Food

Okay, so the food here is pretty similar to that in the US with a few big differences...

1. Instead of Sabarros anchoring every food court, there is hardly Italian to be found. They have a lot of Asian food. The food court in Pat's building for example has Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Stir Fry (not sure of the nationality - mongolian perhaps?)

2. There is a Thai food place on almost every street (Yea!)

3. Everything is sold in small quantities. So different for someone who is used to shopping at Costco and stocking up for nuclear winter.

4. They don't have grape jelly!!! How can you make a respectable PB&J without grape jelly? I have scoured three different grocery stores looking for it. I finally decided this was God's way of telling me to branch out. I found spreadable chocolate (think nutella) and am going to try PB&C sandwiches instead. Okay, so maybe this wasn't God's intention.

5. Since we don't have a car, we have to take public transportation to and from the grocery store so I can't really buy ice cream as it might melt before we got home depending on the bus schedule. This was a little scary as so much of my diet depends on ice cream but it is probably better for my waist that it is not readily accessable. Not to fear though, I have had one sundae and part of an ice cream sandwich.

6. There are a lot of American foods sold in the grocery store but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. The randomly have bagel chips and Philladelphia cream cheese but I have yet to see an actual bagel.

7. In three grocery stores, I have only found one that carries exactly one type of pretzels and none carry a tostido type product. I find that odd. Does no one down here appreciate a good ammount of salt with a little crunch?

8. In small grocery stores with a fair selection but limited space, there seems to be an inordinately large ammount of space dedicated to various types of baked beans and many styles of rubber gloves for cleaning. Are these two items related? Gross.

9. In addition to Thai food places on every corner, there are also bakeries everywhere. I could get used to a place that serves choclate croissants and fresh bread every 50 feet.

10. It seems all hard cheese is known as cheddar (at least at the grocery stores) and cheddar cheese itself is called "Tasty".

I will post more on food as I go along. As a P.S., I have a newfound respect for my city dwelling friends who either have to buy a couple meals at a time or have to drag their grocery carts to and from the stores and off and on public transportation. My hat is off to you.