peanut butter and dill pickles

Grocery stores in other countries are like uncharted waters. You quickly realize that all the labels are in a different language, and forget about looking for familiar packaging and colors! You will not find salt in a big dark blue cylindered Morton brand container. It will most often come in a clear plastic bag (at least here in Spain).

Then you start to notice foods that just don't exist in your store back home. Like jamon serrano, which is salted and dried ham hock with hoof still attached and hangs in pretty much every store you go into. You also find a surplus of ingredients that perhaps only take up a small section in the States. Here, there's a whole isle dedicated to canned tuna. One quickly learns what the locals eat by going into their stores!

If you are adventurous, you may buy and try things that you just have no clue as to what it is. There are still many things that I just don't know! One of these days I'll have to ask one of my Spanish friends to take me shopping and explain some of these things to me and what one does with them--like membrillo. It looks like brain jelly to me, not sure I want to try it. The name sounds too similar to membranes.

But after the newness wears off, you begin to notice some of your personal staples are non-existent, quite expensive, or just not quite the same. Like peanut butter. One can find it, but it's expensive! A small jar at Carrefour costs me close to 4 euros, which currently is about $5.50. However, I have learned that for about half the cost, I can buy a bag of peanuts, spend an evening shelling them all, and grind them into peanut butter! (And it's much more healthy too!)

Vanilla extract can be a pain to find. I have sometimes found it at Carrefour, but they don't always keep it in stock, plus, it's not the real stuff. They do carry a vanilla flavored sugar though. And real vanilla beans. So I found a recipe for vanilla extract. One cup of rum to two split vanilla beans. Works great!

Sadly, I have still not had any luck when it comes to dill pickles and root beer. I've searched the shelves high and low at Carrefour, Mercadona, Dia, and Lidl. There is a British store called Icelands out in Fuengirola, which is about an hour train ride out. The praises of this promised land have been recounted to me numerous times by my American friends here. It even has block cheddar cheese and brown sugar! But so far, I have been unable to reach this paradise!

In the meantime, I will continue to scour the shelves of my local stores, discovering new goodies and figuring out creative ways to make my treasured ingredients. Mercadona continues to surprise me with its growing amount of options that were unavailable just a couple years ago. Who knows, I may find those dill pickles yet!