What to take? What do you miss most?

God...I love Grade A Amber Maple!  It's so thick and nice and oh so good lightly warmed on waffles!

We do a lot of crepes instead of pancakes too.. with nice homemade jams or nutella...rolled up gosh...  I agree with Balmerhon on the pancake mix...making your own is so much nicer and easy peasy even for non cooks.

I have to admit to now having a stockpile of pumpkin and corn syrup so you all know where the pumpkin pie and pecan pie will be this year!  Also Hersey's cinnamon chips and Tollhouse butterscotch and of course chocolate!

I also got some Franks Red Hot and Tabasco -Chipotle flavored..... Nilla wafers for banana pudding. Some nopales and Old Bay.  I am set... anything else and I will just have to pay extra for it.

oooh...i forgot about pancake mix!

Dear Heavens!  You have to get an American factory to produce this for you, and fly it across the Atlantic?  Isn't this 'convenience' gone stark, staring bonkers?

The ratios for a batter are so simple: a whole, to a half, to a quarter; i.e., a whole egg (not a difficult measure), to half a pint of milk (even an American half pint will do here), to a quarter pound of plain flour, i.e, 4 oz.

This mix does the batter for (1) trad Brit fish and chips: (2) pancakes: (3) Yorkshire puddings

I despair of my American cousins sometimes - they have been so totally enraptured by the siren-sound of the corporate marketing men. Woe, oh woe.

How I despair!

A simple question.

Does 'convenience' actually mean 'lazy'?

And here is a recipe for Make-your-own-Bisquick, if you prefer:

8 cups flour
1-1/4 cup pwdered milk (non-fat if you can find it)
1/4 cup baking powder
1 Tbsp. salt
2 cups solid vegetable shortening


In a large bowl, combine flour, milk, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in shortening until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal and the shortening is evenly distributed. Store in tightly closed covered container in a dark, cool place. Use in place of 'Bisquick' in any recipe.

Source: Mastercook

Hey Aimiloo...

You can get Rowntree's sugar free jello (er, jelly) here...it's just like sugar-free jello and you can get lemon, orange, strawberry, blackcurrant, and lemon-lime.

 

The ratios for a batter are so simple: a whole, to a half, to a quarter; i.e., a whole egg (not a difficult measure), to half a pint of milk (even an American half pint will do here), to a quarter pound of plain flour, i.e, 4 oz.

I'm afraid you're thinking of British pancakes, Howard.  American pancakes are a slightly different ballgame.  A few more ingredients and it's usually the taste or the texture that people buy the mix for.  I make mine from scratch, but if I could get my hands on the mix that my Mom uses, I probably would.  Nothing wrong with convenience, either.   

Funny thing is, I used to make my pancakes from scratch in the US, but now I either use Bisquick or buy the Scotch pancakes from Sainsbury's.  Quite frankly, on a plate loaded with eggs, corned beef hash & potatoes, and smothered with the Lyles Maple-Flavoured Syrup (yeah, Broxi!!) - they're just fine by me and "the boys"!

There's a good cookbook called 'Breakfast' by Brian Wilton that has several pancake recipes in it (including Uk and US versions). Lots of other goodies in it, too. I got it here in the Uk.

I'm afraid you're thinking of British pancakes, Howard.  American pancakes are a slightly different ballgame.  A few more ingredients and it's usually the taste or the texture that people buy the mix for.  I make mine from scratch, but if I could get my hands on the mix that my Mom uses, I probably would.  Nothing wrong with convenience, either.   

She's right Howard. American pancakes are thick and fluffy - more cake like - so you need a raising agent. The trick is to get them light....otherwise they are like lead in your belly. Hence the popularity of store-bought mixes. Like the British Yorshire pudding, some folks just can't get the hang of them. Here you can get (horror of horrors!) frozen Yorkies, in the US, boxes of pancake mix!

Funny thing is, I used to make my pancakes from scratch in the US, but now I either use Bisquick or buy the Scotch pancakes from Sainsbury's.  Quite frankly, on a plate loaded with eggs, corned beef hash & potatoes, and smothered with the Lyles Maple-Flavoured Syrup (yeah, Broxi!!) - they're just fine by me and "the boys"!

Now this brings up another good point: corned beef. I've had corned beef hash at a great tea shop here in Devon that was very similar to the US version (so I'd love a recipe Peedal!). However, am I not right in believing that there's a major difference b/w US and UK corned beef? I mean, you can't get a true corned beef on rye easily here, can you?

I just want some good old Peter Pan smooth peanut butter...

hey peeps...see you have old bay on your list there...  fancy that...  did not think they sold old bay that far south...  I have tons of it here... can not live without old bay... and everyone that tries it loves it...use to have to ship it out to friends in BC canada that tried it when I was visiting...  great stuff.

I started to make homemade pancakes here....and it is very simple and much better tasting...  also found a syrup that I can enjoy...believe it was mentioned above... lyle's Golden Syrup...nice and thick and good

hey peeps...see you have old bay on your list there...  fancy that...  did not think they sold old bay that far south...  I have tons of it here... can not live without old bay... and everyone that tries it loves it...use to have to ship it out to friends in BC canada that tried it when I was visiting...  great stuff.

I want blue crabs! I'd love a crab feast, but I'd settle for a really good crab dip with lot of Old Bay!

shhhh, please do not remind me that I am missing crab season back home  :\\\'(  there isn't a crab alive or dead...lol, that has the flavor that blue crabs have...  mmmmmmmmmm

Mmmm - Old Bay.  Brought some back with me in February and had forgotten how good it really was.  Now I guess that goes in my next "request" from Mom...

As for corned beef - no it is NOT the same!  You can find it sliced for sandwiches but it's more like a "loaf" rather than actual corned beef like you're used to.  I can't stand it - but my 16-year-old has seriously taken a liking to it on sandwiches with tomato and onion, just like Phil.

I simply buy the tinned corned beef (same place in the grocery store as Spam) and mash it up, add some new potatoes to it and some onions and green & red peppers and fry it all up on the stove-top.  The 16-year-old loves corned beef hash so much I had to find an acceptable substitute to what he was used to - and he loves this.

hey peeps...see you have old bay on your list there...  fancy that...  did not think they sold old bay that far south...  I have tons of it here... can not live without old bay... and everyone that tries it loves it...use to have to ship it out to friends in BC canada that tried it when I was visiting...  great stuff.

Old Bay! Can you spot the Maryland girls?  I have two huge tins of it in my cupboard!  What's fried chicken and potato salad without Old Bay?  Yum!

I want blue crabs! I'd love a crab feast, but I'd settle for a really good crab dip with lot of Old Bay!

Oooo ... crab dip in one of those lovely big bread bowls.  Stop!  You're making me hungry and homesick.   

ANother thing for your list might be some shake and bake nothing like the good stuff from the states ......I made Glenn bring me some back.