This afternoon I finally made it the big grocery store about a 30 min bus or 10 minute metro ride away. I have to say, I should have been shopping here weeks ago.
Never in my life have I been happier to see a normal looking (ie American Style) grocery store with the kinds of food and levels of stock I would expect at the Vons down the street from home. I was so happy to find cheddar cheese and peanut butter once again!
Don't get me wrong, Russian food is great and the selection of standard food items available at the grocery stores closer to the building is very nice. But little things like that you can start to miss after 3 weeks without them, and having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on French bread goes a long way to keep homesickness away. Other things I am oddly missing food-wise so far: Avocados, Turkey (in any form), tortillas, canned soup (you can only get soup in restaurants or by making it yourself) and most of all a good corned beef or pastrami sandwich!
However, I am really enjoying Russian food overall. They have lots of cabbage (in salads, soups and on its own) which I like and wish they served more of in the US. There is lots of good rice and pasta based dishes to choose from. They use other grains like buckwheat and rye more often than in the US and it offers an interesting change of pace. Soups are available almost everywhere they serve food (fast food kiosk borscht anyone?) and are perfect for our long chilly overcast days. The bread is always very good, and the dairy products are spectacular (that’s what you get when you use whole milk instead of reduced fat for everything I guess). The pizza is quite good, both at pizza restaurants and bakeries.
And don't even get me started on the baked goods like parajok (think a bread roll with a bunch of different filling options and they are shelf stable) and all kinds of amazing desserts are available at very low prices! As a side note, I am also convinced that if I were to open a blini stand in the US (I am thinking the UCI student center would do nicely), I could be a millionaire in no time!
Well all of this talk of food has made me hungry now... Time to make myself a PB&J and plan my rapidly approaching trip to Paris with Mom, I am not sure what is more exciting!
Never in my life have I been happier to see a normal looking (ie American Style) grocery store with the kinds of food and levels of stock I would expect at the Vons down the street from home. I was so happy to find cheddar cheese and peanut butter once again!
 |
| "Yes!" Brand Peach Apple Juice |
And don't even get me started on the baked goods like parajok (think a bread roll with a bunch of different filling options and they are shelf stable) and all kinds of amazing desserts are available at very low prices! As a side note, I am also convinced that if I were to open a blini stand in the US (I am thinking the UCI student center would do nicely), I could be a millionaire in no time!
Well all of this talk of food has made me hungry now... Time to make myself a PB&J and plan my rapidly approaching trip to Paris with Mom, I am not sure what is more exciting!
No comments:
Post a Comment