Amber Jean

So… I’ve been waiting to blog about certain things in certain orders, but time is flying and I simply don’t have time for that. If it’s alright with you, I’ll just be blogging about whatever I want from now on… It is MY blog isn’t it? My life has been everything BUT structured since I’ve gotten here, therefore my journal will reflect that.

First, let’s talk about groceries… a daunting task in a foreign country.

The four main grocery shops in order of quality starting with the best:

Here’s the key: Waitrose = Publix [only Floridians will understand], Sainsbury’s is like Sweetbay and Sam’s club put together, Tesco is like Super Target [depending on whether it's a Tesco Extra or Tesco Express], and Asda is literally Wal-mart [look at the sign^^^^]. Waitrose is my favorite, as is Publix back in Florida, because of friendly customer service, clean stores, and cheap but quality store brand items. It is managed differently than the other 3, because the employees are all owners of a piece of the company. Being run by a larger company and department store, John Lewis, Waitrose [pronounced WAY- TROSE by the way] is a mutual organization in that each employee gets a fair share of profits. Therefore, they’re in a better mood at the check out line.

Now that we’ve covered the stores in brief, let’s talk food.

First of all, I’m pretty sure my body runs on food, water, and Reeses’ Cups and they seem to be rarely found around here. They also only come in 3 packs… Maybe the British taste buds don’t love peanut butter as much as Americans’. In contrast, there seems to be a cute bakery or sweet shop on every corner and of every different culture. Speaking of sweets, my favorites here so far are Flake, which is a flakey milk chocolate bar. Nothing special but the flavor is amazing! Today I also tried Turkish Delight. It’s basically chocolate with some sort of creamy, chocolatey, gelatinous center. Me and gummy or gelatin textures don’t get along so that was a “NO”.
I also discovered biscuits [what they call "cookies" here] called Ambers. I may be somewhat biased but they were pretty darn good. It was like a honey comb, sugary, chocolatey cookie. Tea and biscuits are standard here. People almost insist that you have a cup of tea if it’s offered, almost like a courteous thing to offer. Tea & biscuits, Marmite on Toast, and little cakes and pastries: all common. I picked up a Carrot Cake muffin…thing…on the walk back from the bus stop today. Here are a few things I’ve tried. Notice some things you’ve seen before but they are packaged different here. Branding is a fascinating science.