Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Graré American Food Store

As some of you may already know, I spent 13 months in the US, working as an au pair for 2 different families. I started my career as a nanny in Portland, Oregon, although my luggage ended up in Portland, Maine - how was I supposed to know there are 2 cities by the name of Portland???
My host family gave me my own credit card to go grocery shopping. Know what I mean?? MY OWN CREDIT CARD! I had never owned a credit card before! Maybe that's where my love for shopping found its beginning?
Anyway, the family was used to shop in deli stores and I had the chance to taste many different kinds of food I wasn't used to. Mexican food, for example, was totally new to me. I had never heard of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches before and chocolate chips were a true delight to bake cookies with. And in that one particular deli store, I could buy Nutella, my favorite chocolate spread I was used to have on my sandwiches at home...
My second host family lived in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, just around the corner of Portland, Oregon...not! It took me 4 days on the train to travel to Massachusetts, in the middle of the winter, snow from day 1 till day 4. Food in Mass was different than in Oregon. Less Mexican, more Irish. I remember the dad took me out for lunch in Cambridge one day and we had this humongous burger!
Every now and then, I miss American products. A couple of months ago, I discovered an American food store in Antwerp and I was just as excited as a six year old with a popsicle! Happy Happy Joy Joy!
They even sold Hazelnut splenda, my favorite sweetener, that is not sold in Belgian stores. I did skip on the Fluff, because marshmallow spread is not exactly the best choice for a diabetic.
Graré American Food Store
Prins Boudewijnlaan 175
2610 Antwerp

2 comments:

Upje said...

Wanneer komt ge nu eens af? Dan maken we die winkel samen onveilig :P. Ze zullen hunne stock nadien nogal mogen bijvullen *grin*!!

(Maar ik heb die winkel dus nog altijd niet gezien, hé, ook al rijd ik wekelijks de Prins Boudewijnlaan af?!)

www.kokenenhogehakken.blogspot.be said...

Geef me een uur, geef me een dag en we zijn weg! Graré is enkel in de namiddag open en ik dacht dat ze gesloten waren op dinsdag?

De winkel zit op een hoek, valt niet heel erg op, maar hij is er wel hè!