Love Don't Cost a Thing, but Chocolate Does

To quote the great poet J. Lo, "Love don't cost a thing", but in China chocolate and all things imported sure does.  Right before my birthday I received a wonderful surprise!  Here is what I wrote on Facebook:    

Absolutely gobsmacked tonight! Jamie McClintock comes home with a very cute & large reusable shopping bag filled with chocolate, cookies, m & m's, peanut butter and nutella with a card that is clearly not his handwriting (he had no idea how it had gotten to his desk). My very thoughtful friend, Julie, found a co-worker to deliver my birthday present to Jamie's desk at work...IN CHINA! Not only did she pick out all my favorites, but I know that she used energy that she doesn't have (sleepless nights will do that) and she used free-time that she doesn't have (three kids will steal all of that). I didn't cry, but I could have.

I decided to do some research and see approximately how much all of the goodies she sent to me would cost me in US dollars if I bought them in China versus the US.  

In China:     In US:

$6.03           $3.69    Milano Melts-Dark Creme

$15.86         $4.97    Bunny Mix M & M's

$12.38         $4.68    Petit Ecolier Mill Chocolate Biscuits

$9.29           $3.68    Jif Peanut Butter

$9.20           $3.28    Nutella

$12.00         $4.52    Dove Peanut Butter Eggs

$12.00         $4.52    Dove Dark Chocolate Smooth Eggs

$11.43         $4.79    Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips

$88.19         $34.13 

Wow!  That's priceless!

I had planned to take some really artsy fun pictures at the grocery store of the products sitting on the shelf...but I totally freaked out.  I thought store employees might turn in the crazy white lady that was whipping out her massive camera and taking pictures of chocolate chips.  So, I used my iPhone instead and went undercover!

The prices listed are Chinese RMB.  The exchange rate is about 6.3 RMB to $1 USD.

Chocolate cookies similar to the
Petit Ecolier Milke Chocolate Biscuits.

This is where the chocolate chips used to be.
It's not uncommon to go to a store and find
the one ingredient you need missing.

I can only find small bags of M & M's, which
means some of my cookie recipes become
very, very expensive!

What's That? Wednesday 10/26/2011

I considered taking a "sick day" from the blog this week as 3 out of the 4 members of our family have been very sick this week, but we are rallying!  I hope to blog about our first and second visitors from the States and our October holiday soon.  I am so behind!

For this week's What's That? Wednesday post, I need you to take a look at the picture below and see if you can find the similarity between all three packages of food.  Do you see it?

 If you spotted the white "S" against the blue background, then you win the prize (your check is in the mail).  I have been told that this is the international symbol for safe foods.  I do pay attention to it when I'm shopping at the stores, but most of the things that I'm interested in purchasing have the symbol on them.





I tried to do some internet research on the symbol, but I had no luck finding anything.  Sorry I don't have more details!

A close-up of the packaging.

A few health & safety practices have already gone by the way-side.  At first I thought I wouldn't wear flip-flops outside because it's quite dirty, but that only lasted a week or so.  We also used bottled water to brush our teeth...for the first month, now we use the tap (we don't drink from the tap though).  And, I'm okay with the fact that my eggs aren't refrigerated when I purchase them.  I figure the Chinese have survived for thousands of years and we will too!