kronenborg

i moved from the south-east of england to new jersey a little over 2 years ago now, and me and my family are absolutely loving it out here. of course, there are certain things about the UK we miss, but on the whole, our quality of life is sooo much better here.

to some extent, we try to avoid socalising with ex-pat groups here, as (in our experience) they often seem to focus on bitching and whining about america and americans, which we are not interested in doing, as we already feel somewhat defensive of our american friends, who are the vast majority of our social circle.

so, in short, we feel very well integrated here. however, there a few things i classify as "guilty pleasures" from home which i just cant help indulging in, even if they mean paying a premium, or going out of my way to obtain...these are (in no particular order):

- ribena, twiglets and bisto gravy (from a local gary's wine store)
- heinz baked beans (from king's)
- irish bacon and irish sausages (from amazon.com, although we occasionally get the bangers from Wholefoods)
- BBC America, and BBC News (via Verizon Fios)
- BBC Radio 1 and BBC World Service (via sirius satellite radio in the car)
- most British TV (downloaded via thebox.bz, then wirelessly streamed to any TV in the house)

i think thats about it...although im considering upgrading my satellite radio service to be able to receive it in the house too (my wife is feeling hard done by since i got it in the car!) and possibly getting one of those Kindle thingys and getting a UK newspaper subscription delivered to it automatically daily, so i can read my preferred newspaper.

so those are mine, but what are your guilty british pleasures, and where do you get them from?

Macca67

Razzle and Reader's Wife's Special editions and I'm saying nothing about where I get them from.

Rete

May I suggest you look about the area for an Irish neighborhood. I live in the middle of one here in lower Westchester, New York and I can get all of the items you listed at the grocer around the corner from the apartment. And yes, that includes the bacon which can be purchased from the Irish butcher next to the grocer's. I can even get crisps in all assorted flavors, double decker candy bars, cadbury chocolate with the UK label on the back, jaffa cakes, hobnobs, etc.

If you venture into NYC you can find all of that there as well.

I'm pleased that you are enjoying my country and have found it a nice place to live and raise your family.

kronenborg

actually, a good butcher has been incredibly hard to find round here...and im still looking! i've been into NYC many times, and paid a couple of visits to Myers of Keswick, but they dont appear to do freshly sliced back bacon anymore (which i did get from there once in my first few months here), but now sell the frozen stuff which i can more easily get delivered from amazon anyway.

id love to find a convenient local butcher selling high quality meats cut to preference...for example, pork joint for roasting with crackling. oh god, how i miss that!

Jerseygirl

Gary's...Kings....you must live in my area.

Someone once told me about a Polish butcher who sold pork and uncooked ham...I'll try and find out what area it was in...they lived in Chester so it can't be too far away from there.

Rete mentioned Irish communities...you probably know Morristown has a large Irish community but I don't know of any butchers around there.

robin1234

My only contribution would be, rather than the satellite radio, why not just use the BBC iPlayer in your house. That way you can listen to Radio 3, Radio 4, whatever.. even the BBC regional stations etc. We have a wireless speaker system hooked up from the computer, so can listen to the Radio in the kitchen and utility room etc. Me, I listen to the Today programme in the morning and the PM Programme in the evening... that way I get my daily dose of BBC bìtching and moaning and really rude interviews...

Rete

Actually I got a nice one two weeks ago from Stop and Shop. Believe it was the Shank and I roasted it with garlic and herbs. My kids and husband love the crackling. I can live without it myself.

kronenborg

good idea, but for 2 points; i) i like to be able to switch on a radio, and not mess around with laptops etc (this applies even moreso to my wife who would probably be the main user), and ii) i like to be able to listen to today's radio programming at the time of day in the US that it was originally broadcast in the UK e.g morning shows in the morning (which is one of the reasons i like sirius as this happens automatically without any extra clicks, downloading or fancy technical stuff)

Zonie

You can do all of the above without paying a subscription to sirius with an internet radio. It's as easy as pressing a button on the radio to turn it on, in whichever room you decide to put it.

Here is a list of my guilty pleasures from Blighty that I can't do without.

1.
2.
3.

The end.

nettlebed

Y'know, I could go for a good ham shank right now...

kronenborg

true, but to be fair, internet radio is pretty shocking quality sound. i dont mind paying a premium to have better quality, and at the appropriate time.

Zonie

Mine has a line out on the back that enables me to plug into the entertainment system surround sound when it's in that room. Otherwise the sound is pretty good. Depends on which one you buy I suppose.

robin1234

I certainly agree with your first point. Our computer is years old, I think we inherited it from our daughter when she graduated to a laptop, and it takes for ever to boot up in the morning. Certainly it would be much easier to just switch on a radio. But, I appreciate the ability to listen to any program that has been broadcast over the preceding seven days, at any time of day...

fsm

My monitor nearly wore coffee when I read that, thanks for a laugh.

fsm

Guilty pleasures

Cadburys Chocolate
Cadburys Caramel
Minstrels
Smoky Bacon Crisps
Back Bacon
Black Pudding
Bisto

Now have a region free DVD and a pile of region 2 dvd's to watch