Do they have pickles in the UK?

It’s Sunday. Grocery day. Many of you may know that this isn’t my favorite task, but it’s always an adventure in the UK. What shall we have for dinner this week? That’s how it all starts… we jot down some ideas, make a list of the necessary ingredients and head off to the grocery to make selections and to cart our finds home.

In the US, we made our list based on the “departments” and assumed store layout. During our first couple weeks here, we wandered aimlessly in search of greek seasoning, cornbread mix, cajun seasoning, green chili peppers, cilantro, minute rice, and tortillas (among other things) only to find that these things aren’t stocked in our corner store. Instead of raw ingredients, there’s a wealth of convenience meals and sauces to choose from — mostly Italian, Thai, or Indian. Not even the larger stores carry our staples… what to do? First, we roped our friends Nancy and Kyle into bringing some things with them when they visited last week (thank you Kyle and Nancy!).

And next we conformed. Instead of shopping in our normal American way, we’ve altered our habits and now enter the store without a list. Now, we simply look on the shelves to see what looks interesting and make up an impromptu plan as we browse. It’s a less organized approach, but we have tried many new things as a result — all with postive reviews.

Two weeks ago Red Thai sauce with coconut milk. Last week Putanesca and Eggplant Tortellini. This week’s newby is Curry. We like it in the restaurant; how will it go at home? We’ll keep you posted.