Aldi: Let's Discuss

This is a boring post on groceries, but it's all I've got today...

I'm always curious about what other expat moms buy and where. Yeah Aldi is kind of a yucky discount store, but the new one close to me is clean and not headache inducing at all.

 Here's what I get there: 

Frozen pretzel dough- I had cravings for pretzels during pregnancy like nobody's business and now pretzels seem to be everywhere. They're fluffy and hot after a few minutes in the oven. We are a mustard loving family so this is an excellent mustard delivery method. Lederhosen optional :) 

They have lots of random Trader Joe's stuff and a good selection of seeds and nuts. I sprinkle these on salads, use them in homemade granola bars, and to push on the kids when they're hungry. 

Their Fruit and Fiber cereal is crazy inexpensive (like around 1 euro, I think ) and the same as normal brands.

Trader Joes cranberries are 2 euros per bag- or is it 3?- whatever, the fact that we can buy them at all, and don't have to pay a fortune in a specialty store is why this is such good news. Plus, dried cranberries are baby crack for the car, and they don't make crumbs. 

Cheddar cheese is big-kid crack and a good veggie disguiser. 

Lastly, their tortillas are 99c per bag. We never tire of cheddar quesadillas. Never. 

Other good things from Aldi: plain yogurt, creme fraiche, roasted veggie frozen pizza, random German chocolates that look suspect but actually aren't, and Asian stuff.

Am I missing anything? 

Rare Shoot With My Zita

Our resident  princess loves nothing more than turning away from the camera. For every 100 pictures of Freddy, I have a mere two or three of Zita. When she does let me snap away, I go hog wild with my little canon.

 

This is another crazy8.com dress. Some of the stuff is tack to the max, but the good stuff is oh so very plentiful. 

Amazon Goodies

As the years go by and more products become available in Portugal, there are very few things that I feel like I am missing. The bigger problem is price.  That's where my love of Amazon.co.uk comes in. 

I bought three Avent bottles for 9 euros on Amazon, they are 11.50 EACH in Portugal. How crazy is that? 

My suitcase is stocked when I come back from California with every kind of sunblock I can fit.  We aren't going home this year, so I investigated sunblock  on Amazon. These color spray bottles sell for between 15 to 17 euros here and were only 5 euros each on Amazon. I only wish I had ordered more.

 I got 6 baby spoons for 2.50 on Amazon, and they are over 3 euros each here. 

 Having Amazon at one's finger tips is by far one of the best quality of life boosters an ex-pat gal could ask for. 

More on the Dress

The other photo I posted was taken by the ipad in bad light and I had lots of follow-up questions (ok, like 3, but that's a lot, right?) on what the dress actually looks like. It's a crisp clean white, in contrast to most of the other dresses that were some shade of cream, and many even had colorful accents like a pink flower here and there. No thanks to those colorful accents.

There is a very subtle teeny tiny bit of lace around the square collar. She is extremely bothered by the elastic on the sleeves, but was so authoritative when she proclaimed that it wasn't a problem because they would be easy to alter. Too bad my skills stop at buttons.

 This was the first runner up. It's cream and the waist band kept spreading out and looking funny, as seen below.

The whole experience felt straight out of TLC's Say Yes to The Dress. El Corte Ingles is the place we love to hate, but it does have very good service. They sure know how to make a little girl feel like she is the only person on earth to ever have a first communion. It didn't hurt that many people stopped to admire her and tell her what a princessa she is.

If anyone is worried that it's all about the dress- don't be. All the religious stuff is covered too :)

First Communion Dress

We braved El Corte Ingles in Lisbon today- a rainy national holiday. All locals know that spells crazy, but 3 hours of persistence made for one gorgeous happy girl.

Fluff and Flowers

One of the little presents that I got Zita for her birthday was a lavender pin-on flower that can be used as a hair clip or pinned on clothes.

She had a party (not hers, another one) this past weekend and decided to jazz up her gray dress that she got for Christmas.

 I'm going back for more now that I know how much she likes it because with Zita, one never kows whether things will irritate her or not. It's a good birthday gift idea for classmates that can be given with a book or something that needs a little sprucing up.

Here's her plainish gray  (Zara) dress before

See what a difference the flower makes? She wouldn't let me take a good picture of her wearing it.

Remember that white dress she wore for lunch a few months back? It's another perfect candidate for these great flowers.

The flower was 2-3 euros at H&M and came in an array of Spring colors. I'm going back for more and definitely getting one for each of my neices. I feel a photo shoot coming on....

Casa das Velas do Loreto

I jumped at the chance to buy a baptism candle for Pai's Godson before Christmas as it gave me the perfect excuse to linger in the Chiado's Casa das Velas do Loreto. It took me nine years of living here before I discovered it. After I went there for the first time and began mentioning it in casual conversation, I was always met with the same surprised remark "but everyone knows that place!" So, just in case I wasn't the very last person to go there, and for those who love this shop as much as I do, here are a few photos.

They take their candles seriously here, with white lab coats and a typical stoic shopkeepers face. I looked up the history and discovered that Italian singers who came to perform in São Carlos Theater (another must-visit place in the Chiado) were put off by local candles that smelled of grease, or so the story goes. Cue the arrival of an Italian frangrant candle maker and thus the Casa das Velas was born. It seems some of my favorites in Portugal are the result of one Italian following another. Santini icecream, anyone?

 What one can't see in the above picture, is the old and droopy eyed hound dog that hobbles around the back of the shop, but mostly just rests his head on outstretched paws. How I love that dog.

Their beautiful boxes with silky thick ribbons make the most simple candle a perfect gift. I should have taken a picture of the baptism candle. Next time I will for sure.

More Fall Finds

We got this dress for Caroline as a wear-in-winter-with-leggings-and-boots dress, but she wanted to wear it last weekend for tea at her great-grandmother's house.

 Again, please note my progress in the hair department.

 I can't decide if I love this picture or if the hair looks too much like she's fresh out of a polygamist cult.

My commentary on skirt lengths in the store rubbed off on her for sure. We were passing by the park and Zita said "geez, some of these mothers just wear the most inappropriate dresses."

This appropriate dress is from El Corte Ingles in Lisbon.

Fall Finds

We got a few new Fall clothes for Zita this week, and this blouse is one of my favorites. I love love love (yes 3 times) Portuguese children's clothing.

 We paired this blouse with a bordeaux knee length velet skirt.  Sadly it was one of the few non mini skirts in the store for her age. I have a tall 8 year old girl who still wants to dress like an 8 year old, and not like a 16 year old so we are  limited in shopping for clothes.  Let's get a closer look at this cutie tie collar- it looks great peeking out of her shrug cardigan.

Going to a Portuguese tea or birthday party is like stepping back in time and glimpsing life as portrayed in a Dick and Jane book. It's simple, beautiful, and something I hope never changes about this country.  Look at this picture I took of children playing outside the Basilica da Estrela in Lisbon. This could be 1950, but it was May of 2010.

Long live the peter pan collar, mary jane shoes, and bows in girls hair.