Just back from the grocery store. We live in a very nice residential area with shopping just a few blocks away. Instead of a big Walmart grocery store, within a few blocks there are several competing grocery chains. All of them are very small but big enough to take care of our meager needs. A box of cereal and a liter of milk and an apple or an orange.
The salad is enough for two.
Some items are a surprise. For example, we can get a very nice tossed lettuce salad with grape tomatoes for only one pound fifty. The produce seems to last longer in the refrigerator too. A short distance to travel? I am not so sure. We bought some Thompson seedless grapes recently that were so sweet. When we looked to see where they had come from, it was not Spain as we expected but they were grown in India. A pound of mushrooms costs just over a pound. It is great. It is fun to look at prices of food in every country and/or city we visit.
We have been having problems going through the self service checkout at the stores. Frequently the lines for a clerk's assistance are long. And many self service machines will only take credit cards. Every time we have tried we have had to have the assistant come to our rescue several times. Today a very helpful man next to us showed us the "trick." You must put your basket of groceries on a shelf to the right of you. After you scan the item it goes onto a higher shelf and into your shopping bag. If for some reason the item does not weight the same when moved from one shelf to the other, the machine stops and asks for employee assistance. Isn't that easy? Thank goodness someone took the time to explain the system to us. Now instead of the last week we are in London. In the US you can unload your grocery cart, scan it and place it in your bag. I assume when the machine scans a 16 oz jar of spaghetti sauce and something of a different weigh goes into the your take home bag, it sets off an alarm in the system.
The exception to saving money at the grocery store is anything imported from the United States. Cereals or taco shells. I haven't looked for peanut butter but it is probably pricey if from the US. On the other hand we were startled to discover a type of jam made in France was over 4 pounds. It is a type I really like and you can buy it for over $4.00 in the United States too. And much to my surprise it was very easy to find a picture of my favorite jam Bonne Maman online. I really like the one that is 3 or 4 types of berries.
Dad asked me what I wished I had brought with me. And the biggie is that I wish I had packed a fistful of dryer sheets. Our whites are filled with static when I dry them. I found a local sheet left over by someone. However, we have tried their local store and every other one without success. I guess I will have to break down and buy some liquid to help fluff my towels.
Switches in our kitchen. I know what a hob is and a dishwasher. I have not figured out what the extractor is. All three of these are currently switched off. We do not have a garbage disposal. Any suggestions.
Saturday, May 20th. Out of the blue the idea of what the extractor is hit me. It is the vented hood over the hob/range.
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