Hacer de compras

Grocery shopping is one of the delights of living in Spain. I go to the grocery almost every day (sometimes I go to two groceries in one day – when I can’t find an exotic item, like cheddar cheese, at the first place.) During the first few weeks of being a “Haus Frau” (housewife), I didn’t like my new role. Cooking and cleaning are not really my scene. But, now I’ve embraced my inner Haus Frau and I let my creative juices flow when I plan meals.

In Spain, I don’t have my precious cookbooks or go-to recipes written in my Mom’s handwriting. Our kitchen also doesn’t have a microwave, oven, toaster, blender, food processor, potato masher, heart-shaped ice cube trays, ramekins, decorative spreaders, etc. When we moved in, we even lacked some basics like glasses, a knife, a skillet, kettle and corkscrew. It’s not exactly Survivor: Sevilla Edition, but we do have to get resourceful when we cook.

Our local supermarket

The grocery has almost everything we could want because we are living in Western Europe after all. I think about my friend Evelyn, who lived in Bangladesh for a couple of years, a lot when I’m cruising around the grocery store. I bet she couldn’t find Pringles, ginger ale, ketchup or refrigerated spinach tortellini when she went shopping for food in Bangladesh. Of course, it’s not Pringles that make shopping fun – it’s the different stuff! I like how things like sticks of butter and bullion cubes come in different shapes here than they do in the US.

Pimiento para freir: looks like a big jalapeño; tastes like a zingy green bell pepper. This is one of the main ingredients in Gazpacho.

The first few times I went to the grocery, I had my Spanish-English dictionary clutched to my chest. Now, I can tell someone (in Spanish) where the cheese section is. And, I know the Spanish words for dill, peas, skim, fabric softener, lip balm, sour cream and hummus (it’s hummus). I still get a little stumped in the meat section because the cuts of meat are different from ours. You can also buy whole skinned or un-skinned rabbits and all sorts of gross stuff like pork fat, calf liver, chicken feet, etc. No, during my Southern upbringing, I never once purchased or ate any of these delicacies.

Part of a regional agriculture map

The cheapest way to shop in a foreign country is to buy what the locals buy. Luckily for us, that means buying yumminess. The inexpensive stuff includes: fresh bread, fresh seafood, olive oil, wine, cheese, cured sausages, onions, garlic, oranges (in the winter), green peppers, pork chops, nuts, and chicken feet. Actually, I’ve never priced chicken feet, but I imagine they are dirt cheap. I think most Spaniards buy their daily bread at local bakeries and supermarkets. Baking is not a big thing here. I know because I watch cooking shows. Stove-top cooking and using immersion blenders seem to be very popular. Olive oil, a.k.a. Liquid Gold, is naturally the basis of most recipes, especially salads, meat dishes and soups.

Every Spanish restaurant and home has one or a few of these: an aceitera, for olive oil

I can’t say that Brad and I have only cooked Spanish cuisine while living here. Sometimes things like peanut butter sandwiches, fried chicken, sweet tea or pancakes sneak into our diet. But, we usually have at least some chorizo, semi-cured cheese or marcona almonds on hand. A couple days ago, I bought some sweet Spanish strawberries at a fruit market. I got a half kilo – having no idea how many strawberries come in a half kilo. It was super cheap and the clerk called me guapa (hottie). Love it when they do that!