About this time last week I was wondering what I would be doing now-- grocery shopping, cooking dinner, babysitting? The answer to all three is more or less yes-- while I haven't yet done the second two (though I'm about to cook, and I'm scheduled to watch the baby in the morning), I have definitely done a lot of grocery shopping. To be honest, I expected that I might be doing something a little bit more exciting my first few days in Paris, but besides for the first evening, I really haven't been into the city at all. Where I live in Asnières really isn't that far out, especially considering that I can easily walk to the train station or Pont d'Asnières, which connects to main Paris, but doing either feels like a bit too much right now. I'm not overwhelmed, just tired, and besides, I'm at the point where just exploring this little city is still pretty interesting to me.
The place where I have spent the most time so far is Casino, a large grocery store that's close to what we have in the U.S. There's also a Monoprix, which sells clothing and home items as well as groceries, and which is nicer and a little more expensive. Both of these are within five minutes' walk from my apartment at the most. I feel a little embarrassed that I haven't shopped yet at the boulangeries (bakeries) and charcuteries (butcher shops) nearby, but I don't feel confident enough in my French or in handling euros to do much shopping anywhere besides the impersonal large stores. Most of the things I've been looking for can't be found at such small shops anyway. I've been trying to stock up on some of the things I know I need to cook almost anything (olive oil, pepper) as well as items which can be used for a lot of different meals (pasta, rice).
my plane snacks+ food already there+ scavenging at Casino
It has been hard to find everything I need. While Casino and Monoprix look pretty American, they're quite different than, say, Super Ingles. While I was unable to find sugar, almond powder (?) was quite easy to find, which I guess is good to keep in mind if I ever decide to do something involving powdered almonds. Butter? Impossible. Surely it could be found somewhere down the stupendously long aisle of dairy products, but between the cheeses, yogurts, and cheeses that look like yogurt, I didn't really have the patience. The dairy aisle in general is pretty intimidating, since I don't know all of the terminology. The French are so into these foods that knowing the words for milk, yogurt, and cheese, as well as a few adjectives isn't enough-- there's a whole vocabulary to accommodate the vast amount of choice shoppers have here.
Le frigo! Obviously, I could not resist coca-cola. The bottle on the bottom is the unpasteurized milk, quelle horreur!
Of course, that vocabulary exists in English, too, but you don't usually have to pull it out at Bi-Lo. While there might be a lot of different brands in the United States, they usually vary only in quality and aesthetics. At the stores here, there are fewer brands, but more substantial variations on each product. For instance, in the stores I visit in the US, there will usually be multiple brands of milk, but each will only offer the same choices (skim, 1%, 2%, whole, etc.). In France, there are around as many brands, or less, but with more significant choices about the type of product you're getting: the usual (demi-crème, crème, etc.) as well as those that I didn't expect. Among other things, you can have cow's milk or goat's milk, pasteurized or frais-- which I accidentally bought by mistake and am a little afraid of, though I've had a few glasses and survived without illness so far.
After I discovered I'd been drinking raw milk, I was just as happy as this little guy to find that the family had already put this carton in the fridge for me
I'll try to sneak a few pictures inside these stores sometime, though it would blow my cover-- the refreshing and unexpected thing about living in Asnières is that there are no tourists here, so until I open my mouth, I don't stick out too much, and even then, it's likely I'm taken for what I am-- a foreigner, but one who's here for more than a couple of days.
I'll write more later-- it's getting dark here, which means it's time to pull close the heavy wooden shutters to my bedroom window and go downstairs to cook my supper and read the paper.
What is going on here? Hopefully, I will find out.
PS. The woman whose children I will be nannying shook her head sadly when she saw that I had bought tea. "It is very hard to find good tea in this country,"she said. I am afraid that's she's correct.
6 comments:
I would recognize your frigo anywhere.
I think the French are too intense for tea, or something. You should go to the boulangeries, if only for one of those delicious croissants- worth a dirty look anyway (which I doubt they'd even give you). Je t'aime, mon amour! As you may have noticed, I've been combating the stress of packing by gorging myself on the internet :-p
And by that, I meant, why don't they have that in America?
I would buy a keg of coke if it were available.
It's just really weirdly proportioned. Look at how skinny it is, too!
My dream house would have a fountain drink machine in the kitchen, just like a restaurant. That probably makes me a bad person, or at least one with severe dental problems in the future.
everything's skinnier in France!
I didn't have to cook for myself in Spain, but I'd go shopping to get baking supplies to make them good old American food, and figuring out baking soda/baking powder/yeast was always horribly confusing and usually had disastrous results because the translations were unnecessarily confusing and usually contradictory. So, good luck in French grocery stores!
almond powder is amazing. heat it up in the microwave with some black sesame seed powder, some water, and sugar, and it's tasty. that's how i ate it, because it was easy to make. it can also be baked into foods, giving it a faint, but tasty, arsenic flavoring.
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