Yesterday in the deluge of ads that fills our mailbox on an almost-daily basis was a little magazine called “Vardag & Fest” that I’ve come to look forward to, despite its having put out only two issues so far. It was in the first issue that I learned that Betty Crocker products are soon to be found on Swedish grocery store shelves (though I’ve yet to see any), and that the sugar company now makes a vegetarian gelatin-sugar-type product (I’ve yet to see that, either, but it could be just because I live up here in the boonies).

Yesterday’s issue brought me the news that another sorely-missed product has made its debut in the Swedish marketplace: Ziploc bags. That’s right, Ziplocs, and the real McCoy, too, not just some cheap knock-off. According to the article, they’ve been available in Sweden since early October, so I’ll have to be sure to look for them next time I’m at the grocery store.

Another newbie in Sweden, according to “Vardag & Fest,” is Quick Rise yeast. I’ve never used it myself, but I know that I’ve heard more than one person bemoan its lack since I moved here. There will doubtless be some happy bakers once that stuff hits the shelves.

I know that everyone who has lived here for a while says the same thing, but it’s amazing how many more products are available at the grocery store in the few short years since I made the move. The first Thanksgiving that I lived here, I couldn’t find sweet potatoes to save my life, and I ended up going to an exotic produce market in Stockholm and paying 200:- (that was about $20 U.S. in those days) for five — yes, five — sweet potatoes. For the past couple of years, though, sweet potatoes have been readily available year-round at most grocery stores, and they’re very reasonably-priced as well.

Also new in the past couple of years are sweetened condensed milk and brown sugar (muscovadoråsocker). In my early days here, I actually had to cook up my own sweetened condensed milk from scratch, if you can believe it. It’s not one of those things that a person needs often, but when you need it, there are just no substitutes, and thank goodness that Swedish grocers have finally figured that out. The brown sugar is nice, too, but I rarely buy it because it’s pretty expensive and the Swedish brun farin, a dry, grainy sugar, works fine as a substitute in most recipes.

On one hand, it’s nice to have these little familiar conveniences available, but I do have to confess that all of the changes make me a little sad, too. I’ve never been one of those immigrants who wants to re-create my old home in Sweden, and I can’t help but feel that all of these changes are taking away a little from Sweden’s particular charms.