Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Shopping for Food in Riga- A big Google Translation Failure

So one of the hardest things to do right now is shopping for groceries. I am starting from scratch after all. And everything is labelled in Latvian-or Russian Cyrillic. Few brands are identifiable or known to me. If they are recognizable by name, they are different in content- except Kikkoman Soy Sauce. So far most of my trips have been with Chris and we've kept it small in terms of purchase. Some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Pasta. Flour took me four days to figure out because Google translates kept telling me what I was looking at was whole wheat flour when I wanted white. And here, glory be, they actually number the grade of flour! So I have inadvertently bought pastry flour when I wanted all purpose. But I've volunteered to bake butter tarts for the Canadian Embassy table at the International Woman's Club Riga charity fundraiser for December 1 and so I need supplies- baking supplies.

Today, Jenn took Denise and I to Gemoss and Promo. Jenn and Denise have been here for three months already and I am just catching up. Much better to go shopping with someone who has done it already than go it alone. Jenn navigates the streets like a pro and I haven't even got behind the wheel of the car yet (knowing Chris he'll have to be comatose to let me get behind the wheel with him in the vehicle.) Gemoss is a store for restaurants that has a good selection of items- in Latvian of course. Ever tried to buy a bag of cloves, cinnamon, mace, ginger without knowing what the word for it is Latvian? The app Jenn had was good but not that good. We ended up holding plastic bags of spices to our noses at Gemoss and saying I think this is.....! No pecans bagged- you had to go upstairs and pay 25 euros a kilo! So no pecans in the butter tarts. And corn starch and corn syrup? None to be had. I know they have molasses I just haven't been able to identify it yet. And brown sugar? Soft brown sugar means a hunt for it as well. Icing sugar? I think I have bought some but I have to rip open every  sugar packet I bought to make sure. Fruit /Caster sugar? Same mystery needing to be solved.

So I'm going for an old fashioned butter tart recipe. I managed to score soft brown sugar, they have great butter and I found a small container of heavy cream. I still need a few more ingredients and then I am good to go.

And Google Translation? It doesn't like Latvian. Cumin came up as ķimenes. I am now the proud owner of a packet of caraway seeds.

2 comments:

  1. I hope you're putting the proper terms into Google translate so some other poor English speaking baker doesn't have to endure the same hardships!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually creating a list of English and the equivalent Latvian. No black strap molasses here though.

      Delete

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