Yesterday Swathi and I went to Fresh, where we stocked up for our snack stashes. I'm quite excited about this last overhaul on snacks because I found some good ones that I wanted to try and some old favorites, too.
Starting from the top:
Masala-flavored Top Ramen: I tried this stuff and I loved it! Swathi and I both bought a family pack- one to keep in the city and one to bring with us to the farm. Luckily you can get this in the US too, because I'll probably want to get that once I come back.
Pringles: They were 33 rupess and I didn't want to get a big canister since I'd feel guilty eating so many chips, so this was perfect. Sadly, I bought them 24 hours ago and it's already empty! The crunchy, salty, potato-y goodness was just too much to resist. Plus, perhaps there was something about the fact that these were from the US that made it more attractive- the American Idol logo on the seal and the Spanish/English must have reminded me of my snacking back in the US, or something.
Kurkure: These remind me a lot of Cheetos in terms of the shape and puffed corn, but with some sort of mildly spicy, chilli-ish flavor instead. I tried them at someone's house and couldn't stop eating them!
Monaco: Swathi pronounces it 'mo-NA-co' but I can't help but pronounce it like the country. Amir Khan (sp?) advertises these in commercials so I wanted to try them. I know, I'm quite gullible and I must be an advertiser's dream.
Galaxy Bar: I was going to buy a Munch bar from Nestle (like KitKat, but I like this better), but when I saw the Galaxy bar (my absolute favorite), I had to snatch that one up, even though Munch bars are 2 rupees, or something. I can't find Galaxy bars in the US so it's just one more reason to like life in India.
Marie biscuits: I think I've seen this brand in the US, but I haven't seen it for a while. I tried these while visiting someone and they're surprisingly creamy for a cracker-biscuit thing.
Ritz (with cheese filling): I know we have the smaller versions in the US, but I'd never, ever seen full size Ritz with the cheesy filling so I got these. They probably won't taste any different, but I think I just got a bit excited.
I've had these items in my snack stash for a while:
I'm not sure bio security would have let me bring in dried fruit into New Zealand, so I had to buy some there and then bring it to India. At least they'd be fresher that way.
I thought the Monaco packaging was interesting just because it mentioned Eid (as in the Muslim holiday [Eid al Fitr?], right?) and monsoon season- two things not often mentioned in the US.
Before I went to India, someone in New Zealand told me that I'd find red and green dots on a lot of the food products to indicate whether they're vegetarian friendly:
~
In the non-food realm, I got an Indian cell phone! Well, it doesn't look Indian like Swathi's cellphone; there aren't Hindi letters on the buttons like hers. I wanted a phone with Hindi on it so I could feel special and have a cool souvenir when I come back to the US, but on all the packages you can't tell which phones will have Hindi on the buttons. Or, so the saleslady said... Plus, I wanted to pick a model I could use in Asia and the US, so supposedly this is a tri-band phone. I got slightly pricey phone since I hope to use it more in the future and although I don't care much for phones, I can't help but be excited about having a new phone:
We had to put the SIM card in Swathi's name since non-Indian nationals have to give proof of their temporary address in India, which I didn't have. It was quite cruel, considering we lived literally across the street from the mobile phone store. Anyway, after running around to get passport photos and a xerox of my passport and visa, Swathi just filled in her info so I could get the SIM card. She says that she's pretty sure I won't become a criminal in the 3-month span that my card is active, so it's probably okay to have the card in her name. : )
2 comments:
... I demand you bring me a rupee when you get back.
When DO you get back, anyway?
speaking of cell phones, i need to buy a new phone card because mine ran out while swathi was literally midsentence. i'll buy some with more minutes so we can talk longer. nothing quite like playing international phone tag.
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