Sorry to make things so confusing, but Blogspot has been a bit of a bear, so I'm moving this over to WordPress.
Please follow this LINK to the new blog and update any subscriptions.
http://muchachainmadrid.wordpress.com/
I promise that new entries will be forthcoming soon!
Supermercado
As you may or may not know, I get pretty excited over food and most things culinary. That being said, it should come as no surprise, that I have spent much of my first week + here in Madrid exploring different supermarkets (or supermercados in Spanish). I find it fascinating to roam the aisles and check out the offerings. It’s equally as interesting to observe the patrons to see what types of items they are each purchasing and to learn the “normal” shopping patterns (i.e. do people go to the market everyday).
Since we arrived on Friday, I have visited the following supermercados: Dia, El Corte Ingles (multiple locations), Rotterdam (multiple times), Eroski and Carrefour Express. Additionally, we have been purchasing most of our fruits and vegetables at a fruteria (independent store that sells only produce- the prices are much better) and our bread at several different panderias (bakeries). Our favorite is Horno Diadema on Espiritu Santo. The following are a few observations I have made in my very short time here in Madrid. [Granted, many of these would be obvious to someone who has lived here (or traveled here extensively), but these are things that stuck out at me as a sheltered girl from the United States.]
• I am most thankful for the parting gift from My Most Prepared Friend (as she will be known henceforth) of reusable nylon grocery bags. Similar to the city of San Francisco, most grocery stores charge for plastic grocery bags here in Madrid. Given my baggage limitations flying over here, I left my extensive collection of reusable bags at home, except for the perfect little reusable bags from My Most Prepared Friend. I have noticed that purchasing reusable bags here (similar to the ones I have) can cost up to €10 (that’s roughly $13.60)!
• Canned beans are none existent. All stores sell dry beans, and most sell beans in glass jars, but canned beans cannot be found. Additionally, black beans are few and far between, and only found dry. While I know that cooking dry beans at home is better for you (and purportedly they taste better), I really miss canned black beans. That has been a staple of my diet for the past few years. I attempted preparing dry black beans the other evening, but they were far from awesome (note: suggestions VERY welcome from my foodie friends!).
• Spaniards (and I believe most Europeans) enjoy shelved milk. I found some refrigerated milk at El Corte Ingles, but have not seen any at the other stores I went to. I finally broke down yesterday and bought shelf-milk. I will let you know how it goes when I break down and actually drink it.
• The amount of grocery store real estate allotted to white asparagus and yogurt is astonishing. I have to admit that I have not yet sampled white asparagus, but I am blown away by how many brands, varieties and packaging types they sell. I believe it was El Corte Ingles that had an entire aisle of white asparagus. Since I love yogurt, I was pretty happy about how much the madrilleños love yogurt too.
You might be wondering what we are making with all of our grocery store purchases. I made sweet potato (boniata) soup the other night, so for lunch today we had salad, some leftover soup and bread.
I could probably go on and on about my supermarket thoughts and observations, but I’ll spare you until I have something really fascinating to talk about like canned mussels or baby eels. I’m easing into this, people.
Since we arrived on Friday, I have visited the following supermercados: Dia, El Corte Ingles (multiple locations), Rotterdam (multiple times), Eroski and Carrefour Express. Additionally, we have been purchasing most of our fruits and vegetables at a fruteria (independent store that sells only produce- the prices are much better) and our bread at several different panderias (bakeries). Our favorite is Horno Diadema on Espiritu Santo. The following are a few observations I have made in my very short time here in Madrid. [Granted, many of these would be obvious to someone who has lived here (or traveled here extensively), but these are things that stuck out at me as a sheltered girl from the United States.]
• I am most thankful for the parting gift from My Most Prepared Friend (as she will be known henceforth) of reusable nylon grocery bags. Similar to the city of San Francisco, most grocery stores charge for plastic grocery bags here in Madrid. Given my baggage limitations flying over here, I left my extensive collection of reusable bags at home, except for the perfect little reusable bags from My Most Prepared Friend. I have noticed that purchasing reusable bags here (similar to the ones I have) can cost up to €10 (that’s roughly $13.60)!
• Canned beans are none existent. All stores sell dry beans, and most sell beans in glass jars, but canned beans cannot be found. Additionally, black beans are few and far between, and only found dry. While I know that cooking dry beans at home is better for you (and purportedly they taste better), I really miss canned black beans. That has been a staple of my diet for the past few years. I attempted preparing dry black beans the other evening, but they were far from awesome (note: suggestions VERY welcome from my foodie friends!).
• Spaniards (and I believe most Europeans) enjoy shelved milk. I found some refrigerated milk at El Corte Ingles, but have not seen any at the other stores I went to. I finally broke down yesterday and bought shelf-milk. I will let you know how it goes when I break down and actually drink it.
• The amount of grocery store real estate allotted to white asparagus and yogurt is astonishing. I have to admit that I have not yet sampled white asparagus, but I am blown away by how many brands, varieties and packaging types they sell. I believe it was El Corte Ingles that had an entire aisle of white asparagus. Since I love yogurt, I was pretty happy about how much the madrilleños love yogurt too.
You might be wondering what we are making with all of our grocery store purchases. I made sweet potato (boniata) soup the other night, so for lunch today we had salad, some leftover soup and bread.
I could probably go on and on about my supermarket thoughts and observations, but I’ll spare you until I have something really fascinating to talk about like canned mussels or baby eels. I’m easing into this, people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)