Friday 14 December 2007

Thoughts on food

So, on base we have Taco Bell, Burger King, Subway, another sandwich shop (much better than Subway), Popeye's fried chicken, and a pizza place. We've been to Popeye's just once. Each of the others have been visited several times, and we are getting tired of it quick.

Now that my "hold baggage" is here I have limited cooking ability. The kitchen is actually pretty good (better than the one at Dyess), but the dishes provided were somewhat lacking. For instance, we only have 3 regular spoons. There are soup spoons, though, so we make do. So for supper yesterday I cooked for the first time. Scrambled eggs and canned cinnamon rolls. Our commissary gets eggs from Denmark. Don't ask me why. The British have chickens, too; free range, even. But that's government at work. The eggs had a good flavor, and they were pretty big. I actually only cooked one egg each instead of the normal 2 each. The oven here is a little small, so I had to turn the cinnamon rolls on at 300* instead of 375* (I started at 375, but they were browning after 2 minutes, so I kept turning the heat down til I got it right).

We looked at a house in Red Lodge yesterday morning. It is a 10-15 minute drive from here. Red Lodge is a housing area - no shops or train station or anything. The house was just big enough, and the back yard was very nice and big. So it is a strong possibility. It's not a shiny new house, and the bathroom isn't lovely, but it should do.

After the house we went on to Newmarket (home of horse racing). We found a parking lot (car park, they call it) - it was full, but a lady was leaving so we waited for her. She saw us waiting and left her parking ticket for us to use (it had 2 hours left on it). So we got out and walked a little. They have covered outdoor shopping area there that is really nice. There were two cell phone stores, but we were too hungry to stop. Found a Chinese place and all piled in. They had big tables, and one booster seat that Ella used. Bob got chicken with cashews, I got chicken with pineapple, Naysha had sweet and sour chicken, Riah had fried rice, and Taryn and Cedwryck both got "chicken balls with chips." We would call that nuggets and fries. Anyway the whole thing cost nearly $60. We enjoyed it very much.

We also went to a supermarket in Newmarket. We were surprised to find several items cheaper than on base. I know in the states that is true, but I figured over here it would be more to buy in town. We got some fruit, a jar of Nuttella, some bread (the commissary doesn't sell whole grain bread!), and a couple of CHOCOLATE FILLED CROISSANTS. Wow. There are so many rich foods here we will all be fat pigs if we don't watch it (I'm close enough already).

So Bob will look at one house today (and hopefully another). If neither of those look good, we may go ahead with the house in Red Lodge. It isn't perfect, but could be a lot worse.

4 comments:

Constance said...

I don't envy you being in a foreign country (even though they speak English-sort of!), trying to find suitable housing, taking care of small children and pile Christmas on top of all of that! It sounds like you could use an extra prayer today! You kind of make my life look pretty easy! Ha ha!
Connie in North Texas

MamaOlive said...

Thanks for the prayers. It would be easier if my head would ever stop hurting.

Ganeida said...

I do envy you! lol. I liked rolling from patissiere to patissiere on the continent eating rich pastry things filled with cream & if you think choc croisants are rich I will share the goutier a French couple ruined me with. (Dearest was absolutely horrified & couldn't believe I ate this ~ but he wasn't keen on escagot either.) Take one French roll (size is immaterial.) Slice it lengthways. Butter it with real, unsalted butter (the thicker the better). Add to the roll a slab of dark Belgium chocolate. Dunk this in your afternoon cup of hot chocolate or coffee latte or simply eat it straight. Yum. Ditz wants to know when I'm taking her to this heaven!

MamaOlive said...

Ganeida, I will have to try that; sounds lovely.

I also like your ice cream on pancakes idea. I'm the only one I know who eats chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream AND maple syrup. :-0