- Our temporary place had about 1 square foot of counter space and I couldn't fit more than one pan on the stovetop at once. The oven was also quite small and I wouldn't have been able to fit any of my pans inside it.
- It has taken me about a month or more to find the typical baking items - baking soda, baking powder, proper flour, BROWN sugar, etc. I first needed to figure out the translation since some of these items aren't sold in packaging remotely similar to our american packaging (for example, baking powder comes in tiny packets in about 2 tsp amounts).
- I didn't have my proper bakeware until last week - air bake pans, 9x9 brownie pan, jelly roll pan, pastry cutter, etc. I also didn't have my nifty roll out mat that makes baking a breeze :) The only "baking" pan I used at the temporary apartment was the drip pan typically used in ovens....but it worked!
So this morning I made chocolate chip cookies for a church dinner tonight and I tried out a new recipe - Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast cake - with fresh blueberries! I was so excited to find fresh blueberries at my beloved Stockmann store, so I had to find a dish to try out with them.
After doing all this baking I realized there are just so many products I miss! These are items I just took for granted back home since they were always available in the grocery stores, no matter which store I went to. There aren't just baking items, they are items I used for cleaning, baking and eating.
So here goes, in no particular order -
- Bleach - Real.Bleach. The kind that you keep away from anything with color, because one drop will ruin it, but is perfect for getting out stains in white clothing. Well apparently they don't believe in this kind of bleach here. There are a lot of German cleaning products and products that are supposed to be bleach, but they don't do anything to white clothing or colored clothing! This is quite annoying when you have two little kids who get chocolate and dirt all over their nice white clothing. I have a pile going now that is waiting to get "fixed" when I am back home in December!
- Chocolate chips and other baking chips/chocolate - I just really miss walking down the baking aisle and being able to choose between lots of different chocolate chips and other baking items! Come Christmas time, I will REALLY miss this because baking cookies, making fudge, baking pies and other Holiday treats will be much harder to make and I will need to get more creative.
- Peanut butter - Laura Scudder's smooth organic Peanut butter...YUM! I have loved Peanut Butter as long as I can remember. In fact, I used to eat two PB&J sandwiches for lunch all throughout high school! Not sure how I was ever hungry enough for two back then, but it must have had to do with all the sports I was involved in. I also have always loved PB on celery. Wonderful crunchiness of celery with the smooth peanut butter...perfect! Now they do sell PB at one store here, but its a tiny jar and costs $12...its also not the natural-you-must-stir-it kind and I really prefer that. I am currently thoroughly enjoying a jar of PB thanks to my mother reaching out to a friend of hers that traveled to Moscow recently. I may end up licking out the jar at the end....can't let any of it go to waste :)
- Clorox or Lysol wipes -Never thought I would miss something like this! I think I went through tubs and tubs of these wipes all the time back home. They are just so convenient! No need for spraying or pouring something out, just pop one out and like magic everything is clean!
- Clorox toilet cleaner - You know that kind that has the wand and you pop on the little scrubber thing at the end and clean the toilet out without touching nasty brushes. Then you just pop it off into the trash can with a click of a button. The typical toilet brushes have always grossed me out! Well now I am back to using them. And unfortunately K thinks they are a neat little toy. AAAAAAHHHH!
- All Swiffer products - These things are just so convenient! I hadn't bought a real mop, probably ever, until last week! Again, those mops with all the shag at the end just gross me out! There was one at our temporary apartment and I just wanted to throw it out the window into the nearest dumpster. Luckily I was able to find a "swiffer" style mop here with a reusable cloth. It actually works quite nice, although I do have to use a bucket and clean it out and re-wet it while mopping. This is much better than the alternative shag!
- Sponge - This goes along with toilet bowl brushes and shaggy mops....most sponges are kind of icky! Well I had a great sponge that didn't hold a bunch of water and germs along with it. It was more of brush instead of a sponge and did wonders on cleaning off built-up stuff on dishes. Well, I can't find anything like this here. My next return suitcase will be stocked up with these :)
- Ella's kitchen and Plum Organics fruit and veggie bags- My kids love these even though they are not babies :) They were also a great way to get the much loathed broccoli and peas into my kids diet. I have found some similar products here and the kids seem to like them, but there are only about 4 different kinds...not the variety i was used to!
- Glad garbage bags - drawstring, yummy smell and that special "flex" design...LOL. The garbage bags here just don't even compare :) I also miss my large stainless steel kitchen trash can that I could open with my foot.
- Diaper genie - Well we didn't bring the diaper genie...big mistake! We were technically only allowed to bring 700 lbs of stuff (which we went over), so we didn't have a lot of space. We thought, well we can survive without one for 6 months to a year, since K should be getting potty trained in that period of time. Well, needless to say, I take the trash out a lot! Little mister I-eat-everything has some nasty surprises for us at least twice a day...eeeek!
- Avocados - I love avocados and guacamole! I have seen avocados here, the problem is they are usually almost $10 for a pack of 2 or they are mushy and over-ripe. This is another thing I will eat a lot of when I back home! Mexican food here I come!
- Cream Cheese.....oh how I miss thee! When I get back home in December I will likely be baking every single cream cheese related recipe I know, especially anything with cream cheese frosting! I LOVE cream cheese and haven't been able to find it here yet :( They have a lot of cheese options in the stores here, mascarpone being one of them, so I may need to try it as a substitute.
- Grande Non-fat Well-Stirred White Mocha (preferably enjoyed strolling down the aisles of Target, with no kids:) )- So this really isn't a grocery store product, however in the states you can shop at several grocery stores and enjoy Starbucks, so I am adding it to the list :) Plus, I really miss white mochas. Did you know that Russian Starbucks do not carry white chocolate syrup for white mochas! What a crime! I was at a loss for words when I walked in to Starbucks the first time here and tried ordering one and the barista looked at me with a puzzled face - what is white mocha? Do Russians not like super sweet coffee (this is what A calls it)? Who knows? I have learned to survive on caramel machiattos instead. They also have them at this really expensive Russian coffee placed called Coffemania and they are really sweet there, so I just really don't get the absence of white chocolate syrup here!
- Crystal Light Powdered Drinks - Specifically raspberry lemonade and strawberry-orange-banana. S misses raspberry lemonade too, apparently. I have made homemade lemonade a couple times and she always asks for the pink one. She reminded me again today when I made lemonade that I forgot to buy raspberries for her. I am sure that our homemade lemonade is much better for our bodies than Crystal light and fake sugar :)
- Nutri-grain bars - These were our go-to quick snack or breakfast. The kids also love them! I have found some really good granola bars here, but they have a large coat of chocolate and just don't quite seem right for breakfast. They still make a good snack though :)
- Marinara sauce in a jar - There was a very specific cheesy marinara sauce that we all enjoyed. I have seen a couple places with some sauce in a jar, but I can't really read what is in it, so I haven't been adventurous enough to try it. So, I just stick with making sauce from scratch, which has turned easy spaghetti night into quite the production!
Well I am sure my list will continue to get longer :) It's weird to seem some of the items I miss, but I guess you just don't know what you will miss until you don't have it available.
My goal for a future post will be to come up with an equally long list of items I have found here that we really like :)...Just to keep things more positive! On a positive note, all my cooking from scratch instead of pre-made products is probably way healthier for us :)
Oh my goodness! Kudos to you for being so adventurous! I don't know if I could survive without a regular grocery store.... :)
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