find of the week

 

This may seem like a very banal thing to get excited about, but my super find of the week was baking powder. I should explain that most baking powder in France comes in little pink paper packets, with maybe a teaspoon or two in each one. When one does as much baking as I do, these little packets become tiresome, so in the past I have resorted to bringing baking powder with me in my suitcase when I travel from Canada to France. Indeed, I have also filled my suitcase with other hard-to-find items, including brown sugar, rooibos tea, maple syrup, vitamins, peanut butter and pumpkin puree! This week, when Jean-Marc and I went to the city on Thursday (it was Ascension, so we both weren't working), we went to an "asian" supermarket. I put asian in quotes because this store has products from Africa, India, the Middle East, Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand (and yet it's still called l'épicerie asiatique). I can even get peanut butter there! Anyway, we were looking at the chinese soy sauces and vinegars and there I saw this huge can of baking powder. It makes our large jars from home look tiny! It's a French brand but I have never (ever, ever) seen it for sale in the traditional supermarkets. I guess most French people buy their treats instead of making them and so those little pink packets are sufficient for the occasional baker. This giant can will do me just fine, and I may even have a difficult time getting through it all before its best before date of 2012!