Cooking, Food, and a New Discovery

Cooking here hasn't been an easy task. First of all, I am used to Dave cooking! He used to get out of work at 3 so he had time to stop at the store, if we needed something, and still get home with plenty of time to start dinner.

Second, we had to start our kitchen staples from scratch because the only food we could bring had to be stuffed into our suitcases and there wasn't a lot of room for it. That means we had to repurchase all of our seasonings and spices, along with everything else that you keep in your pantry. Many times I would go to make something, only to realize that I was missing an ingredient or two, and without a car to run to the store, I had to change my plans.

Third, finding foods that we are used to using wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be either. Things that you would think would be readily available, like corn meal, is non-existent here. Also, the word vegetarian is not in their vocabulary so there are no veggie burgers, chicken nuggets, etc. Dave tried to explain to the people at his work that I was vegetarian and they just didn't get it. A few other items that you can't find here are Crisco (they have shortening, but it's not the same), baking powder, real baking soda, and flavored "milk" creams. The majority of cream sold here is the powder variety.

Fourth, we now live at about 8000 ft., which is higher than Denver. Cooking at this altitude is a lot different than cooking at home. It takes longer for water to boil and, yet, the water evaporates at a quicker speed. Also, baking here is a whole new experience. Even following
the high altitude directions does not correct the issue. When I made Dave's birthday cake, I added the extra egg and more flour as directed, but the cake still spilled over the sides and was not as moist as it should have been.

Fifth, the converting! It gets really annoying trying to convert everything, but some, you just can't convert so you just have to guess. Grams to teaspoons or tablespoons, milliliters to cups, Celsius to Fahrenheit. It turns one meal, into an online searching game that just leaves me frustrated! In other words, cooking here has been a small feat...for me. :)

On Saturday morning, I was checking my email and I had an email with the latest posts from the Newcomers Group. I was looking over the posts and one caught my eye. It read, 'looking for rice flour'. It wasn't so much the post, but the response that got me yelling up the stairs to Dave. One person responded that their was an American grocery store, Aladino's, in Interlomas. I told Dave that no matter what, we were going to go find it after the zoo that day. We did some looking online at maps and at their Facebook page to find their exact location.

So after the zoo, our first stop was a Sanborns. This is an extended version of Barnes and Noble. The have books, newspapers, magazines, music, cafe, and other gifts. We used our Tom Tom to navigate us to the nearest Sanborns, which happened to be in the area Polanco. Traffic is crazy down there (not like it isn't everywhere) so once Dave found a spot, he parked and ran to find the store, while Claire and I sat in the car. Claire reminded me that she has a Map at home in her Backpack and it could tell us which way to go, but she left it at home. (We realize that Dora has taken over our lives!)

With our new Guia Roji book of maps ($245 pesos), we headed off to the Interlomas area in hopes of finding Aladino's. We found a shopping center on the map and plugged it into Tom Tom and just prayed that the store was near the shopping center. We found our destination and, low and behold, across the street from this fantastic mall, was what we were looking for!

We parked in the mall parking garage and walked across the street. The store itself seems to be in a newer development, with some of the stores not even completed. We walked in and right away, I felt at home. The first thing I found was Nestle Toll House milk chocolate chips. I haven't been able to find these in any of the stores we have been too. Claire immediately grabbed them out of my hands and plunked them into the cart. Then I took a glance at the price, $95 pesos, or around $7 a bag. I almost died! I had just bought the same item at Target before Christmas for $2.50! They stayed in the cart for comfort, but later went back on the shelf, as even though I love the milk chocolate chips, I could live with semi-sweet. (By the way, we found milk chocolate chips at a new Wal-Mart on Sunday!)

They an aisle of baking supplies; pans, food coloring, sugars, baking tools. Then I found the Aunt Jemima Corn Meal, Arm and Hammer, and Calumet brands on an end cap. Now Mexico does have baking soda, but according to my new friend, Susan, it is just not the same. I like to cook with what I know because I HATE wasting food and really hate it when things don't turn out right. Now the ironic thing that many people can't understand is that Mexico stores do not carry corn meal. They have corn flour, not corn meal. My only guess is that it seems that many Mexicans do not bake. They normally just buy their breads and sweets at the grocery or other specialty store. I, on the other hand, have been craving corn bread since I got here! So those immediately went into the cart.

We continued through the store and mostly went through sticker shock. Next was the cereal, which was also around $7 a box, and it was mostly the sugary kind anyways. The stores here carry Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Krispies, and a pretty good variety, definitely not the long aisle like what we are used to at Meijer, but cereal was not on the top priority list. They also had an aisle of "real" chips. I say real because Dave bought a bag of Doritos before I got to Mexico and when we opened them there was a noticeable difference. The chips were thinner, spicier, and just not the same as the Doritos at home. Again, good to know that these chips were here, but not on the priorities list.

The next stop was the canned and jarred aisle. Here they had Manwich, pickles, dressings, and other familiar names. This is also where we ran into the only other customers in the store with a, "Hi, How are you guys?" Yes, in English. Another American family trying to decide what was the most important things that they needed at home. We also came across the Crisco in this aisle. Now, again, Mexico apparently has shortening, but it more dry and doesn't hold up as well. These were all items that were going to be on my mother-in-law's list when she comes in 17 days, but not anymore!

Coming to the end of that aisle was the most beautiful site I have seen yet in Mexico. A little green box in the freezer section labeled Morningstar Farms! Veggies burgers, sausage patties, and meal starter crumbles. We had brought as many of these as we could in a small cooler inside our suitcase, but since Dave contacted the company to see if they distribute to Mexico and the answer was no, they have been under ration. Being a vegetarian for over 15 years, people often ask me what I eat. It's very simple. I eat all the things that everyone else eats; tacos, sloppy joes, burgers, chicken nuggets, meatloaf. I just need some help from my friends in the little green box to make some of those possible. At this point, seeing the vegetarian food was too much for me and I teared up a little. Coming to a foreign place is one thing, you adjust the best you can, but seeing familiar foods and brands, made my day.

The last aisle had seasoning packets like Hidden Valley Ranch and Lawry's Brand packets for Enchilada sauce (another thing that I haven't been able to figure out in the stores). They also had International Delight cream, shampoos, and cans of drinks like Country Time Lemonade. Now these are not things that we would normally buy when going out shopping, but that day, they made it into our cart. In all, our grocery list consisted of corn meal, baking soda, baking powder, Crisco, veggie burgers, veggie crumbles, Hidden Valley Ranch dressing packet, yeast, enchiladas sauce packet, French Vanilla International Delight, and Country Time Lemonade. Some of these items we purchased two of so we could pass them on to Susan and her family. It was a hefty price tag in the end, but knowing that these items were there was priceless.

Also, another positive about the day was the area. Not only was there a really nice mall there, but we also got our Costco shopping done and noticed a Best Buy and other great stores all in the same vicinity.