^
ReplyDeleteI have lived her for Ten years and I had no idea that you could buy baking soda at the pharmacy. I usually buy levure chimique and hope for the best.
ReplyDeleteNow I know. Hooray!