Back Home except not home anymore.

02Apr08

Like many ex-pats I am excited for my next return to my home country. Whilst I love living in Los Angeles there are somethings that just can not be matched. I can’t wait to get back to Britain and have some:

Ribena - you pour some of this delicious blackcurrant liquid into a glass, mix with water and you have a fruity drink. For some reason in the USA they only have powdered versions of this and they are gross.

Walker’s Crisps - oh for crisps in a multitude of flavours! Roast Chicken, Smoky Bacon and Cheese & Onion are my favourites.

Decent Chinese food. Los Angeles has a distinct lack of decent Chinese food - well the crappy take-away kind - and *the horror* no prawn crackers!?!

Club biscuits. Chocolate with orange. Yum. Actually, I miss British biscuits and a nice biscuit tin to keep them in.

Fish and Chips. Whilst I have had some decent fish and chip suppers here it’s never quite the same.

Baked beans on toast - was there every such a fiber rich and simple to make dinner? It will nice to be able to buy a tin for 20pence instead of $2

We have plenty of Starbucks here and even the delighful Coffee Bean and Tea leaf, but for some reason I only like the lattes as made by Costa Coffee.

They have Pret-a-Manger’s in NYC and despite the begging letters I have sent to them, they will not come to Los Angeles. It’s a shame because there is no where here you can run into a grab a decent pre-made, package sandwich, drink, bag of crisps and go. Don’t give me that Subway bullshit - it takes them forever to make a sandwich and the bread is flimsy and crappy.

Oh and I guess it will be good to see my family too.

Filed under: Nostalgic |
Tags: british food, going back, visit

10 Responses to “Back Home except not home anymore.”

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1 wineymomma on April 3, 2008 said:

Wow…we talk different…we eat different but I can sure appreciate your tastes!!!

Enjoy your trip and say Hi to the parents!!!
2 hjordys on April 3, 2008 said:

oh my god, beans on toast was my afer school routine, people here don’t get beans on toast. or marmite. im sorry but peanut butter and JAM is a disgusting combination, so don’t criticize marmite. ooh, proper indian….M&S food…..mmmmm. and i bet when you catch an episode of eastenders it wont take too long to figure out whats happened since you last saw it!
3 wineymomma on April 3, 2008 said:

okay…what’s marmite? I hope it’s not like vegemite (yaaaeeerrrrrggghhhh), which I have tasted by the way…
4 notgoth on April 3, 2008 said:

I am a fan of (crunchy) peanut butter and honey that an American friend of my parents introduced me to when I was a kid.

Luckily Trader Joe’s makes pretty decent jars of curry - you just add chicken etc to.

When we were last back in the UK - I took boyf to Marks and Spencers food hall. I think he died and went to heaven - he wanted to move in. I made him eat a mini pork pie and a scotch egg! haha

I am afraid marmite is very similar to vegemite. The key to marmite is to spread it thinly (very) on hot buttery toast. Boyf won’t sleep in the same bed as me if I have eaten some.
5 notgoth on April 3, 2008 said:

PS: did you put shredded cheese on your baked beans?!
6 Amanda on April 8, 2008 said:

Aiyahhhh….!
I feel like I just suffered through a list of Stuart’s Favorite Things!!!
I thought there was no way he could actually be representative of British tastes but there you have it, another thing I was wrong about today. He loves every single thing you have listed here….

He puts shredded cheese with the beans on toast (I think) and also does this cheesey toast thing with toe-mah-toes and mustard.

And the marmite? Not if you wanna get with me, I am so with the boyf on this one!

My office is right upstairs from Pret…
7 not Goth on April 8, 2008 said:

damn you for having a Pret so near. They built that one instead of the one in LA
8 mark in texas on April 11, 2008 said:

haha, peanut butter and jam is sick! ive been in Texas for 10 months, and miss the english food. people say it’s bland etc, but the quality is so much better than american food. what about the damn bacon!! here it’s rashers of fat, no meat.. etc etc

i can’t wait to get back to the UK for a bit!
9 not Goth on April 11, 2008 said:

hi mark - thanks for reading / leaving a comment. I think the longer you stay the longer your taste buds get used to American food Maybe not the chocolate and crisps.