Dearest Readers,
I'm sure you've all been hanging on the edge of your seats to know more about British food. So here I am, but I'm gonna tell you some secrets about eating in.
Let's start with cheese. It's different. The cheddar is mature, which means that it's GOOD. I'm gonna miss it when I move back home. It's very flavourful. (That's British for 'flavorful.')
The other things I'll miss are flapjacks. No, I'm not referring to a big pancake. It's kinda like a granola bar, but with only oats, and other additions like sultanas (golden raisins), chocolate chips, or caramel coating. Since the oats are my favorite part of a granola bar, I'm pretty much in love with them.
A major difference between England and the States is that these people are all about the tea, but do not really care about good coffee. Now, I love tea as much as the next Cockney, but what have they got against coffee? They always offer it to me at meetings, and it's always INSTANT. Horror.
Now, these people don't know what a biscuit is. Well, they think they do, but they don't. There isn't a British equivalent of a biscuit, but they do use the term to refer to a cookie. But let's clarify the cookie terminology here.
Cookie - has chunks of something in it
Biscuit - a cookie without chunks in it, such as shortbread
Cake - a cookie with a cake-like texture, which I've never seen in the States.
My most recent obsession may sound weird, but trust me on this. Olives and peanuts. Together. Take 4-5 peanuts and one (preferably green) olive, shove it all in your mouth at the same time, and enjoy. I don't know if this is a British thing per se, but I did learn it from a British person.
Now I know I referred in my other post to Ribena, but let me expound on that. Ribena is a type of squash. Not the yellow vegetable, but the concentrated fruit drink. I guess it's kinda like those cans of concentrated orange juice that my mom used to use when I was a kid, except it's not frozen. Just a bottle of thick, sugary, fruity liquid that you dilute with water. Generally, I find it repulsive. But they also sell Ribena in a ready-to-drink form in the store (in both bottles and juice boxes!) and that is wonderful.
Oh, I almost forgot! This is my FAVORITE part of eating in in London. Marks & Spencer is a fabulous department store, complete with a food store as well. Not a traditional grocery store, because you wouldn't go there to, say, buy groceries for a week or ingredients to bake cookies. But you can buy pre-prepared food and almost-prepared food. London is very good at prepared food. They have little pots of stuff like rice, lentil, and aubergine (= eggplant); cous cous with roasted vegetables; orzo pasta & roasted tomatoes; greek salad; tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad; etc; etc. And stuff like seasoned fish or meat that's super easy to just throw in a pan for a few minutes, and ready-made meals that are actually good, that are in little foil containers so you just throw them in the oven for a little while. While they are two totally different stores, I have similar feelings for M&S and Target, if that gives you any idea how great this place is. And if Katherine lived here, M&S would make her life of eating in much easier. Of course, it would also thwart her learning process and make this blog much less interesting.
If you've ever had a Pink Lady Apple, you should be able to imagine
my excitement when I found it in juice form. More than words can describe.
Kind regards,
London Lady
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