Groceries - what we can and can not buy here . . .

Today is Saturday, our preparation day.

One of the other senior couples was in town so we went to lunch with them . . . at Pizza Hut! And the pizza was as good as at home! After, Wade wanted to drive to San Fernando to check it out. We did see lots of motorcycles/scooters, jeepneys, and a couple of carts pulled by a horse on the main road, along with all of the cars. Many of the streets we travel on are tree lined with branches hanging across the road. It is beautiful to drive down these areas are usually on the outskirts of towns. Today we also saw some kids riding a water buffalo. Unfortuately, these pictures were take out of the car window as we were moving.

The horse drawn cart

Tree lined roads - reminds me of Georgia

Kids riding the water buffalo home after a day in the fields. They call them Carabau here.

Then we ended up at the supermarket. Now Wade hates me to buy things . . .he only wants me to buy what we are going to use for the meal of the day. Well, I can't make too many things without the basics - flour, sugar, oil, baking powder, etc. So I am slowly picking up a few things each time we visit the store. I would love to make a cake from scratch since cake mixes are pretty expensive. The only problem I haven't found any powdered sugar yet to make frosting.

So hear are some of the things I haven't found yet . . . powdered sugar, granulated bouillon, mild cheese like we get at home, cake frosting (they do have the whipped kind but we aren't fond of that) saltine crackers, gum drops, and licorice to name a few. On my last post, I had a picture of the milk that we buy. It taste okay, but is different from what we are used to. I bought some sour cream today, so I will have to remember to tell you what that is like. We bought some processed cheese - like Kraft singles - to make grilled cheese sandwiches. It is okay, but not what we are used to. It will be interesting to see how our taste buds have changed when we get home in 17 months (whose counting?). I guess that being able to buy fresh watermelon, cantaloupe and mangoes makes up for what we can't get here. Some of our kids are coming to visit so I am hoping they save a little room in their suitcases and bring some of the items above . . . hint, hint.

Tonight I will close with another photo of a sunset here at Clark Field. This was taken by the park where Wade goes walking every morning at 5:30a while I get a few extra winks!

It was beautiful, but the picture doesn't do it justice . . . sorry.