After a couple of scorching weeks with temperatures hovering around 95°F (hmm, 36° C or so?) and nasty, nasty humidity, the weather has taken a rather strange turn today. Cloudy, rainy, and cold (68°F/20°C) - autumn weather. This is so atypical of Greek weather in the summer, even up here in Northern Greece, so I'm not quite sure what to think. Perhaps it is an inconvenient truth.
Taking advantage of the rainy day my husband and I went with his sister and brother to the City Gate mall here in Thessaloniki - my first "mall" shopping in a long, long time. The layout is quite like U.S. malls, so I felt right at home. There are still quite a few empty places in the mall, so hopefully as time goes on it will get some more shops. It seemed fairly popular for early on a Monday, but since the sublevel contains a giant Carrefour (a huge French supermarket chain, for those that don't know) I'm sure a lot of shoppers are drawn to the mall when they do their grocery shopping. It was fun wandering around a mall again, and they even had a gimpy Radio Shack, AND a Sephora. But I wasn't ready to spend all my husband's money today. Lucky him.
We decided to go into the Carrefour because it was there, we needed some things, and you never know what surprises a big supermarket like that might have on its shelves. We found an assortment of Betty Crocker mixes, so we bought a brownie mix (yay, I don't have to make them from scratch!) and some Bisquick (hallelujah!). We also restocked our Golden Griddle syrup, and we almost bought some Aunt Jemima pancake mix, but with Bisquick I can make pancakes easily enough anyway. There was also a nice supply of Old El Paso (Mexican food stuff) things, but alas, no refried beans. Seven-layer-dip will just have to wait.
It is always fun having a bit of the American experience when living abroad. It is amazing how much joy things you always took for granted can bring. Small, insignificant, shallow joy - but joy nonetheless.
5 comments:
Oh yeah. When I find good American food on sale somewhere I have to stock up.
I bought Betty Crocker blueberry muffin mix the other week. Just couldn't resist it.
i hear you!
I miss Italian sasusage- They have stuff here that they call that- but it isn't the same. . .
Sounds like you got some great finds! A friend of mine found that same chain store here in Italy, one day I will have to make the journey to find the good stuff. I do believe we have refried beans right here in my town. Need me to send you some?
Wishing you a very happy fourth of July Mel. Hope you find a little way to celebrate the day!
Cyn
I think we need to drive to Thessaloniki soon!
I was actually hoping they'd have Blueberry Muffin mix Dixie. Alas, no luck this time. But maybe next time!
Man, Nicole, I hear ya on the italian sausage. I miss sandwiches with green peppers and onions, putting it in spaghetti sauce. Ah.
Cyn, thanks for the offer. I still have another place to check out that allegedly has a host of imported food stuffs. We'll see what I can find there.
Traveller One, I bet it is hard to find specialty items in Albania! Thessaloniki isn't that far away!
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