It’s funny the things that you discover are missing from your life – little things that you take for granted, that they just don’t have over here. I was prepared for a lack of peanut butter, although they have peanut butter in our local Sainsbury’s – Sunpat. It’s a little different than Jif, but still good peanut butter. What I didn’t realize that they don’t have until this week (after Mich and the kids got here) was pancakes and waffles. They do have “sweet” waffles, which are what they sound like, but they also don’t have pancake syrup. I did find a supply of pancake mix and some Aunt Jemima’s syrup at Selfridge’s, and paid £6.50 for the syrup, and £3.50 for the mix – a whopping $20 for pancake mix and syrup. Real maple syrup is cheaper than Aunt Jemima’s – go figure. Also, apparently, no regular cakes over here. Fruitcake – check, frou-frou cakes with ganache – check, regular cake with icing – nope. Also, no grape jelly! How weird is that? They have damson (plum), blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, apricot, peach, etc., etc., but I cannot find a jar of grape jelly to save my life.
Dalton’s birthday was yesterday, which I neglected to mention. Happy Birthday, D! It was a fairly low key affair – no birthday cake – although Michelle is searching diligently for something today. I did get some Krispy Kreme doughnuts for him, and I also brought home some pizza, so he had some of his favourite things. I think he pretty much played with his Transformers all day. We gave him another one for his collection – I think its name was Wing Sabre. I don’t know if I left the price tag on or not (probably did), but I think that Dalton was impressed that I paid £30 for his present. Just another example of why it’s better not to convert currency.
On another note: Hotel Johnson is about ready to open shop. For those of you who are interested in making reservations, please contact either myself or Michelle...preferably myself until we get our home internet set up.
2 comments:
Just to let you know I'm reading! :-) Now, anyway. Things have been hectic, but now I'm "read up" on your adventures-to-date. And, in response to you missing several things that are common here, such as jelly, pancakes, etc, if you'd like recipes for any of those things, they are all easy to make. And, have you tried Nutella? It's fantastic, made of hazelnuts, and it's a bit sweeter than peanut butter, so you can skip the jelly. And D will not be allergic! :-) So, try it if you see it. I first had it in Germany about a decade ago, and now it's available in the States, so I'm thinking it's gotta be over there too. We love you guys. My little ones miss their cousins terribly. So, as soon as we can save up for 6 airline tickets to the UK, we're there!
Oh, and tell my little neice and nephew that their cousins now have a pet duck. We're soliciting suggestions for names, as he is still nameless. He's a duckling that was abandoned down by the river, and Ben couldn't leave him there, so he brought him home. He's quite happy having children to play with, and loves worms. And, fortunately, I now have something else to clean up after! :-)
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