Say goodbye to your little friends: Things you give up as an Expat (blog)

I don't mind supermarket bagels in the NYC style in the US.  Surprisingly, Panera Bread does some great flavors.  None beat a fresh one, though. 

Yeah, Panera ones are not bad.

I have to say, my British husband had pet gerbils as a kid in the 80's and 90's.

Gerbils are available as pets at the Pets4Home near my house here in Swadlincote.

And the Bagel thing. Do you think it could be the lack of boiling before baking? (It's just an idea, I know it's one of the important steps for bagels)

You can get various kinds of Pepperidge Farm goldfish on amazon uk.  I have been able to get both parmesan and pizza flavours sometimes.
What you can't get anywhere that I can find is Campbell's soup ...

I've seen Cream of Chicken, Cream of Mushroom and several other Campbell's soups at my Sainsbury's. I only ever cook with those two so those are the only ones I remember. I think there were a few others though as well.

They are very dry - I find them too chewy as well. But New York Bakery brand ones sold in the UK do come in a few different flavours now:
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/search/default.aspx?searchBox=new+york+bakery&newSort=true&search=Search

I shall have to search for these after the holidays!  Thanks!

I've seen Cream of Chicken, Cream of Mushroom and several other Campbell's soups at my Sainsbury's. I only ever cook with those two so those are the only ones I remember. I think there were a few others though as well.

If you get shops delivered then you can find a fair few American items on Ocado.  I was able to get Campbells for my green bean casserole at Thanksgiving.

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/search/default.aspx?searchBox=campbells+soup&newSort=true&search=Search

Good read as usual.

I'm not a fan of the movie theater popcorn here either. They have a popcorn machine at our local one but, yeah it's not very fresh tasting. Hubs always gets the sweet popcorn too. Ick. Growing up we would get those big metal tins of three kinds of popcorn. Regular, Cheese and sweet. Guess what never got eaten? So I generally ignore the whole popcorn thing at the theater now. I get the nachos which vary in taste from theater to theater. Do they taste good? No! But subpar tortilla chips with fake cheese is better than nothing I suppose.  One thing that boggled me was why there is assigned seating at the theater! When I first came here Hubs took me and the ticket seller asked where we wanted to sit. What row and what seat? WHAT?! Who cares. It's a bit absurd. The seats are the same price. This isn't the opera house where you pay 2 pounds for some scab seating and they need to make sure you're sitting there instead of sneaking the nice seats. What if I don't want to sit in row 5 but row 6? Are the seating police going to get me? 

Anyway, I agree with the Merry Christmas thing and people not introducing themselves. After two months of working at my job and I finally figured out one guy's name just before having to write out cards. Granted it's a shortened cute name of his real name, but better than nothing I guess.

Graham crackers are purchasable here but not in Brit stores. They are sold in Asian grocery stores along with Arizona Tea and Root beer (both made in Germany iirc). I've also found cans of creamed corn, Arm and Hammer baking soda in Asian markets as well. We have iced tea in our Chinese restaurant in town. I think looking in non Brit stores help a bit. Like we can find cheetos in a Polish shop in town. (Produced in Poland iirc)
Hydrogen peroxide drives me nuts. I use it often for my teeth. I like the 3% and they are always out. It comes in a tiny over priced bottle and you have to go to the counter to buy it. I realise why they supposedly do this, but... 


Totally agree at the lack of good CS and enthusiasm.

I tried sweet popcorn for the first time the other week.  I was not prepared for that taste.  I shall be sticking to salted in the future.  I do, however, love the assigned seating, especially for busy theaters.  There is nothing more annoying then arriving and there is nowhere for a couple to sit because every party has left a seat in between them.

I do enjoy assigned seating for the busy shows, but it is just so unnecessary for the normal capacity screenings. I find it especially annoying as someone who is partially sighted since saying I want to sit in the front only ever gets me wait her the absolute front row (uncomfortable) or something halfway back that they somehow class as "front." Not great for me, especially in movies with any subtitles or things I need to read on the screen. I'm planning on being very specific with them about what seats I want in the future.

There isn't much food here in the US I will miss. Chocolate is better in the UK and you can get some great deals on Cadbury Whole nut at times. I think of it more at what I will be getting.....decent fish+chips.....decent Indian Vindaloo....less adverts.

Less adverts!  Do you watch only BBC, F4?  DH refuses to watch any programme with adverts unless he's recorded it and can fast forward.  He even moans about the "coming attraction" type ads on BBC.

Less adverts!  Do you watch only BBC, F4?  DH refuses to watch any programme with adverts unless he's recorded it and can fast forward.  He even moans about the "coming attraction" type ads on BBC.

There are generally less adverts in the UK though.

A typical hour-long US show has up to 18 minutes of advert breaks, with the episode being 42 minutes long and the rest of the hour taken up by adverts.

UK TV channels are restricted by Ofcom to an average of 7-9 minutes of adverts per hour (depending on channel type), with a maximum of 12 minutes for any particular clock hour (which is reduced to 8 minutes between 6pm and 11pm). 

Well the last time I was in the US, it seemed that American commercials fell into three categories: impotence, depression, tuition for a business school that looks like a mini mall.

The impotence ones interested me. The men on them always look like the Marlboro Man....very rugged and virile. They were doing manly stuff like fixing an old hot rod or pulling a horse trailer. Thick hair and ropey forearms.

Why not a pudgy balding guy in a cubicle reading over divorce papers?

UK TV channels are restricted by Ofcom to an average of 7-9 minutes of adverts per hour (depending on channel type), with a maximum of 12 minutes for any particular clock hour (which is reduced to 8 minutes between 6pm and 11pm). 

Don't think DH would be convinced though.  Constantly moaning about there being more commercial time than programme or seeming so to him.  "Shocking!  They ought to be ashamed! <expletive>  How can they do this! <expletive> Rubbish! grumble grumble ..."  Such a pleasure watching telly 

Well the last time I was in the US, it seemed that American commercials fell into three categories: impotence, depression, tuition for a business school that looks like a mini mall.

The impotence ones interested me. The men on them always look like the Marlboro Man....very rugged and virile. They were doing manly stuff like fixing an old hot rod or pulling a horse trailer. Thick hair and ropey forearms.

Why not a pudgy balding guy in a cubicle reading over divorce papers?

  Indeed!