OK, here goes! I don't have a good memory, so it took me a little while to get to this spot! We will see if I can do the blog. Somehow doing the blog looked so easy when Steve showed me how!
I have just sent out a long e-mail, so I don't have much more news, but I thought you might be interested in the grocery shopping here.
There are several big grocery stores in Yeovil, one of them owned by Walmart. You would think that would make it almost like home, but it is just not the same! For one thing, there is no Mrs. Baird's Bread! And there is no diet-type wheat bread----you know the 35 calorie type! (In fact, people here don't seem to be worried too much about calories or carbs----and I haven't seen any really obese people. ) The bread is very heavy and dense. We have found hot sauce,
Dorritos, tortillas, and chili----but no Rotel----how do you cook without Rotel? Many of the foods are made by familiar companies, but a lot of the packaging looks really different. For instance, there is Quaker oatmeal, but it is in a square box, not a round box. Baking soda is in a round container. Salt is in a tall canister-type container that is about twice as tall and half as big around as our salt containers at home. There are no big packages of frozen food---really not much comes in big packaging. The food is all about twice as expensive as in the US. Yesterday I saw two packages of ground (they call it minced) meat for 4.65 English pounds (money)------that made it about each package about $4.65 in US money (each with a weight of about 1 pound US) Kind of high for ground meat!! There are no labels designating ground round or ground chuck, etc. There is lots of lamb for sale. And there are lots of food items with strange names---I don't know what they are! There are no Oreos, no Vanilla Waffers (how do you make banana pudding??), and no NutterButters, but we are managing to find some other cookies that will do! Also, another biggy, is that there is no Crisco or anything similar---think of all the recipes that will affect! I don't know how to substitute for that in baking-----anybody know?? There is very little of each item on the shelf. The canned vegetables take up very little shelf space, because there is just not much to choose from---maybe one name brand and one store brand----it is the same with every product. I only saw one kind of cake mix, a chocolate cake mix, and one type of frosting ---also chocolate. I am just happy that they know about chocolate!
The best thing about the grocery store, though, is that all the words are English!
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6 comments:
Yea!!! You can do it. Now we will expect something every day!
About the lack of obese people -- It could be that they have to walk for 30 minutes to get to the store and then have to carry what they buy home. I wouldn't buy near as much if I had to carry it home.
Congratulations! I am so excited that my student was actually listening. Now I know what it feels like to see one of my students succeed.
Yay! A blog entry!
As for the grocery store...I understand where you're coming from with lack of selection (our grocery store has 5 aisles), however, we do still have Oreos, Crisco, and ground beef for less than $2/lb!!!
Wow! My mom has a blog site and I don't... Did you take any of your cookbooks with you? It would be a good time to experiment with some unusual recipes. Just finish experimenting before I get there! (You know if someone asks you a question you can reply by posting a comment on your own blog.)
Jan, It's been 6 days since you posted your first blog entry. We are all waiting to hear what is going on there! Are you reading any good books? Taking any walks? Give us some details!
If I was shopping in England I would buy some clotted cream or Devonshire cream for my strawberries and scones. YUM!
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