Grocery Shopping in Paris

We arrived in Paris this past Friday for a weekend stay with friends Jeff and Kyaw. They are staying in Jeff's cousin John's large, 4 bedroom apartment in the 16th arrondissment between the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower. Kyaw was preparing beef bourguignon for dinner and needed more supplies, so we grabbed the grocery bag carrier and headed to the store.

 

 

 

Casino, the grocery store, was located in a mall of sorts and it was large. I was so jealous after my tiny stores in Leeds. This place had everything and more. Huge fresh veggie section, large cheese department, wine, dairy, meats, seafood...you get it. Pretty much like America. We loaded up our cart with potatoes, carrots, wine, more wine, Pastis, dessert, juice, lemon radlers and more.

 

 

 

We headed up to the long check out lines and then some guy decided to crowd in front of us. He was very nonchalant and my group all looked at each like " what can you do?" One of my pet peeves are people who crowd and act like they have the right, so of course I was the one to do something. I gently pushed my cart up to the backside of the lady in front of us and looked him straight in the eyes. He looks at me and says" Oh, you are in line?" What the hell. I'm surprised he didn't pull the "I don't understand English" card on me.

 



 

After dropping off the groceries and getting the dog Belle, we headed out for a long stroll. We first walked over to the Arch, which is glorious. There were so many people there, much different than the last time we were in Paris. The guards would not let Belle come onto the Arch grounds, so her and Kyaw stayed behind. We then headed down the Champs-Elysees to see the shops and the people. Belle decided to poop like 3 times. She obviously did not care for the fancy shops.

 

We had a great walk and the headed back to the apartment for dinner. Their friend Casper was joining us for dinner and we needed to get back and finish up. Jeff, Dan and I headed to the bakery down the street to pick up some baguettes for dinner. We walked in and Jeff told the girl we needed 3 regular baguettes and one wheat. She thought he meant 8, so he tried to explain wheat as grain, then went as far as spelling it in the air. I thought I might wet myself before she finally realized he was wanting what she called "cereal". Back at the apartment, we roasted the potatoes and carrots with fresh herbs from the balcony. Kyaw then served the most wonderful dinner. We had a great time and did not go to bed until around 1AM, very late for Dan and me, but you only live once.

 

It's amazing how much more we enjoyed the city after our previous time here. Having somebody who speaks the language makes a huge difference!





Sainsbury's Local

From what I have seen so far, there appear to be 3 grocery chains in Leeds, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrison's. All three of these have a regular grocery store footprint and then smaller ones that are called locals. There is a Sainsbury's Local just around the corner from our apartment, so of course that is my store of choice. I also shop at Marks and Spencer for a bigger grocery experience, but it can be overwhelming.
All of these stores have pre-made meals, sides and desserts and so far the couple we have tried have been very good. You just take them out of the box, pierce the film and place them in the oven. Within minutes you have a high quality dish that is made with ease and no stress. They don't appear to have preservatives and the expire by dates are marked clearly on the package. The only down side to these stress free kitchen helpers, is the fact that they take up a lot of shelf space, leaving home made options harder to prepare. Pus, it's hard to make up your mind with all of the options available. So far,  the Sainsbury's Italian Mac and Cheese and their Bramley Apple Crumbles have been excellent choices.  Such a hard life!!