another bloody yank

I bet it lasts a while! They have to gnaw through it, must have teeth like a squirrell!

All "regular" bread is good for is toast and holding a sandwich together. When I was a kid every Sunday after church we'd stop at Marconi's bakery and get two loaves of wonderful Italian bread with a crust so hard you could knock someone out with it. We'd eat it as kind of a light lunch with salami or dipped in olive oil or a mixture of vinegar and oil or just with butter.

Now that we out in the country, there is no good bread anywhere.

JULIEROSE

I need to do that get a bread machine. I always buy the fresh french or Italian bread here in Safeway. And the fruit and veg notice how quick that goes off! Thank goodness we have a farmers market opening again soon for Spring in our town so I can get some decent fresh veggies and fruit. Don't get me going on the chocolate, lucky I found a British place here that sells the British stuff and I took my children to get British Easter Eggs. I bought ten topics and ended up with one, as my husband and son found the stash and ate them for me grrrrrrrr.

TouristTrap

I find a lot of Indian grocers carry Brit products at a better price than you can find elsewhere

Ray

And usually the best buy date is only a few months gone by ...

JohnStang

i enjoyed carrabbas, macaroni grill, olive garden, panera bread, bob evans breakfasts, chipotles, sbarro pizzas at the mall, steak escape, and so much more.

Circus-of-Power

Used to get homesick, had one really bad bout too....just sat there at the end of the bed staring out of the window for a few days .... Then I flew back to the UK to sort out some financial things and wrap up loose ends and I couldn't get back to the USA fast enough.

I had a good standard of living in the UK and it was hard to leave behind some of things I had worked for years to achieve....starting all over again at the ripe age of 37 was never going to be easy...but its the best kick in the pants that I've ever had .... The quality of life here in hickville is superb and the opportunities endless.

Add to that the lack of chav's and streets strewn with litter and dogshit ....There are always things I will miss but as the months roll by there is less and less to miss.

TouristTrap

Depends where you shop innit?

Partystar

Hahaha, that's how it is at our local Indian grocers. The final straw was when I bought a bottle of Vimto cordial, I tried to check the best before date, but couldn't find it & figured that they put the price tag over it, but thought, nahhh they wouldn't do that...well it turns out they would & they did. I don't go there anymore. Costplus/World Market is actually cheaper too!

bugman

its weird, we lived in NZ for almost 3 years and i really missed the UK, moved back to the UK and i felt like id made a blunder, until id taken a trip to devon and explored the Hills of lancashire over the summer, then i was all happy again. THings took us to near chicago (18 months ago) where I very rarely get very homesick, i like the seasonality here which you didnt get in Auckland. Also just one flight to MCR is easy. the thing i miss the most aside from family is the fact you can hit the countryside and hike UP hill and DOWN, and get pleasure from exercise, here its flat and it can be frustrating to not have that opportunity to go up and feel cold wind, in fact it can be very frustrating and i feel myself getting unfit, somebody suggested a treadmill, i just laughed out loud and told them that wasnt really going to make me feel beter!!

Mum emailed me some photos/movies of her last weekends trip to he lake district, jees, its a picture compared to here for sure, almost as nice as the south island of new zealand!

when i feel UK sick i watch Rick steins food heroes, with its combined scenery, food, beer and accents its a great tonic.

oN the subject of food (a common topic) ive found some better brands of foods that as you know in the USA can be bloody awful!!

Yoghurt: the best ive found is Meijers own brand, its live and tangy with none of that gluey gloopy rubbish added, also some of the more cosmopolitan food stores will carry east european style yogs like omur?? which again is excellent. Also the imported greek fage 'total' brand is excellent but pricey. meijers is also the cheapest ive found under $2.00 for those big tubs.

Bread (LOL) the one i buy regularly now is Jewel oscos store baked 'hearty wheat bread' its about $3.30 a loaf but very dense and moist, YES, i said MOIST, I almost had a heart attack when i found i could swallow it without dipping in soup first! It also lasts a few days unlike many 'artisan breads which can go stale fast. oh and that one is sliced. some of meijers artisan baguettes are also OK.

Cottage cheese, 'Michigan brand' small curd has just a few ingredients and has a nice fresh tangy taste, its by far the best ive tried here, not as good as longley farm cottage cheese from yorkshire but i can live with it.

Tbags, i tred tetley british blend, forget it, bloody awful, im not sure if thats the same as in the UK but ive jaut made sure i brought a good supply of T&H yorkshire tea!!

cream, the only FRESH cream ive found so far is deans brand, its still just the whipping so quite light. i brought back some Roddas cornish clotted cream after xmas and the neighbours were entranced by that yellow mana, and they also liked the lancs cheese i brought in.

cheese: I just get whatevers on trader joes counter, i find the US sharp cheddar Ok in most instances, the mature UK ones often imported are way to strong for general eating, great for cheese on toast/welsh rarebit though!! i also wish all the UK cheese would be left alone instead of selling cheese with mango, onions, chives, all manner of stuff added.

cereal, well aside from porridge i have found trader joes 'Os' to be only slightly sweet, most american cereals are diabetic nightmares, they are under $2 a box too. Aso Target farmers pantry Os are low sugar.

Tracym

I was just told there was a British food store in Long Grove - don't know if you're anywhere near it. And Josephs in Crystal Lake has clotted cream.

bugman

thanks for that, im about 25 miles away from either of those places, but if im in the area......

so that clotted cream is made here or imported??

thanks.

bugman.

Tracym

Oh dear, I'm don't remember for sure about the clotted cream - but they had two brands and it was expensive, my recollection was that it was imported. I'll check next time I'm back there.

I haven't been to the store in Long Grove, but I was told they have nice sausages.

So take a trip out into the country (after rain and must season stops)

JULIEROSE

I manage to get clotted cream at Safeyway and some of the other food stores in the town here. It's about $7. Target are stocking British bread here and they have put in Boots products under the British section.

Jerseygirl

Noticed Boots cosmetics at the weekend...quite an extensive line of Rimmel too. Go Target. Thank you Lionheart for bringing it to my attention.

Tracym

I did look into a recipe for making it homemade once. It think it went something like...

Put cream on the counter ...
Leave it for days...
Give everyone botulism...

Storebought for me on that one.