The cost of everything...

When Tristan and I were dating long distance and discussing the pros and cons of living in our respective countries, his three major gripes about Ireland were simply the cost of everything, the cost of everything and the cost of everything.

Visitors to the country would feel this most especially in restaurants. Eating out is an expensive affair. If you're going to bother, you may as well make it a nice one, because even something shabby is going to set you back quite a bit. (I once ordered some clam chowder and a soft drink and asked for a side of some carrots and potatoes and it set me back nearly 15 euros because the side of veggies was 6.50!)

On an everyday basis, I see it when I do my shopping. I sometimes take a step back and look at myself as I compare costs over stupid, miniscule things. Dishwashing liquid, hand soap and other cleaning products occupy way too many of my thoughts. By far the worst, though, are fruit and vegetables. As I'm typing this, I'm actually fuming at the thought. I have grumbled about the vast price difference to what I'm used to in Indiana for the better part of the past year. But the other day, in the grocery store, I'd seen it all:

Special!!! Watermelons only 10 Euros!!!

These weren't the elephant-sized watermelons we're accustomed to back in the Midwestern states, either. They were tiny. Flashes of the amazing veggie stand that sets up at an intersection just minutes away from my parents' house came to my mind.....ears of corn for nothing more than the leftover change in your wallet...fruit by the pound....tomatoes as big as grapefruit for pennies. And all of the aforementioned produce is top notch. Compare this to the two ears of corn on the cob I was delighted to see in the store this time last year. They were 3 euros for the two!! I took it in stride, though, just delighted to eat some corn on the cob in the summer. I was excited to sit down to my dinner after I prepared the corn that evening, only to discover that this had to have been the worst quality corn grown. It was mealy and mushy, and not because of the preparation. This was the kind of stuff we feed to pigs back home. With that experience under my belt, I scoffed at the watermelons and kept on walking.

Red, green or yellow pepper? 1 euro each. Strawberries? 2 euros for about 10 of them. Tomatoes? Don't even get me started. You're lucky to find any that are actually red, as opposed to pinkish and clear in the middle, let alone that have any kind of flavor at all. And they want you to pay for them!! While people in other parts of the world have big, sweet, juicy, red tomatoes that grow in their back yards like weeds and they have to give them away to avoid their house being completely taken over by tomato plants in the summer!!

Root vegetables are the major exception. As you'd expect, you can get a great variety of potatoes for very little money. Carrots grow at a mutant size, as do turnips (which taste much sweeter and less bitter here than what I was used to), and parsnips.

Now, I've never even pretended to have a green thumb or even feigned an interest in gardening, but if I could somehow have a big box of Indiana soil that would grow the kind of veggies I'm used to in the summer, I have a feeling I would have a new found hobby. And then I'd just laugh at the ludicrous prices of these things instead of tearing up!