So this brings me to grocery shopping which, in a foreign country is interesting, as you can imagine. Not only do you get to struggle with the language but you don’t recognize a lot of the packaging—ergo, the products. Since my French is improving every day, I can usually figure out what something is—and no, I don’t take my dictionary to the grocery store—so maybe I am luckier than some others.
Apartments are small on this side of the pond so the refrigerators and cupboards are what might fit in a US travel trailer, or even smaller. This means that grocery shopping is more than a once-a-week activity. And people like to go from little specialty shop to specialty shop—one for the cheese, one for the meat, one for the fruits and vegetables, one for the bread. If I were my buddies, Jerry and Rhea Yares, I’d be slapping on a beret each day and going from shop to shop. But they cook; I don’t. So it’s off to the supermarche that I go, pulling my little red caddie behind me.
And I get to try new things. Yesterday, I discovered some microwavable dinners that aren’t frozen but packaged to be stored on your shelf. This is good; the freezer part of the little refrigerator is one hand tall, two hands across, and two hands deep…and there are three ice cube trays in there for some reason. So I picked up a dinner called Saute d’agneau aux flageolets verts. Hmm, I knew that adneau means lamb and the picture definitely showed the meat surrounded by what looked like lima beans. But vert means green….? When I returned back home, I looked up flageolets (examine that word closely and s-o-u-n-d it out....). It means kidney bean. But the name reminded me why I might not want to eat too much of this dinner—after all, I wanted to go out last night… It was very good, by the way.
I even experimented with goat cheese—I stole this “recipe” from Rolinka. After I figured out how to open the package and what to do with the casing around the cheese, I spread it on a piece of the famous Pouline bread and squeezed honey on top. After grilling it in my little toaster oven, I ate it with fresh tomatoes. Very tasty, if I do say so myself!!
And here’s another food that Rolinka reminded me of—I know we ate these on some trip with her. It’s a tropical fruit called a litchi or lychee, which is between the size of a plum and a large grape. (We may have these in the US but I’ve never paid attention.) The red rind, thick and roughly-textured, is peeled off before popping it into your mouth. It has a stone inside and the sweet texture of the meat is like that of a grape. So I bought some of those yesterday, too.
I thought I’d lost a pound or two during my first week here with all the walking and the stair-climbing. However, then I started trying all the wonderful chocolate and cookies I’m finding at the store…I choose a new kind to try every time I go. No wine though—I still hesitate about drinking wine alone. Wish I felt that way about chocolate and cookies! I’ll keep you posted on any other new food items that I try.
