Post-Paris groceries

I was let loose in an American retail supermarket today. I'd barely rolled into the produce section proper when the power went out, for a second. This happened yesterday, too, but the power didn't come back on for a while. Anyway, I stood there with my big empty shoppin' cart wondering if I should go further. What if the power went out for good, and I was stuck back there somewhere in complete darkness? The power didn't go out, although there was a brief thunderstorm, at least a recorded one that signaled the routine misting of the produce.

Here are some highlights, aside from the ones in pink-toed-Texas A&M-flip-flop-wearin' girl's hair.

Tropicana Coastal Groves Raspberry Lemonade
Um, because it sounds delicious. Also, American juice cartons are double the size of French juice cartons. Go figure.

Horizon Reduced Fat milk
Deeply miss lait entier, but this will have to do, as it did before.

Diet Dr. Pepper
Hell yeah! Miam-miam! as the French say. Am going to drink it with ice cubes!

Kellogg's Special K Red Berries cereal
To replace the berries cereal of the Champion or Monoprix variety. Am guessing it pales in comparison.

yogurt
That's right, all lowercase yogurt. Supermarket was missing the rest of the yogurt aisle.

Thomas English Muffins
Yes. Good with butter. Would be better with Président butter.

butter
All lowercase again. American retail supermarket brand.

Zapp's Cajun Crawtators potato chips
Need I say more?

Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
Am hoping it tastes like the mushroom soup my father and I shared with krokets at the Roosendaal train station.

I couldn't find lardons. Sure, there was bacon. It just wasn't cut into small strips or cubes and parceled into an infinite number of brands. I also couldn't find sorbet (but Blue Bell does make a Southern Hospitality Ice Cream—Homemade Vanilla with chunks of pineapples, roasted pecans and a strawberry sauce swirl). Last week I requested sorbet, and my parents returned with sherbet.

To those of you who are in Paris a bit longer, enjoy your grocery store before it's back to American retail supermarket. But don't worry, Zapp's and Dr. Pepper await you.