Settling In

During our 1 week isolation, one of us was allowed to enter the grocery to shop for food and/or get take out. We could both mask up and take a walk as long as we stayed within 1 km (0.62 miles) of our apartment. Masks are required if you leave your house/apartment for everyone, not just us! We have taken a few walks and find that too many people are not wearing masks despite the mask mandate.

It is not a long walk to the grocery store but it was difficult to pick up everything at once so B made several trips on our first full day to try to bring in the basics. B reported that folks were wearing masks in the grocery store so that's good. 

Our first baguette!

We look forward to exploring grocery stores wherever we travel. B grabbed a photo of the cooking oil and butter departments. There is a  separate section for olive oils. It will take some time to figure out the butter and other dairy products! So many choices including some we recognized! They were imported into Indonesia.

A couple of our first  very French dairy products.

We have learned a little bit about the incredible number of apple varieties available in France. We've tried two so far- the reine de reinette and also pictured here the kissabel. The inside is pink! There are 2 other types of "red interior" apples but we haven't seen those here yet. Both apples are OK, the reine is tart and the kissabel is sweeter but I found both a little soft, not a crisp, firm apple. Kissabel type apples are supposed to contain more anti-oxidants and include a hint of berry flavor. The reine de reinette is an old cultivar of the pippin type.

This is the the Kissabel.

 

Even during COVID you bring your own bags to the grocery store! I brought a couple of totes but we have had to purchase a couple of store bags to have enough. Once our shipment gets here, we will have the bags I sewed in Jakarta.

We set up a French Amazon account- needs to be separate from the US account. Ordered a set of measuring spoons and cups on Sunday, arrived Tuesday! Now I can actually measure the coffee! The temp apartment doesn't have anything to measure with so this was a necessity. Photo shows also our first piece of French junkmail.

Alas, half of our washer-dryer combo unit (the same machine washes and dries)but the dryer part isn't working. No heat at all. The solution? Old school: drying rack provided in the apartment and also the "camping" clothesline and clothespins that I tucked into our checked bags.

The clothesline had to be strung across the bedroom!

When we first moved to Indonesia, the temporary apartment there had a washer/dryer combo machine. I really didn't care for it. The wash load time isn't bad, but it can take several hours to dry a load of clothes. Hope this one works better once we get it repaired. 

The grocery store has a HUGE selection of puzzle books- plenty to keep our Sudoku loving boy happy!