All [Hawaiian] American Girl

I wonder if I didn't live in another country if I would be so ra-ra everything American. I'm guessing not, since it would be just the same as everyday. But you've gotta think something's a bit off when your day is made by finding Grape Nuts at the grocery store (as mine was on Friday). Well, I guess it's the small things...

I think that if I had to pick one thing that I missed (aside from my family and friends), it would have to be food. And I'm not talking gourmet, foodie-food; I'm talking run of the mill, fast food (Yoshinoya, Chipotle, In & Out) and stuff of my childhood (vienna sausages, spam musubi, tofu). Yes-- gross (well, maybe not the tofu; although for some, maybe so). So when driving through Manchester on Saturday on a random detour to avoid traffic (which we didn't-- but that's another story altogether), I realized that we were on the street where I had discovered a Japanese market a few years ago and I excitedly requested a quick stop.

On my wish list: REAL rice, noodles, chili oil, nori and sake... and anything else of interest I could grab with my greedy little hands (oh, okay-- my hands aren't that little). To my great disappointment, the store was CLOSING and there was hardly any inventory left... I was able to get a few really small bags of rice and the last packet of nori (my sis kindly sent tobasco spam and I'm making spam musubi!) and a teeny bottle of sake. Well, it is better than nothing.

But thankfully, all is not lost... I discovered the Japan Centre in London which has an online store and they ship! Whoohoo! So while I'll have to wait a few days, at least I can get some creature comforts from home. No luck on the vienna sausages though. Even Selfridges vast array of American junk food-- Fluff, Lucky Charms, Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix... all for around $10 a pop, doesn't stoop so low for spam and vienna sausages. Ah well.