Our apartment is just a stone's throw from town and the English Market. A short 5-10 minute walk down the hill and I can get my hands on just about any food items I may need. Many Europeans living in a city like Cork will make a trip to the market several times a week. The refrigerators are small and fresh food outweighs frozen and processed. I love to cook and so I'm enjoying that aspect of the culture.
Shopping daily is great, but a big part of feeling settled for me includes having a well stocked pantry and fridge. How was I going to be able to do that? Carrying canned goods, bottles of olive oil, vinegars, jars of spices, flour, sugar, jams, etc., not to mention household items like paper towels, tin foil, laundry detergent, and bottles of shampoo wasn't high up on the list of fun! A few tomatoes from the market, a cut of beef from the butcher sure, but I had a list a mile long and only two hands!
Fortunately, Adam has a car and we had a free weekend. So we planned a trip to the Cork suburbs. the village of Douglas, just south of the city, is one of the nicest suburbs and has a new shopping center which includes the largest Tesco (the main grocery store) in Southern Ireland.
It took two hours, a completely full trolley (cart), and about 380 euro, but it was worth it. If you're thinking 380 euros is a lot for a grocery trip we did purchase a few things outside the realm of food. We picked up a few large coffee mugs, an emulsion blender, a Brita water pitcher, and several bottles of wine and a bottle of Irish whiskey!
Can't forget the Streaky Bacon!
And here is everything neatly put away in the press (cabinet)! It may be silly but this trip went a long way in making life feel a little more normal around here!
Now that the Groceries are purchased and put away I can get to cooking. Hopefully I'll be able to share some tasty meals with you in future blog posts!
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