Melt down in aisle 3!

Usually when I go grocery shopping over here in Australia (which consists of wandering around aimlessly until I get some idea for dinner), I don't notice too much of a difference. They have different brands and measure calories in energy, but other than that I have been pretty pleased with my local grocery store and have felt right at home among its aisles. Not today.

Someone from Jer's work invited us to a BBQ this weekend and Jer signed us up to bring desserts. Well, since I don't have any baking dishes, or hand mixers, or spatulas, or cookie sheets, or anything that I need to make a dessert, I decided to go with some yummy no-bake cookies. I haven't seen any since I have been here, so I am hoping they may be sort of a novelty.

Anyway, I look up a recipe and head to the store, confident and sure. Some things are straight off - I have already found out where the sugar, oats, peanut butter, and such is. Check. Wax paper takes a little longer, but once I figure out that it is actually called baking paper, I am good to go. So I roam around, gathering my needed ingredients, and even grab my milk and butter. I reach the end of the store, look down at my list, and notice that I am still missing several ingredients - two being the all important Vanilla and Cocoa. Uh oh.

So, I go back to the places I would expect to find them . . . next to the sugar? Nope. By the flour (which is in a different aisle)? Notta. Herbs, spices and oils (another aisle). Nothing. Desserts? Toppings? Still nothing.

I began searching through the store, pouring over every single aisle, desperately searching for my missing ingredients. What if they don't have them here? I already have all of the other ingredients. How long until my milk goes bad? I continue searching and searching, thinking of how terrible it will be if I can't find the ingredients and how much I wish that I could call my grandma or my mom or my sister or any of my fabulous friends and ask if they know of a substitute . . .

And that's when it hit me. The magnitude of exactly how far away I am from everyone that I love. My chest got tighter, my throat clenched, and I could feel the tears surfacing. I was 2 seconds away from ditching my cart and running away. I know it sounds silly, but those dang two ingredients almost brought me to tears in the middle of the super market.

Luckily, I began thinking about everything I've learned about Australia since I've been here. Let's see, cocoa is kinda like hot chocolate, which is a hot drink . . .

That's right, I find my cocoa in the middle of the coffee aisle, surrounded by cappuccinos and teas. After the help of a nice man, I also found my vanilla (it was next to the baking chocolates and such, I just hadn't seen it because it is in a different bottle than back home and looks more like soy sauce). I actually managed to make it out of the store with everything except for graham crackers, which I haven't used in these cookies before anyway, so no big worries.

All I have to say is that these better be some dang good cookies.