A Can of Butter, So Exciting!

The Excitement

I was so excited! I felt so grown up, so accomplished and free. It was my first time grocery shopping as a college freshman.

I had no shopping list, but I was determined to be a fugal shopper and buy only what I needed. I quickly learned that you shouldn’t go cheap on peanut butter, mayo or ketchup.

That new experience, excitement in my belly is what I feel when I travel outside the US and do normal routine things, such as going to a grocery store. I love it! It is that feeling of exploration that keeps me traveling.

The Christmas Meals

So here we are in Curitiba, Brazil. It is the day before Christmas Eve and we went to the local grocery store to buy our food for our special Christmas meals. Christmas eve is burritos with homemade tortillas. I even found a can of refried beans!

Nolan help making the tortillas.

For Christmas day dinner, we will have a turkey and the fixings. Of course we needed butter to butter up the turkey and to make chocolate chip cookies. When we got to the dairy area, we found no butter, only lots of margarine. Not good. No butter, no chocolate chip cookies. Not good.

I kept looking in the area, looking to see if there were any hidden behind other products, but I was having no luck. That is until I saw theses cans. Yes, cans of butter! Christmas dinner is saved, and we will have chocolate chip cookies!

The Butter Can

Butter in can.

I have never seen butter in a can. It tasted normal and worked fine in our recipes.

Yes it can be frustrating not knowing if you will find what you want at the supermarket or even know what it is called in the local language. But for me, that is also part of the fun. I never really know what I will find and what new experience will come my way–that is part of the fun of exploring new countries.

If I am going to be doing these mundane tasks such as grocery shopping, I might as well spice it up. Traveling is that perfect spice for me.

Good cookies mom!