Things I haven't been able to find (and really miss)... or 'A grocery list for visitors.'

In no particular order...

Canned Pumpkin
We are in the middle of NOVEMBER, people, and that means that I need pumpkin pie. And pumpkin soup and pumpkin bread and roasted pumpkin seeds, and maybe even pumpkin cheesecake because I saw this great recipe on cooking light but it also called for Nilla Wafers, which we'll get to in a second. Good thing my dear friend Heather is shipping me a can of pumpkin so that I don't have to do without for the big introduce-new-friends-to-a-bit-of-American-gluttony-aka-culture shindig I'm having on Thanksgiving. Whew! Close one.

Nestle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
How in tarnations am I supposed to make chocolate chip cookies?
All I've found so far are these tiny little expensive packets of chocolate chips that come about ten to a bag. I'd need an entire trolley full! This is a problem, as one of my favorite procrastination techniques involves making giant vats of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough, eating half of it, then baking the other half and using said produced cookies to bribe my way into the hearts (and stomachs) of new friends.

Kraft 2% Milk American Singles
Grilled cheese sandwiches just the way mom refused to make when we were little because she believed in real cheese, not fake processed cheese-food product. Le sigh. So of course they became a staple as soon as I ran off to college for the first time. The perfect late night grilled cheese is no longer mine to be had, and so I've settled for Monterey jack and Worcestershire sauce in toastie form. Not bad, actually, but just not the same (and although my new "toastie maker" is quite nice for making these late night snackette-sandwiches, it still doesn't hold a candle to my George Foreman back home).

Nilla Wafers
Two words: banana pudding. Why do I always crave the things I can't have? And I haven't even looked to see if I can find Jello vanilla pudding mix...

Claussen Dill Pickles
What I wouldn't give for a jar or 40 of these right about now. I am a pickle fiend (pickled cucumbers, pickled okra, pickled cabbage - of both the sauerkraut and kimchi varieties - pickled peppers... you get the idea), and in England, they are not so big on the pickled cucumber. They have a lot of "pickle," which is a strange, dark colored spread that wikipedia describes as: "sweet and spicy with a chutney-like consistency, containing small chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce." While fine on some sandwiches, this is not the form of pickle I desire. I've tried two kinds of pickled cucumber here, and both have been much too sweet and also severely lacking in the vinegar/salt/garlic/dill departments. But the search continues, for something similar to this, my most beloved of snack (I did, however, find kimchi at the local Asian market, and for that I am eternally grateful).

Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix
If you've never had brownies made from this mix, run out to the store right this second and buy yourself several boxes. You have already wasted precious time and precious dessert calories on sub-par brownies. You will never go back. I will be returning to the UK with about eight boxes of this powdered chocolate magic after Christmas, because, sadly, the brownie mix here looks so unpromising in comparison that I haven't even been able to bring myself to buy it. I will, because one must be open-minded. But seriously, this is heaven in ooey gooey fudgy chunky chocolately form. Make some pronto and eat an extra one for me, or better yet, ship me a few.

Now, that being said, I have found things over here we don't get in the states that I'm going to miss. In general, the bread (crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, and completely lacking sugar!), cheese (lots more variety and many more "mature" incarnations, especially in the cheddar family), and bacon (more meat, less fat - and lovely in a bacon sandwich) are fabulous. Also, I have realized that I have a thing for "cheese and onion sandwich filler," which is an odd mix of mayonnaise, shredded cheese, green onions, vinegar and spices that you spread on sandwiches - maybe alongside some cucumbers or ham or both. Very tasty. Also, as I've mentioned before, you can't beat a traditional English Breakfast. Yum. Plus they have some yummy vending machine goodies, like the Cadburys 'fruit and nut' chocolate bar and 'Snack' bar, and the Nestle KitKat CHUNKY bar, which is like a kitkat on steroids. And perhaps most exciting, all of their Coca-cola is made with sugar. Actual sugar - as in not high fructose corn syrup - and boy does it taste better for it. Yum. Looking forward to teaching my Dutch flatmate about the divinity that is the Coke Float.

Speaking of my lovely Dutch flatmate, she was kind enough to accompany me to the Leicester International Fair a few weeks back and introduce me to Pofferjies, which are little fluffy Dutch-style pancakes (notice the cute Dutch flag stuck into them) covered in powdered sugar and butter that you eat with a weird little forked wooden stick. Those were pretty spectacular. We took pictures to document the momentous-ness of the occasion....And now I'm hungry. Again. And I have no pickles. Life can be so cruel.

My cup runneth over.

On the night of the most incredibly exciting and historic election of my lifetime, I ended up sequestered away in my dorm room listening to BBC 5 Radio and switching compulsively between coverage on nytimes, washingtonpost, cnn, msnbc, bbc, and indecision2008, searching for updates and crossing all my fingers and toes for a victory that I knew wouldn't be certain until well into the next day. But by 2:40 in the morning - much earlier than I had expected and much to my glee - several networks had called both Pennsylvania and Ohio for Obama. Even my home state of North Carolina looked like it was going to swing blue for the first time in decades. It seemed safe to go to sleep, and indeed it was (if this pilfered photo doesn't say it all, I don't know what does).


Today I woke up to something that felt a lot like Christmas. I brushed my teeth while listening to Obama's acceptance speech, during which I cried just a little bit into my toothpaste. I put on my wellies and long underwear (it was a very cold and rainy morning, and we were headed to Beacon Farm - an idyllic place just outside of Leicester that is run on 100% renewable energy and is trailblazing technological developments in fuel cells, hydrogen power, energy storage, and alternative fuel generation; where cows push a simple pump with their noses when they are thirsty in order to pull water from a local stream - saving electricity and protecting the native trout and crayfish populations from trampling), and embraced a day of obvious American-identifiable-ness by wearing my Obama t-shirt over the whole ordeal. When I hopped on the rented minibus that would take us on our lovely field trip, I was met with an enthusiatic cheer from my classmates at the sight of my Obama shirt, the victory it implied, and my obvious euphoria. We all went out after class and had a few pints of Guinness to celebrate, what feels like to me, A Brand New Day, and a brand new America. Today was a good day.

And even though I was a bit upset that I couldn't celebrate with everyone back at home, or stay up all night watching the results roll in, or take part in all of the amazing door-knocking and phonebanking and voter registering and GOTVing that made this incredible thing happen, what I found myself wishing for most was that my mom had gotten to see it all. She would have simply LOVED it, and she would have made an adorable Obama Mama. But it was still a very, very good day.

So thank you - to all of the people who made this happen. Friends and family and colleagues back home who voted, and asked their friends and neighbors to vote, and worked tirelessly for months and never let up until the last vote was in, and made this all possible. We are all in your debt. And yes we did.