Grocery shopping for recipes you don't usually try; like from other cultures can be pretty fun. It's like a treasure hunt looking for weird creatures in the jungles of various markets. I like trying new things, so it's rewarding to start picking off unknown things from shelves and trying them at home anytime I've gone too long eating "stew-of-whatever-was-stuck-to-the-bottom-of -the-fridge".

I particularly like stalking around the aisles of supermarkets that are a bit more geared towards gourmet/ organic food, because that's where the more exotic items can be found, like grains produced on small scale, or artisan bread and cheese. Even if I don't buy anything, it's fun to read the labels. It's also a little game if you have problems finding items because they are called different things in different parts of the world. My recent ingredient list was taken mostly from BBC Good Food, so there were some UK/US English problems. Here's what I found out:

Rocket: Arugula
Double cream: Not available in US, but similar to heavy (whipping) cream
Single cream:Similar to Half and half in the US (since when did dairy products become so mathematical?)

Pine nut: Pignolias

photos culled from Google