Grocery shopping: Even under the best of circumstances I dislike it immensely. Factor in a foreign country and I hate it that much more. Yes we all know that I am a picky eater. I was not born with a wide palate and despite my best efforts to expand it, I just don’t like a lot of gourmet-type food (like vegetables). So shoot me…
Now that I have officially moved into my 'apartment' (and I use that term very loosely), I decided to do the dreaded chore of grocery shopping so I head out to Woolworth's, or Wooley's as the Aussie call it. As I wander aimlessly up and down the aisles, I find myself eyeballing the same items – you know – the stuff that isn’t particularly good for you. It’s not like I don’t like healthy food. I do. It is just more challenging to find because it is in a different form, different brand, or it simply isn’t available here. During my meandering, I found myself wondering how expensive it would be to have someone shop and ship me food that I actually like. I found myself daydreaming about my local Wal-Mart (who I detested before but now decided I love - absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder!).
Okay reality check... it's not feasible for many reasons, but I'm still liking the fantasy of receiving care packages from home of my favourites which include oatmeal, applesauce, lean cuisine (what can I say, I’m single), and other ‘fast’ single serving food. Let’s start with the brekkie items: I typically have a 100-calorie coffee cake, applesauce, oatmeal, cereal, peanut butter toast, or fruit with my morning Starbucks. No coffee cake (not low-cal at any rate) so that is out. Thick raisin toast is quite popular but not really a good diet option as a regular staple. Peanut butter, better known as nuts smooth, is either Kraft or Nestle (I'm thinking Nestle should stick to chocolate). Oatmeal – yes they do have porridge here, however; it comes in one flavour (honey) and it is quite expensive. I did discover that applesauce is called puree and comes in a wide (yet strange) varieties but I am willing to be a bit more adventurous here. Cereal – well, again the choices are a bit off but tolerable. Thank God for chocolate (another area I’m comfortable being adventurous). Speaking of trying new things, I did purchase Apple Rhubarb jam. Checking out was another experience I won't bore you with the details but just know that as great as the Aussie accent is, it can be hard to understand. Poor mate had to repeat himself more than once. Sigh.
As I was busy not filling my shopping trolley (love that word), I was shocked to see a particular item – Nature Valley’s oat and honey granola bars. Seriously?! I almost was arrested for bringing the very same item down under just last year. Most of you will remember my granola bar incident when I was on holiday in 2009. Upon arrival in a foreign country, you are required to fill out a customs form. Although it is a common to enquire about items you are bringing into the country – such as animal products, fruit, plants, large amount of cash, liquor, or cigarettes – it is not common to ask about food in general. Being an upstanding and honest person, I disclosed my rather large stash of goodies: oreos, a variety of chocolate, gum, wint-o-green lifesavers, a wide variety of 100-calorie packs, and unbeknowst to me contraband in the form of granola bars (that happens to be a great snack to take on the go). Suffice it to say, honesty is not always the best policy. After intense interrogations by custom officials (trust me, I’m not exaggerating at all), it was decided that I wasn’t a national threat to New Zealand granola producers and wouldn’t cause an economic crisis or decline in granola sales, they decided to let me keep my granola bars – however I was advised to leave them on the ship as I would not be permitted to carry them onto shore when docking (and yes, they did check every bloody time we left the ship). Because I don’t want to put anyone in a position to testify against, me I will not disclose the demise of the said granola bars (but I could have a future career in smuggling).
Once I returned home (still makes me chuckle to say that as I live in a postage stamp sized studio) and stored my few but precious rations, I decided to make raisin toast for dinner (and my apple rhubarb jam was delicious). Let's just say that the smoke alarm works very well and it allowed me to a few of my neighbors this evening. Oh, and I also learned how to open the window (although it was too little, too late).
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