Grocery shopping

So today I went to the grocery store with Sanna, a very nice Finnish lady who has been helping me with the adjustment to the Finnish culture.  She speaks English well and has a good sense of humor so we get along just fine.  Anyway, today we went to the market so that I could ask her what things were and where to get them if they were not there.

So here's the scoop: you can get peanut butter here in Finland fairly easily, contrary to what I had heard;  if you want Jiff however, you have to go to a store specializing in American and Brittish foods (that trip will be Friday).  Eggs are kept on the shelf, not in refrigeration as you might think.  I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around that one...mine are now safely in the refrigerator, thank you very much.  Their meats and fish all look very fresh, though the freshest can be found at the equivalent of an indoor farmer's market that we visited first.  The cereal aisle is about one tenth the size of an American cereal aisle, so you can imagine the selection.  They have a fabulous bakery section, and the produce is wonderful.  Cat food and litter is scarce in a market, so I will have to go to the department store...yes, I said department store, much like Macy's but with a pet section.

Now back to the eggs.  There are many kinds of eggs here in Finland.  You can get them free-range, caged, free-range with special diet and so on...but my favorite (the one I bought) is healthy chicken eggs.  I'm so glad that they had eggs from healthy chickens, as I surely don't want any sick chicken eggs (sick chicken eggs were not a choice, by the way).

Finally, a note on cereal, or Froot Loops to be exact.  Yesterday I bought Kellogg's Froot Loops and had a bowl.  They were bland!  Ok, I assume that they have made them healthier to satisfy the nutrition police, but they were bland, not at all sweet, and there were no red rings.  I'm certain there were red rings the last time I had Fruit Loops, admittedly a long time ago, but seriously, what's the deal?  So here's the challenge:  somebody out there in the USA buy some Fruit Loops, try them and let me know if this is a world-wide conspiracy or if it is just a Finland thing.  And let me know if there are red rings because I'm sure there were.  To my Curves ladies back in the States: this could be your next get together, you could have a Fruit Loops party!...just a thought.

So that's it for now.  More adventures tomorrow.