Shopping Part II

First off let me apologize to those that anxiously await pictures and words from us here in Poland.  I'm trying to find a happy balance between not inundating people with our new lives and also not running out of things to share during our stay here.  I have all sorts of posts running through my brain all the time.  Some require more time, pictures, and collection of information than others.  We appreciate our family and friends back home and the fact that you are just as excited as we are to learn about Polish culture and our ministry here!

Also after much consideration, I've decided to use our blog as a platform for less intimate stuff.  In other words, there are aspects of our ministry that I don't want to leave on the open web.  So, if you would like to get our private newsletter, let us know.

Okay so while the shopping here is different and may pose a small challenge to us, I can highlight some cool aspects.  I've already mentioned that you have to go to different stores to get different things because not every store has everything you need.  Here are some examples of some differences:

Previously posted on Facebook, this is Cuprum Arena and it is not a sports arena.  It is a shopping mall but slightly different than what we expect in the states.

From a first glance, it's the same as in the U.S.  It has clothing stores, shoes stores, athletic stores, book stores, house ware stores, pet stores, electronic stores, a few banks, a food court, and a movie theater.  Unlike the dying U.S. malls, this mall is thriving because people need it.  

But there are big differences, like this.  Lidl is a grocery store on the first level of the mall.  It isn't a large anchor store like Target or Walmart.  Just a simple grocery store.  There was a time when I vaguely remember stores like this maybe in malls in the U.S. but not recently.

This store is like the health and beauty isles in Walmart except with other stuff, too.  You can buy makeup, dog food, kitchen tools, and it happens to be one of the only places you can get contact solution.

This was a HUGE shock to me.  At Rossman, you can buy contact lenses without a doctor right off the shelf.  No prescription required.  WOW!

This is a beautiful thing my friends.  This is the spice isle at Kaufland.  At first, buying spices was intimidating as anything.  They don't usually come in nice little plastic containers.  Here they come in pouches.  Why is this isle beautiful?  This isle takes the guess work out of seasoning everything.  You want to season potatoes?
\

Buy this lovely packet of spices just for seasoning potatoes.  Want to season your chicken?

Buy this packet of chicken seasoning.  Want to season your homemade pizza sauce?

Buy this packet of seasoning!  To my gluten free friends, notice the "Bez Glutaminianu."  Gluten free is easy to come by and readily marked.  Plus no mono sodium or additives.  Beautiful folks!  For real!

So here is where it gets tricky sometimes.  We wanted to buy cumin for Chili soup.  Easy enough.  We translated it with Google translate, asked for help from an employee, and we were directed to a spice packet.  Bought it.  Brought it home and turns out cumin translates the same as caraway.  If you know what caraway is, uh NO!  NOT the same thing.  We realized the error of our ways and found this spice packet later which indicates India cumin.  MUCH better!

You organize these packets in little baskets like this.

I personally like it.  It's different but the shear number of spice packets you can buy is quite fantastic.  The downside is that since these are prepackaged, recreating the exact spice combinations from scratch could prove to be tricky.  Most people don't know exactly what the spices are in these packets.  You can easily translate the ingredients but the actual proportions would be the trick.  They have packets for gravies, salad dressings, and soups as well.  In fact, you cannot generally buy soup in a can.  You have to buy a packet and add water for mushroom or tomato soup.

So when I posted this picture to Facebook, I did so not just because of the delicious Polish soup but also because I had used the chicken spice packet for the first time to bake this chicken.  It turned out really good.  The soup has a homemade vegetable stock with potatoes, carrots, small homemade dumplings, fried bacon strips, and fresh baby dill.

I will continue to share more on shopping because it's fun.  Hopefully, you enjoy it, too.