I heart Costco

It might seem bizarre, but were it not for Costco, I might not have made the move to Taipei. There is something about wandering through a gigantic warehouse stacked with crates of random stuff that fills me with warm fuzzies and puts a smile on my face. Part of it is that it feels good to have something familiar in a place where nearly everything isn't. But mainly it's that I can get my baby wipes here. Baby wipes are very important to me.

I used to think Singapore was the only place in Asia I could handle for a longer term. But Singapore doesn't even have a Costco! And actually I'm shocked there is a market for Costco here given the size of apartments. (Honestly, when your tub of mayo is bigger than your fridge, what do you do?). I'm not even touching on the fact that the majority of people go to Costco on a scooter!

In any event, today was my first official Costco shopping trip (since we had to bail due to insane crowding over the weekend) and I couldn't wait to see what else I could get besides wipes!

Barely begun, and Devin is immediately drawn to the most ridiculously massive packet of cookies I have ever seen. Again, I should have put scale in the pic, but you know those 10-pound bags of chocolate chips you can get at Costco? These are much bigger!

"And they're on sale!"

No. I refuse to buy packaged dessert products in the land of bakery heaven. No way. I even walked past my panettone...

It was interesting to see some of the local-inspired things you won't find in your neighborhood north-American Costco.
I never realized Kirkland had signature sea cucumber and cuttlefish (indeed, the squid selection was mind-blowing)

Although interesting as it was, didn't make it any less stinky. Thank goodness I'm not pregnant. I'm not great with smells on a good day!

There were some surprise items that look familiar at first glance..

and then you realize your oatmeal is red bean flavored!


Other stuff was just completely strange. I would never have thought chickens have race...?

We opted for a rotisserie chicken for dinner (the flavor is actually quite different and a bit sweet here).
I am very much a carnivore who pretends meat grows on trees, so I wasn't particularly thrilled to find our chicken staring at me when Dev went to carve it. Yikes!

The one downside of Costco is that you can never walk out of there for less than $100. That phenomenon seems to be even worse at this particular branch. I almost had a fit when I asked how much Dev spent there last week. When he told me, I assumed he meant NTD and was impressed. Wow, how great!!!

"No, US$." (nearly 30 times more).

Oh. Ouch.

It's okay, Costco, I still love you.