Taste of Home

I have come to realize that there are certain foods that are 'comfort foods' to you. Though that probably isn't the most healthy way of looking at food, it is true. Spaghetti, mac -n- cheese, baked potato soup, pancakes, sweet tea, chocolate chip cookies; these are some foods that make us relax a bit because they are familiar.

Each week I head to the grocery armed with my list for my chosen recipes. I have scoured the stores looking for American products or equivalent ones. After browsing all the aisles at least once, I break down and ask, "do you have...?" They usually stare at their colleague, then at me and tell me they've never heard of it, to which I reply a courteous, 'thank you'. At this point, I either scrap the recipe or try to improvise. I substituted polenta for cornmeal, Thai green chilies for Mexican ones -whoah, Thai chilies are MUCH hotter which we didn't find out til we bit into our enchiladas. When we first moved here it took a full 90 minutes to do a grocery run trying to find things. They categorize differently like I finally found poppy seeds in the nut section at a store about 30 minutes from here. They also had Oreos and plain M&Ms. Often the kids would get in the car after school and ask how my day was. I'd say, "Great, I found....pumpkin or whatever food treasure I had discovered." They weren't as excited as I was over my finds but I had to drive 45 minutes to get the pumpkin. Bonus on that trip - I found Pillsbury crescent rolls. I've since found out that was a seasonal item. Space is a limited commodity so they choose carefully what products they carry. Sometimes it's just a matter of calling it something different like tomato sauce is tomato passata, squash is fruit juice.

We've made do with what they have in the stores and learned to enjoy some of their dishes too. I have to say we do miss our grits and we'd really like some banana pudding. I found this place outside of London that sells American food but not for the American price. (Remember, for every British pound it's $2 so we pay double for everything.) They do ship for free so that was nice. I was excited to buy cornsyrup for some pecan pie, Nilla Wafers to make banana pudding for AC's upcoming birthday, Graham crackers, Ranch salad dressing, Old Bay Seasoning for Gumbo and cornmeal for some Mexican dishes. (They don't do Mexican up here except what they call 'fagitas' and 'qua-za-dillas' - that would be fajitas and quesadillas.)

So, we're doing just fine - no one has lost weight over new foods. Since they consider french fries, jacket potatoes (baked potatoes) and mash (mashed potatoes) their staple - one of them is served with most everything even if you are already having pasta or rice. You get fries too. Kids like that.

Though I won't be shopping at the American food store often, it is a treat to have a few unavailable items that are a 'taste of home'.