I have now been on quite a few official grocery shops here in Sydney. My supermarket of choice? Coles, the main draw being that they have Curtis Stone on their website, only slightly more enticing than the fact that it is the closest.
Here are some things I found worthy of mention;
1. Milk does NOT come in bags. Upon asking around I also found out it doesn't really happen in Europe either, I guess it's a North American phenomena. And for those of you you are into this sorta thing, there are a TON of long life milk options on the room temp shelves. Also 2% is referred to as Full Cream....psssshhht what do they know about full cream!
2. There are no such thing as mini carrots, I am therefore forced to look like Bugs Bunny as I march around chomping down on full sized versions!
Here are some things I found worthy of mention;
1. Milk does NOT come in bags. Upon asking around I also found out it doesn't really happen in Europe either, I guess it's a North American phenomena. And for those of you you are into this sorta thing, there are a TON of long life milk options on the room temp shelves. Also 2% is referred to as Full Cream....psssshhht what do they know about full cream!
2. There are no such thing as mini carrots, I am therefore forced to look like Bugs Bunny as I march around chomping down on full sized versions!
3. The theme of keeping things on the regular shelves continues as we come to the most shocking thing I discovered, THE EGGS ARE NOT REFRIGERATED!!! I guess it makes sense, you can get eggs at the farmers market room temp all the time but I was startled when I made this discovery in a supermarket. I still have not been able to find a clear explanation about why we refrigerate them in Canada and they don't need to here, all I learned was that if they have been in the fridge, you cannot take them out and store them on the counter... it may also have something to do with washing the eggs... if you can shed some light on this, please do
4. There are plenty of instant coffee and espresso options, there are not plenty of regular ground, Bodem-ready versions.
5. Makeup is horrifyingly expensive....
6. You can buy Canadian maple syrup!
7. Here 'tomato sauce' = ketchup even though they are pretty different, I have discovered that you CAN purchase normal Heinz ketchup, we are converting them!
8. You can buy kangaroo meat as easily, and in as many forms, as beef.
8. Sultana = Raisin
9. You thought Ben and Jerry's was expensive in Canada...
10. Getting to the cash is awesome because you know exactly how much money you are spending as they do not add on tax (and the added mental math associated with it). It is not awesome when it comes to bag filling space...
5. Makeup is horrifyingly expensive....
6. You can buy Canadian maple syrup!
7. Here 'tomato sauce' = ketchup even though they are pretty different, I have discovered that you CAN purchase normal Heinz ketchup, we are converting them!
8. You can buy kangaroo meat as easily, and in as many forms, as beef.
8. Sultana = Raisin
9. You thought Ben and Jerry's was expensive in Canada...
10. Getting to the cash is awesome because you know exactly how much money you are spending as they do not add on tax (and the added mental math associated with it). It is not awesome when it comes to bag filling space...
Stay tuned for some action from Paddy's Market, the only reasonable place to buy produce!