Shopping

Just got thinking about blog topics and thought you might want to see a few of the stores we go to and how shopping is in Samoa.  First, we don't have Walmart or even a walking Walmart like in Jamaica.  I can't buy everything I need at one store; you have to "shop around."  There are lots of little mom and pop stores like this one.  Want a flip-flop?

If I need to buy meat, I buy it at Lucky's Foodtown.  It's the only meat counter that doesn't have a smell and Junior, who is one of the meat clerks, knows us.  When we first arrived and drove around to find things, I went to Lucky's and asked Junior for 5 pounds of minced beef (hamburger), but I want you to put it in one pound packages.  He looked at me like I was from outer space -- I explained, put one pound in a small plastic bag, then another pound in another plastic bag and then put them all in one big plastic bag and weigh them.  When I take it home, I put them in a freezer and only need to take out one package at a time.  That was a year ago.  Every senior missionary now goes to Lucky's and he packages all our meat the same.  Chicken breasts - 2 per package; always boneless and skinless.  A pork tenderloin comes in a long, long piece, he just cuts off as much as you want.  Lucky's also has the yogurt we eat and most of the time they have sour cream and cream cheese.

Frankies is an all purpose grocery store and general store.  I bought much of the Samoan fabric at Frankies that we have had made into shirts.

King Arthurs is the store we go to for "American" style food - cake mixes, soups, green diced chilis, olives, eggs, etc.  They also have oranges and apples and sometimes - if you get there at the right time - grapes.

Farmer Joes is a good all around food store to get cereal, milk is in the shelf storage cartons, juice, and so forth.  We buy flour and sugar in unmarked, plastic bags.  I'm sure they buy them in large, large quantities and then sub-divide them.

Mariyons is the bread store.  They have a very good bakery and always have fresh hot bread on the shelves.  Yea, well, everything is hot in the store because there is no air conditioning in any of these stores and you get pretty hot shopping.

McKenzies is a good little corner store that I can get chocolate chips, tortillas, tomato sauce, ketchup, mustard, and those types of things.

We buy the fruit and vegetables from the large open air market, a roadside stand or Tufusi's, a drive through open air market.  We buy pineapples, papaya, lemons, tomatoes (a cherry type), cucumbers, bananas, cabbage, potatoes and pumpkins.  You can also buy cooked pulisami and breadfruit.  There is always a good supply of fresh fruit and these types of vegetables.

Now, if you have a hankering for sweet potatoes or yams, raspberries, strawberries, fresh peas, peaches, pears, large tomatoes, beets, and stuff like that - forget it until you get home.  Can't wait and in October there better be at least one fresh peach!

There are also many little stands along the road that have fresh fish for sale.  The person selling sits with a palm frond to fan the flies from them.  Haven't purchased one yet, don't want to take it home and clean it.

We buy our drinking coconuts from Stella, who has a little roadside stand across the street from our apartment.

We haven't lost any weight I can tell you that, there is plenty of food.  Chocolate (Neala) is sold from the freezer section, you can't put it on the shelves because then you would just be buying goo.  It is available and it does come at a price; but, every so often, you have to indulge.

Theron is able to have ice cream.  We buy the New Zealand imported kind - TipTop.  It's rather good.  He is partial to Hokey Pokey and I like the berry swirl.  You do have to be careful buying cookies and such because after they sit on the shelves for a while they kind of crumble apart and get stale.

Glad to hear from all the family this week.  We splurged and did a FaceTime with them.  I love to talk with them live!  Love to all.

The triplets are eating food or are they wearing their food?

These are great pictures taken among the Utah cherry trees.  Kacy is 6 months!