Tuesday, November 26, 2013

our adjunct swedish pantry

cooking anyplace new is a challenge; cooking in a new place in a foriegn country can lead to some serious weight loss in the family...just don't let them develop a vitamin deficiency.  so, to avoid that, do what you'd do back home: keep lots of healthy food on the shelves, maintain reasonable snack-type dry goods for the kids to grab whenever, and keep plenty of ingredients for baking on hand.

but what do you do if your apartment lacks such a place?

this is our lilliputian kitchen

inexplicably it includes two refrigerators and two freezers, but no pantry

SO...i go out the front door (on the right) to the elevator (on the left)...

wave to the mirror in the elevator...

out the front door...

past the dry cleaners to the green awning...

up a little set of stairs...

and less than 60 seconds later i'm inside our adjunct swedish pantry, the coop!  we've never eaten this well ever, because every visit i only buy what we need for right then and maybe the next morning. and, with my language barrier, most of what we eat has to be nonpackaged so i can identify it--my ignorance results in an ideal diet of fresh food eating!

they even have a token "american" section--for a price comparison that 12 oz bottle of syrup costs $3.59 at cvs.com, and the kronor is roughly 6 to 1 dollar, so that's a $10 bottle of sweetness ($3.59 seems expensive, too).  that cranberry sauce is clocking in at about $8.25 a can.  i'm rather embarrassed by the "american" section, truth be told.

just by that is something really cool--the way to the coop's downstairs!

in-store specials lining both sides of the aisles, and i've learned that people don't like having their pictures taken on the moving sidewalk...

...or downstairs in the produce department either

as i said, at least with produce i can recognize everything

(seriously, there are entire sections where i can identify absolutely nothing)

but these i recognize!  sadly, my photos had to end rather abruptly right here because just after i shot this i was cornered by coop security for taking pictures inside the store. apparently you're not allowed to do that.  taking pictures is an "american thing," as i was told by the guard, but i still love my adjunct pantry.  aren't the japanese better known for photographing everything?

3 comments:

  1. Those Pepparkakors are delicious!!! :)

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  2. Missy,
    I'm enjoying your blogs & adventures. However, you have no sympathy from me re stores, cooking (we have a large kitchen, but that's about as far as it goes, w/o tools & ingredients . . . ), and as for culture shock . . . I'm sure you get my drift. Well, it's all a great adventure, isn't it? Keep up the fun posts.

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  3. Loved this tour...the Gingersnaps are the ones I buy at World Market. They are the best!!! I used to keep them in the freezer because they were only available at Christmas. He may not remember but when Gus was little, he would go to the freezer and look for them. I probably have a tin of them in the freezer now. Old habits. Love to you, Mom

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