Cheese and Chocolate

Everyone has indulgences. Mine? Mine are cheese and chocolate. Okay, so there are a few others, but food-wise, nothing beats thick, ooey-gooey, melted cheese that's been slightly browned from the oven. My mouth is already watering, and I haven't even described the decadent, rich, velvety yumminess that dark chocolate provides. *I'm now drooling!*

Well, in the kingdom of Cambodia, these two food items, common place in any grocery market in the states, are rare and expensive luxuries. I was relieved and surprised to find some pizza chains here. Some make what they think is pizza, and then there are a few that make the real thing. Pizza Company is my favorite. Although the Edwards have decided they do not care for it's Pizza-Hut-like pizza, and Bradley would prefer the fancy gourmet pizza served up by Brooklyn's Bistro, I crave their double cheese pizza with cheese-stuffed crust, along with their endless refill Coke. *sigh* Yeah, I know you healthy nuts are gagging, but you aren't in a land where cheese and pizza are special treats, not something you can pick up for $5 on the way home from work. {There's no need to comment on the fact that healthy nuts would not be picking up pizza on their way home. Just let me have this.} In mine and Marissa's hunt for cheese, we have found a few options that are occasionally doable. The grocery market nearest to us sometimes has mozzarella or "cheddar" cheese. The "" are for the fact that the cheddar suspiciously resembles mozzarella with a little less moisture. I'm able to get the equivalent of roughly 10-12 ounces of cheese for $3.30, which is almost three times what I paid in the states, and with a grocery budget of about 1/3 of what it was in back home, cheese does not appear on our menu too often. Then there's a grocery market in town that has a bag of shredded mozzarella cheese that's 1.5 kg, which is a little over 3 pounds. Unless my memory fails me, a bag that size back home would cost me around $6-12, depending on the brand, store, etc. Well, for this incredibly amazing bag, you have to fork over $39 USD. That's right. That's almost a 1/3 of my monthly grocery expenses. So, yeah, that won't ever be in my shopping cart.

Then there's chocolate. With the French influence here, there are pockets of places with delicious pastries and goodies, but again, we have to yield to the idea of "everything in moderation." This one is as much for my hips and blood sugar level as it is for our finances. My favorite find here is the Double Chocolate Cookie Dough mix. {What is my obsession with double delights?} A precious commodity, we have tried eating it several different ways, but have settled on living dangerously with the raw form. Raw cookie dough out of the fridge. I mean, seriously, are there many things better than that? At the lowest price, these packs sell for nearly $4 at one location, but the Edwards and our family cleaned out our market a while back when they went on sale for $1.10 each! You would've thought that Missy and I had discovered oil, and the guys were as proud and happy as new fathers. Well, we just finished our last pack a few weeks ago. Sad day. However, care package brownie mixes have been filling the chocolate void that was left in our lives. {Thanks mom!} So, even though it means juggling the finances a little here and there, we try to allow ourselves the little, intermittent luxuries of life, and mine are cheese and chocolate.

I'm tired of only hearing myself talk. Please, I want to hear from you. What food indulgences do you think you would miss most if you were living abroad? Or if you have or are living abroad, what common food items do you long to taste?