I will miss:
Bread. I think this is the number one food item I will miss. Last time we were in the States -- I am going to sound like a real snob but it's true -- the bagged, grocery store bread, even the nicer brands that I used to prefer, had a really off taste to me (preservatives, I guess) to the point that I would rather just eat meat and cheese plain than in a sandwich.
I will miss the bread, even though three years and eight months into our stay here, I still struggle to purchase the proper quantity; today I have three half-eaten loaves in our cupboard, at varying degrees of staleness. I will miss it even though I need to buy it every other day, really.
I will miss it because it is delicious, it is inexpensive -- this grade (too strong a term for bread? is bread graded, like dairy and meat? There's no USBA?) of bread costs twice as much in the U.S. as it does here, and I think you have to go to a bakery for it. Here we get probably half our bread from a bakery and half from the grocery store, which is probably my favorite, as they have sourdough, wheat sourdough, and what we call bagel bread, because it sort of smells like bagels and has seeds on top.
But maybe when we're back home I'll start making bread again. I did this some back in Minnesota, but it seemed sort of silly here given the easy, inexpensive access to good bread.
I don't miss:
Skim milk. What? This was one of the first things I mourned -- in my first blog post, even! I think the first visit back to the U.S. I was excited to drink skim milk, but after a year or so here, our tasty 1.5% milk became the norm.
But,
I will miss:
Yogurt, I guess, because people who have gone back, and Matthew when he's visited recently, have said the yogurt isn't nearly as good. We do have a yogurt maker -- maybe I'll have to start doing that again, too.
Looks like life is going to be full of kitchen time for me to attempt to replicate some of our faves from BE. I'm OK with that. But I have no intention of trying to make speculoos ice cream. I'll just let the deliciousness fade in my memory.
6 comments:
I still miss the bread and the yogurt. I love skim milk here--never liked the milk in BE, but I hardly drink milk at all anymore. I guess I just got out of the habit.
I miss cheap, good wine and all of the fancy olives. The olive bar I found here was such a disappointment.
I find it interesting that my kids dislike baby carrots after not having them in BE. They requested the "square ones" when I tried to buy baby carrots after we got back.
I also miss the availability of gouda--I think those were the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever. :)
The Tse kids have good taste buds. Baby carrots are inferior!
You are right; we do take the inexpensive, good wine for granted at this point.
And the butter? what about the butter? or will that have a blog entry all to itself?
you're going to like Rustica and Patisserie 46. they are something to look forward to and in their own ways they are the next best thing to being in europe. grocery store bread still stinks, but Mpls. has made serious inroads in bakery since you left.
Ooohh, yes, Patisserie 46 is AMAZING. But not cheap.
Also, try "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day." My favorites are the peasant bread, olive oil dough (great for pizza), and the brioche (simply decadent!). My kitchen is open anytime you want to come over and pretend to be bakers with me!
Just to clarify, this is Jessica, not Tim. But Tim might also like to play bakery sometime with us.
Mmm sounds fun Jess!
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