Cooking

My whole apartment smells like Caraway seeds! I just received the package in the mail (mail and seeds) and opened it and everywhere I go in this smallish space is redolent with the spice. Now I will have to make some of my famous coleslaw!

One of the things that we are getting used to here is the fact that the grocery store does not have everything that they have in the US.  Things like rubbing alcohol, I finally figured out, are available at the pharmacy but not the grocery store. Basmati rice was no where to be found on the regular grocery shelves, thankfully I found a middle eastern (Iraqi owned) store last week and got dried beans (also not available) there along with the dill I needed for Persian Rice. Timing is everything with Persian Rice, so you must have everything ready (potatoes scrubbed and sliced, colander read to drain the rice, lima beans out to mix into the rice) you can end up with a result that you don't want to eat!

As you may have realized we are cooking at home a lot. Eating out is expensive and even eating at home can be too. So I will have to learn to expand my repertoire or we are going to be bored very soon. I think I "cheat" more at home, sandwiches, leftovers, canned foods stuff like that. Here even the canned foods can be expensive so I am cooking more from scratch. Also, we have more time here, no friends, no volunteer activities, no religious commitments--I am however writing more letters!  In exactly two weeks I will turn 48, I plan to make a cake and have our one friend or maybe two over. First I will have to figure out how to make my favorite cake, butter is very expensive so I will probably use some of that and some margarine. Forgot to get vanilla today, maybe at the spice store tomorrow...

Today I stood in the store with my translator in my hand trying to figure out what I was looking at. Mostly I use it to figure out what kind of meat it is, wanting to avoid pork since we don't eat that. Thankfully they use pictures on some items (ie. pig) so I can tell at a glance. Saw a hotdog in a bun pre-wrapped in plastic at the store today!!

I am trying hard to stick to my routines back home. For example, I usually shop about once every three weeks and get most of what I need. Filling in with fresh stuff from Just Local.  Here I have been shopping about 3-5 times a week! Granted the medium store is only 2 1/2 blocks away but it is difficult without a car. So today, I took our small wheeled suitcase (looks like a backpack, but on wheels, and filled it up (and two canvas bags, bring your own because they charge 20 cents a bag here--love it!) and dragged it all home. Still didn't get all that I need!

Working on doing it my way.