Things We Buy

We took a trip to Citi Centre (that's how it's spelled) last week Saturday. It's about three years old I believe, and was built in the "western style" that we're all used to. It had a two large department stores as the anchors, and a lot of smaller shops in between. There was a food court and a play area for kids as well. Nice place, but the air conditioning didn't work very well so it was very, very warm and humid inside. As you can see it is a multi-story mall with two courtyard-type areas that are surrounded by stores on all levels. It made us feel right at home (almost).

The first thing we did when we got there was go up to the 3rd floor where the food court is located, which is really the 2nd floor but in India they call the ground floor the 1st floor. It seems simple, but gets annoying when you constantly have to figure out if people are doing the conversion for you or not. I can't count the number of times I've asked "Indian or American 3rd floor".

Much to our delight, there was a KFC waiting for us in the food court. Much to our dismay, they had no mashed potatoes and gravy - instead serving rice with every meal. Things got a little blurry after that realization, but I do know that Luanne had to order for me since I couldn't see the menu while blinking back tears.

As it happens, the chicken was really good. They seem to sprinkle it with some sort of spicy seasoning before the battering and frying, so it had a bit of a different taste than what we're used to. We enjoyed it though. The boys really enjoyed it, and really enjoyed their western apple juices as well. We've found that sometimes when your order apple juice you get a warm glass of apple puree. Not bad, but not as refreshing. All said and done, it was a positive dining experience.

The next stop was a Food World right next door to the KFC. We never miss a chance to check out a grovery store, because you never quite know what you're going to find. Might be good, might be bad, but that's all part of the fun. This was a really nice store and we stocked up on a few things that we've either ran out of or have been looking for.

What did we buy? Check it out:

"Flavor Enchancer" - aka MSG. We like to add a pinch of it to every meal, and I sprinkle it on my cornflakes in the morning. Just kidding, we didn't buy any, even though there's actually no scientific basis for shunning it. Just media hype to get ratings, as usual.


Low Calorie Cookware. A genuine roti tawa (bread griddle) that we use for cooking eggs rather than making bread. It was 389Rs, or about $8.


In anticipation of getting an inflatable pool for the kids, we wanted to get some liquid bleach to mix with the water and kill all the nasties. We couldn't find the liquid variety so we bought powder instead. More on that experiment later..


These are little meals that you heat up in the stove and to some cooked rice. We like them a lot and make them pretty frequently for lunch/dinner. Depending on where you shop, you can get them for around a dollar each, and rice costs next to nothing here, so we can put together a couple of different rice dishes for about a $2 meal for the four of us. That must still be on the expensive side here since I can get an entire (BIG) plate of food in the cafeteria at the office for 40RS, which is about $0.80. And man, is it good.


Aloo Mash - also known as mashed potatoes in a box. Easy to make and the kids love them. If I can just find some gravy I can bring my own mashed potatoes and gravy to KFC next time around. That'll show 'em.


These are little single-serving popcorn packets. They come complete with oil and salt so all you need to add is a pot and some heat. On sunday afternoons back home Noahd and I make popcorn and then watch football (or a movie) while Micah and Luanne takes naps. He's been pretty insistant that we have popcorn here too, so we're glad we found this. The salt was for the popcorn before we realized it was pre-salted. Never hurts to have extra.


Oh baby. This is the real deal, and nothing cheers up a grumpy kiddo faster than chocolate milk. Definately money well spent.