I don't necessarily want to buy them since the things I love seem have tonnes of calories in them. Knowing what are available is great so that I know what I can buy if I want to indulge once in awhile. Also, I love to know where the different things are located in the stores. Back home, I know exactly where the stuff were - very useful if I needed to get something when I'm in a rush.
Here, there are four different supermarkets that we regularly go to - three of them with halal meats. We would check out the weekly specials to determine which would get us the better deals. Sometimes we do come across very good bargains. A couple of weeks ago, we bought 5kg of potatoes, 5kg of onions and 2kg of carrots. Each bag cost only SGD2! This week another supermarket had the same offer. Just in time since we've run out of potatoes.
Apart from the great bargains, I really enjoy the weekly shopping. The supermarkets here are more than three times bigger than those back home. Every time I go there, I am spoilt for choice. There are simply lots and lots of things to choose from. I am usually stuck at the bread, cookies, chocolates and cheese sections. There are aisles and aisles of those stuff. Heaven!! Pete would always have to drag me away.
I also know that I am here in Sweden and not back home because there are rows and rows of Swedish delicacies. Pete, ever the Swede, would occasionally have cravings for crispbreads and crisprolls or knäckebröd. These are either very thin slices of high fiber bread that is very crisp, hence the name, or they look like tiny baguette cut in half. These are also very crisp. The Swedes love them. They eat more crispbreads than any other people in the world. And the rows and rows of shelves dedicated to the crispbreads will attest to that.
I have taken a liking to those as well. We would eat them for breakfast with butter and cheese. Sometimes we would also eat them with soups. I have been cooking lots of soups these days since it's cold. Hence the regular appearance of these crackers these few weeks.
Christmas is coming and so the stores are stocking up on Christmas goodies and decorations. One thing that the Swedes love to eat at this time of year is gingerbread cookies. All the stores have them now. They come in cute packages and tins. We have also been buying some. They are really good with hot tea or cold milk.
It's not possible to move to another country and be blase about the country's food, I think. Food is a big part of a country's culture and I think I should be open to it and embrace it. Luckily for me, I am a foodie and I like to try new stuff. I don't necessarily like everything but I have come to love some. I am learning to love the food culture of this adopted country of mine. Look at my shopping cart if you don't believe me :)
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| A peek into part of our shopping bag - Leksands' crispbread, 2.5kg of typical Swedish cheese and gingerbread cookies! |
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| I'm not eating the crispbread with all the wrapping. I'm not that silly! Just wanted to show you the size of the cheese and crispbread. |
Wow, that cheese is really big. What are you going to do with it? How long does it stay good after being open?
ReplyDeleteYeah it's 2.5kg! We usually just eat it with bread or the crispbreads. I also use it when I make lasagne, mac and cheese or cheese buns - anything baked! We usually check the expiry date but because I use it a lot, we usually finish it before it goes off. There are other smaller blocks available but this one was cheap :)
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