Grocery Shopping-quite an experience

I went grocery shopping by myself this Saturday while Ryan stayed home with the kids. I was able to get a couple different videos of what the grocery department is like. They are pretty short because I was afraid that one of the many men in black suits would come and confiscate my camera. (I am not sure what is legal/illegal to take pictures of) I stayed as close to the shelves as possible to avoid standing out too much-- really though, could I stand out anymore? A tall American girl with a desperate look on my face? :)

The first picture is of the outside of Carrefour (like a super crazy Walmart or Meijer) the second building is right beside Carrefour and holds The Pines which is one of the grocery stores that carries some American foods. The third picture is of the entrance to the actual Carrefour-- the moving sidewalk that Anna enjoys riding up. The next 2 pictures are of the small International food area where I find spagetti sauce, salsa, some cereals, popcorn-- some of the treasures from home. It is an imported foods section so there is actually very little from the US. France, Spain, Asian countries-- pretty much all other countries are represented in this area. I think that Carrefour is a French store so there are a lot of French products.

The first video is of the fresh food area. The view is of the live fish tanks where fish of all sizes are sold (crabs, turtles, eels, something that looks like jellyfish...) If I would have been braver, it would have been cool to get closer to all of the live specimens. Sorry guys. I am a chicken. The next video is of their section of the store that is called hot pot. From my understanding, this is very traditional method of cooking. You pick your meat to throw in the pot to make the broth and then add a wide range of things from this area. Some look like meatballs, dumplings, I don't even know what else but this is a very large section in the store. I think this will probably be the first method of traditional cooking that I try. I just need to have someone with me to tell me what the different options are. I think once we are in the house and have my kitchen cooking supplies, I will ask the translator from Ryan's work if she will teach me how to cook something. She is very nice and I think would enjoy teaching me.

I think I have a pretty good feel now of the different stores and what to buy where. I have had a couple of good learning experiences-- in China, items that are outdated are put on sale. I have learned to look at the dates on everything-- milk, meats (each time I have been to Carrefour, I have looked at the prepackaged sandwich meat and everytime the same meat is there-- expiring Nov 20, 2006. Yuck! I have had only one bad experience with food that had not expired. I bought sour cream (expiring late Dec 06) and when I tried it on my nachos-- it was rotten cream! It was awful! I wonder if in shipping it got too warm. I am not sure how to remedy that problem. I will try it from a different store and see if it is the same.

God is good! We have found an assortment of food staples that are "home" for us. One morning, Anna and I prayed that we would find Mac n cheese and other staple foods so that I could make foods that we really like and that is the day that we found the store that Ryan told you about-- mac n cheese, flour, baking powder, and many more things. I think that will be one of our favorite stores. Well, enough of this novel. Much love to everyone!
http://www.videoegg.com/video/cKOPWM
http://www.videoegg.com/video/cKwQqX