A bit on food

I hadn’t realized I’d been avoiding going grocery shopping until I felt a calming wave of relief wash over me as I hauled my overstuffed reusable bag into my kitchen, with change to spare in my pocket.

I’ve done this countless times back at home, ranging from what I call “extreme” grocery shopping – the bi-annual Costco shop that ensures we’d be okay for months if the world outside were to melt away – to the last-minute “oops-I-forgot-the-yeast” shop, where the amount of time spent searching for what you’re after is 10 times greater in comparison than the size of the item.

I usually find some pleasure in leisurely strolling up and down the aisles, looking for what I need but also keeping my eyes open for things that I may instantly decide I want.

Here in Preston, where I can buy a day’s worth of fresh eats from the local bakery for £2, I have absolutely no interest in dropping $75 on food I would not only need to prepare, but that comes with a consumption time-limit.

Yesterday, however, after leafing through Jamie Oliver’s 30-Minutes Meals, I had developed a hankering for sweet chili rice that just wouldn’t go away.

Off to the store it was.

Time slipped away as I slowly trekked up and down the rows of produce, poultry, and non-perishables, making sure I wasn’t missing any deals, until my blue basket weighed something like 20 pounds.

They make you pack your own bags at Aldi. I also realized after the fact that if you want to put your groceries in bags, you have to hook them off the shelf and buy them before checking-out. I fit the soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, and sesame oil in my purse. The rest, thankfully, all fit in my bag.

What I most thankful for, was the price tag.

After buying lemons, apples, and bananas, local Lancashire cheese, Greek-style houmous (British spelling of “hummus”), crumpets, crackers, and crunchy chocolate granola cereal, two mini pizzas, six mini yogurts, a bag of rice, a sprig of green onions, 15 eggs, a jug of milk, and a bottle of wine (“Grove Manor: Fruity Rosé”), take a guess how much it cost me.

iPhone - Groceries

I’m sure my bag weighed more in pounds than what its contents cost in pounds: £15.99.

Going off of today’s exchange rate, that’s $25.06 in Canadian dollars.

According to my sources back home (a.k.a. my dear mother), a bundle of groceries like this could easily cost $75. Of course, price depends in part on size and quality.

Size-wise, well, it’s a lot of food for one person. If I were to go out for a meal and a pint, I would probably only eat once, maybe one-and-a-half times, for that price. And I have yet to find a place that offers half-portions and half-pints for exactly half the price.

Quality-wise, the batch of rice I didn’t botch was pretty fantastic. This morning, my chocolatey cereal – which, if we’re being honest, tasted more like dessert – was amazing. Unfortunately it seems to be a UK-only brand.

Bon appétit!

PS- Hi Grandma, Grandpa & Auntie Eleanore.

Observation, exploration

“We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.” — TS Eliot

As ignorant, naive, or inexperienced as this is about to read, it has taken me a trip to the other side of the world to begin to recognize and appreciate what makes my home in the Metro Vancouver area unique.

Living in a modern, developed, and Western country, I guess I went about my day-to-day activities believing that the sights, sounds, and smells of everyday life there, would be similar in many ways to daily life in other modernized, developed, Western countries. Really, I was so entrenched in a culture with its own identity crisis that I didn’t observe how home would be different from others’ homes abroad.

I guess it was one of those things that I simply didn’t know I didn’t know. And after being asked, here in England, what Vancouver and Canada are like – and being forced to mull it over – I think I’m starting to find some answers.

But what’s more interesting to me at this moment, is what makes Preston different.

In my meanderings about town, I’ve come to look forward to the unpredictably wobbly cobblestones and concrete slabs that make up streets and sidewalks. I’ve grown accustomed to looking right and then left before crossing the street. (I still struggle with the concept of whether I am supposed to walk on the left when passing people walking towards me, or if that even matters.)

Like my experience in New York, people charge across busy streets despite the red stop light when the coast appears to be relatively clear. When it isn’t, the roads are filled with quiet cars, Fiats and Peugeots, and seldom any SUVs.

Whenever I have ordered a coffee at a diner, it has usually come in the form of a cappuccino or with milk, straight out of an automated machine.

Food and drink go hand-in-hand with travel. Apart from the culturally diverse options nearby – ranging from Moroccan to Indian, Italian to Ecuadorean – the local joints offer the typical English breakfast: Eggs, stewed tomatoes, beans, sausage, bacon, potatoes. The last on that list is a big staple. Today, I walked by a food cart selling fried potatoes, hot dogs, something about crispy peas and a special involving onions.

I opted to try mince meat pies for the first time, bought fresh from a £1 bakery. A big believer in butter tarts, I almost choked on the strength of the clove and cinnamon. After a few bites, I kind of began to like it.

Two more quotes to finish this off, because it’s been that kind of a day:

“A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” — Moslih Eddin Saadi; “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” — Henry Miller

PS – Hi Grandma.

Two-week anniversary

Fourteen days ago, my flight landed at London Gatwick, and I spent the next 10 hours lugging my suitcase and bags through terminals and stations on my way to Preston.

It was a big journey, but the great adventure is only beginning.

I spent today wandering around the Preston City Centre, braving the blustering winds that have been sweeping the town for the past few days.

I walked past a car park that has a beautiful statue at its entrance. I passed the used-furniture-store-turned-cafe where customers can enjoy a cappuccino at somebody’s grandmother’s kitchen table, covered in doilies, surrounded by an eclectic array of antique lamps. I moved past the Indian food diner that always seems to be closed.

It’s a cloudy Wednesday afternoon. In a covered area outside Preston City Hall, near the local museum and library, I wandered through an outdoor market selling everything from mattresses to iPhone covers to inexplicably large panties.

I discovered a cozy Italian cafe in the middle of the shopping district that serves a deliciously moist chocolate cake, which I enjoyed after much confusion sorting out whose order belonged to whom.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I’ll retrace my steps and take some more photographs of the city that is slowly, day-by-day, becoming more familiar and more welcoming.

PS – Hi Grandma.

You alright, love

Almost all of the shops close around 5 or 6pm in Preston. On Sundays, it seems like everything is closed.

I ventured outside yesterday afternoon, braving the bitter wind, in search of something less pathetic to eat than the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I had been surviving off of. The campus and town streets were deserted. And as I took a right to explore a different part of town I hadn’t yet seen, I began passing closed storefront after closed storefront.

I’ve had a nasty cold since arriving in England, so my mission was to find a take-away as nearby as possible so I could hole myself back up in my flat, as soon as possible.

I passed a pub, and a 24/7 fish and chips and chinese joint, until I noticed a man walk into the tiniest little diner I would have otherwise completely missed. The place was cozy, served an all-day breakfast, and had lots of dishes that included sausages.

I settled on the tiramisu – probably the least English thing I could have ordered.

Noticing I had an accent, or perhaps taking pity on me because I looked like a wreck, the woman behind the counter and a man I assume was her boss began chatting me up: They let me try a bite, and it was one of the best desserts I’d ever had. Apparently the cook who makes the dish is authentically Italian.

Two colloquialisms I’ve had to adjust to hearing are “You alright” and being referred to as “Love,” the two often used one after the other.

The first throws me off the most: What is meant to be a simple “How are you?” gets me wondering how pale I must look if people keep asking if I’m okay. How do you respond? Do you say you’re fine, good, doing well, getting by, or simply by replying “Yes”?

Being called love is a term of endearment used, I’ve found, mostly by adults, and by both men and women. It’s kind of nice.

To my loves back home, hope you’re all doing alright.

PS – Hi Grandma.

New Year’s Revolution

Packed everything, remembered my passport, checked-in; luggage not overweight, said goodbye; said goodbye four other times, made it through customs, did it all with an hour to spare.

I’ve struggled these first two weeks of January to come up with a proper New Year’s Resolution: Something meaningful, achievable, and appropriate to where I’m going to be this year and what I’m planning on doing.

Nothing.

I’ve settled instead on accepting the fact that maybe this year, I’m in for more of a personal revolution than a single resolution. The fact is, I don’t know what I expect out of the coming year, nor do I know – by the end of it – what it is I want to have achieved. This year, I think, is going to be more about the “figuring it out” than about having it figured out and simply attempting to get there.

In just over an hour, I’m boarding my direct flight to London. It will be the longest time I have been away from home, and the longest time I have been outside of the Vancouver area. It will also be my first time in Europe.

I can honestly say that I have no idea what I’m in for, but I’m as prepared as I can be, and ready for adventure.

In a suitcase I had previously used for 5-day trips around the province, I’ve packed the essentials that will comfortably get me by for 5 months. If that fails, I’ve brought British pounds so that I can purchase more comfort.

In my carry-on, I’ve got a phone-sized video camera, a brand-new Nikon DSLR, my iPhone, my voice recorder, my e-reader, two scarves (layer-able), two pairs of gloves (not so layer-able), a guide book to Great Britain, and a European phrasebook. I would say I’m more than set to document my journey, as well as entertain myself during the long hours in transit.

I will keep in touch, I will blog, I will live-tweet as much as possible.

Here’s to a New Year’s Revolution: To unrooting myself and embarking on a journey to learn more about the world.

Here we go.

PS – Hi Grandma.