Today the family and I went to Hoffer, it's similar to the Aldi's in the north US. Anyhow, they opened a store not 25 minutes from our house. We used to drive to Austria to go to Hoffer and it took and hour and half to get there but the deals were worth the trip. Now praise the Lord we don't have to drive that far and we saved a boo-koo of money today. Slovenia is the country north of us between Austria and Croatia. They were once part of Yugoslavia and the language is very similar.
Here are some of my special finds today, probably not so special to you but pretty neat to me. °Ü°
Tortillas, I know, what's the big deal about tortillas? Well it takes me over and hour to make enough for our family so it's nice to be able to buy them. They have Tortillas in Croatia but they are $6 for 8 and I'm not about to pay that. So I was excited to find these today.
Oh yea and this cute little green pail of 4 leaf clovers. I love 'em. When I was a young teen I had a friend names Brandy. One day while walking by the river together we discovered some 4 leaf clovers and thought it was a sign from God that we would always be friends. Sad to say a week later she stole my boyfriend and we were no longer friends, but 4 leaf clovers still bring back memories for me. 
Oh yea clothes pins, not just clothes pins but wooden ones. These are almost impossible to find in this part of the world. I was so excited to find them for only 1 €, about $1.50. 
Oh yea and I thougth you would get a kick out of this. We can't get sliced bread at all in Croatia so it was pretty neat to find sliced bread and cheese but not only bread and cheese but American bread and cheese. I like how they included the Lady too.
I took this picture of the hill in the town we went to. I love the grape vinyards running up that steep hill. If you look really close in the middle of the picture you can see a little black spot, that's a little lady tending her vines.
Funny fact, with all the grapes in the Balkans you can't find grape juice anywhere, funny huh. Their thought, "why waste grape juice on juice when it could be wine."
On the way home I drove Johnny nuts getting him to stop for pictures. This cute little house is actually a very famous restaurant in Croatia called the Mala Hiza, or little house. :0) This place is so famous that the president of Croatia eats here sometimes and it's over an hour away from the capital.
Anyhow friends, I just wanted to let you know what I was up to or where I was off to today.
Off to make burritos for dinner!!
Here are some of my special finds today, probably not so special to you but pretty neat to me. °Ü°
Tortillas, I know, what's the big deal about tortillas? Well it takes me over and hour to make enough for our family so it's nice to be able to buy them. They have Tortillas in Croatia but they are $6 for 8 and I'm not about to pay that. So I was excited to find these today.
Oh yea and this cute little green pail of 4 leaf clovers. I love 'em. When I was a young teen I had a friend names Brandy. One day while walking by the river together we discovered some 4 leaf clovers and thought it was a sign from God that we would always be friends. Sad to say a week later she stole my boyfriend and we were no longer friends, but 4 leaf clovers still bring back memories for me. 
Oh yea clothes pins, not just clothes pins but wooden ones. These are almost impossible to find in this part of the world. I was so excited to find them for only 1 €, about $1.50. 
Oh yea and I thougth you would get a kick out of this. We can't get sliced bread at all in Croatia so it was pretty neat to find sliced bread and cheese but not only bread and cheese but American bread and cheese. I like how they included the Lady too.
I took this picture of the hill in the town we went to. I love the grape vinyards running up that steep hill. If you look really close in the middle of the picture you can see a little black spot, that's a little lady tending her vines.Funny fact, with all the grapes in the Balkans you can't find grape juice anywhere, funny huh. Their thought, "why waste grape juice on juice when it could be wine."
On the way home I drove Johnny nuts getting him to stop for pictures. This cute little house is actually a very famous restaurant in Croatia called the Mala Hiza, or little house. :0) This place is so famous that the president of Croatia eats here sometimes and it's over an hour away from the capital.Anyhow friends, I just wanted to let you know what I was up to or where I was off to today.
Off to make burritos for dinner!!
I am glad that you guys were able to save some money and I also really like the picture of that hill. That is a really nice landscape!
ReplyDeleteTortillas! Woohoo! I know the feeling. And American sliced bread and cheese.
ReplyDeleteFor so many years we could net buy these things, and even now they are a luxury. Oh, and corn tortillas are unheard of!
Thank God for little blessings!
I'm so glad you were able to find things that you can enjoy and make your life a bit easier. :)
ReplyDeleteWe in America take so much for granted.
Blessings to you!
That's to funny Tori, I bought groceries today and bought stuff to make burritos! We will have ours on Monday. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteOkay, the story about Brandy made me literally laugh out loud!!! And as far as the groceries, it really is the little things we take for granted, isn't it? We think we are on the mission field in Iowa just because we can't get Blue Belle Ice Cream!
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in Japan, I felt the same way -- sometimes common, everyday cooking items were so difficult to find, but every once in a while, the commissary would finally get with it and something I had been searching for would be in stock! I would be so excited!
ReplyDeleteI thought the searching would be over now that we are back Stateside, but I find myself looking for my favorite oriental food items... thankfully, my parents are still in Japan, so they send me things every few months. :)
Your apron turned out wonderfully; that orange fabric was my favorite out of all the ones you showed us the other day!
(P.S. If you email me your address, maybe sometime I could mail you some goodies! :~D *hint*hint*)
Loved the pictures:) I love reading about lives in other countries:)
ReplyDeleteJennifer
When I was in Thailand, we spent some time making tortillas from scratch... I appreciated the pre-packaged stuff once I came home!
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling when you find little goodies like that overseas:o).
Yes, that was our tree. We decorated an umbrella tree plant as our first christmas tree. *U*
ReplyDeleteWe Americans have no idea what our missionaries "miss out" on in the field!! Thanks for posting this :-)
ReplyDeleteKate
I'm glad you left a comment on my blog. It's great to "meet" you!
ReplyDeleteI did a summer mission trip to Croatia when in college (back then it was still part of Yugoslavia). It's a part of the world that is still close to my heart. Shopping for food at the local market was an interesting adventure!
I enjoyed reading your blog. The entry about leading the 2 men to the Lord just from meeting them in the square was amazing! I hope people are more open to the gospel now than they were 20+ years ago, but I expect it's still a challenging mission field.
Karen
You found some great things at the store and I love the clover story! :0)
ReplyDeleteThe grapevine picture is beautiful as well!
Hugs,
Kelli
P.s. I don't care for the taste of buttermilk either, but it sure does make yummy baked items!
Those were lots of fun to look at. I loved the one of the hillside and the grape vineyards. The bread picture kind of cracked me up. I like how it says "American Sandwich." That's cute. And the clover story was funy too. hehe
ReplyDeleteDid you ask Brother Johnny when he was going to take you to eat at the Mala Hiza? ;)
~Kristi
I am so glad that you found all those good finds. When my second son left home to go to Mississippi many years ago to work in a church there, when we went for the first time to visit him we could only find frozen tortillias and they were corn ones. I use the flour ones. I had to look really hard to even find the frozen corn ones.
ReplyDeleteI love four leaf clovers also. I hope you have a happy day, dear Tori. connie from Texas
Hello, Sis. Tori! I haven't been here in forever and I was just stopping by before I was anymore ashamed *blushing*
ReplyDeleteYour pics are great and you appear to love your camera just as much as I..........I take pics of just about anything too. LOL!!
for some reason, I thought I commented on this... oh well... I will now :D
ReplyDeleteGlad you found such great "finds" while out shopping... I love clothes pins.. we use them for EVERYTHING.... fortunatly we get them at the dollar store here.. we always think we have it bad, till we cant get little things liek clothes pins huh?
I enjoyed seeing all your finds....what special treasures after living overseas for 11 years you sure can get excited over the smallest things....and I loved the picture of the hill/grapevine....
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing with all of us.
Deby
I live in Slovenia and thought for 2.5 years that there was no grape juice here--until I found it at the pharmacy! They sell juice in glass bottles that look quite medicinal but taste delicious.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they do this in Croatia, too. If not, check out the pharmacy (lekarna) on your next cross-border visit.