I usually get Voortman cookies (biscuits). They're a Canadian brand, but are fairly widely available in the US. Heck, if I can get 'em here in the bargain stores, as well as my usual grocery stores (pretty much every chain grocer here in town carries them), you should be able to find them just about anywhere.

I like the windmills, as well as the chocolate chip, oatmeal, and the shortbread. The tea ring is ok, but not my fave.

I totally miss Arrowroot biscuits. I found a package one time at Big Lots here, but it was imported from Canada for the US market, and had HFCS and more sugar in it than the Canadian recipe. They tasted all wrong.

I also miss Social Teas. They're awesome for dunking, but I can't find them here in the US, or anything comparable. Maybe at World Market. I just wish it was closer

Me neither!! I am going to have to check out our local Vons and see if we have sound effects here too...





Ohh I saw some at World Market the other day and it made me think of you - the tubes of chocolate ones (milk) were $4.99 and the regular packets were either $4.49 or $4.99 - I'm not sure how much they would cost to send to you but if it works out cheaper than gas to Omaha, maybe we could figure something out if you get desperate Thought the pricing might help for hobnob budgeting too - also World Market has a website:

http://www.worldmarket.com/home.jsp

I can't see hobnobs on there though I prefer dunking into coffee but most cookies I find just dissolve into sludge... I am sure there must be *something* out there... maybe I should make it my new hobby - finding a dunking biscuit... of course it is too hot for coffee down here right now so...

my dad is a trucker and one time when I was with him on a trip we drove with a Voortman driver for awhile and when we had to part ways he gave us a big box of the sugar cookies...there weren't many left by the time we got home

Good grief... England claims diversity when they don't have (real) biscuits? Of course, the U.S. is lacking in scones (whatever they are), so who's to talk.

Windmill cookies (I haven't seen these in years, but I haven't looked for them, either) should be good, uh, "dunkers." It is my understanding that congealed moose-bacon (nobby or unnobby) is excellent with tea. Or, hey! You could try dunking a uniquely American delicacy -- fried pork rinds! Si, man!

more cookies i'm going to miss eating, I'm really going to miss Arrowroot cookies my kids love em thats like one of the ones I buy the most. The windmill cookies are yummy, bah who am I kidding their all so yummy. Guess my list for my mom just got bigger.

@ Aly..never too hot for coffee.

Sure it is - it's normally 110f here and I can only drink cold things or sometimes herbal tea but even that is best after being put in the freezer

I can drink coffee in any temp. Drinking something warm can actually help you cool down. It makes you sweat which cools down the body naturally rather than shocking your internal system by throwing something freezing in to it. Drinking something cold cools you down for a while but it also tricks the body into thinking it's cooler than it is so shuts down the natural cooling systems.

Actually, when it is hot, I drink iced coffee. There is often a little left over from after dinner the night before and it tastes lovely the next day over ice. It gets hot here too - mid-90s most days of the week.

A few weeks ago at Big Lots they had packages of tea biscuits - like social tea - on sale for 33 cents a package - I bought 8 packages. They are wonderful! They are made in Israel by Kedem.

I sweat plenty without the coffee though!!

went to a big Spec's today - one with a gourmet food section - and Oh. My. Goodness.

German and English food galore... got Ritter Sport (and showed Dave Niederegger marzipan for future - Christmas - reference ) - and Lindt chocolate, could have got all manner of Cadbury's (the Fry's Turkish Delight was sold out ); got three different sorts of German bread; could have got Hobnobs or Jammy Dodgers; even got Lyle's Golden Syrup! and a bottle of Pimm's!!! I know I'm forgetting half the things but it was SO cool... we have to go back again soon

I'm always being told off for being weird here.

When I'm eating hot food, I always want something cold like a Coke or juice. If it's cold food, I like it with hot drinks like tea.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I can't find it online to find where it is - am I missing something?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh and I have a headache after our VJ-fest last night

Gemmie - I can't drink anything hot when I am eating at all!!!

it's in downtown Houston... Smith Street, Dave says
Spec's is a chain around here, but of course I don't know where else it is; might only be Texas... the others I have been to are just liquor; this one was special

I made up a big jug of Pimm's - Dave's first taste of it - and we had it for lunch, along with home made paratha bread and all sorts of dips... what a grand day

here's their website: http://www.specsonline.com/

looks like it IS just Texas, and only parts thereof at that :?
man, they had so much stuff! Maldon sea salt... aforementioned chocolate and biscuits... ALL SORTS of tea... fair trade coffee... cheeses... pasta... just all manner of stuff; it was fabulous

I am all jealous now!! What with my headache and pringles... we kinda want to go and buy some more pork to make food but...

Hmmm I think I need to take a trip to TX

But you can buy online!! I am soooo going to check this out when Jeremy is at work

another thing that I think it's really strange is public swimming pools without checkups. I don't know if it's everywhere, but the ones on base anyone can show up and use it. In Brazil for you to use any not private swimming pool, u need a doctor check up first. And not only that, they throw dog parties in the pools here, like wtf?

Eww

StP, do you think that your countrywomen on here will allow you to live, what with encountering Hobnobs but not buying any?

Spec's is an amazing chain. The store on Smith Street is their flagship, I believe. (I don't drink, and I don't yet see myself killing for Hobnobs, but maybe that's just me, si man, and I've been in a Spec's or two.) In Mexico on Saturday, I did buy 4 boxes of little chocolate bars with nuts in them, AND 8 boxes of little individually wrapped peanut-brittle-type bars. Burrrrrrrrrp! (Note: Being a guy, I can burp cyberspatially and gain the nodding approbation of my fellows, si man.)

Gemmie isn't weird; we should still hobnob with her, wot, eh, si man.

A bit of good gnus (polite antelopes?): Cristina will physically retrieve her physical K-1 visa on Monday. Bets on whether the bloody thing has mistakes in it, si man?

This is an interesting difference. I don't think that any Americano would dream of a medical check-up being necessary before being allowed to swim in a public pool.

Most public pools in the U.S. are heavily filled with chlorine, and they're cleaned regularly. Almost certainly, Health Department rules (state or local) apply.

One would imagine that anyone with open, festering pustules would likely not jump into a public pool, for whatever reason. (All together now: "Ewwww!", si man.)

right turn on red is another thing
riding a motorcycle without a helmet is another thing

it's pretty annoying, but still, I'd prefer swimming knowing that there're no weird disease swimming with me. And it's usually like, if it's a country club, they'll have people there to do that for you, you just pay a small fee. If it's swimming schools, you need to bring a note from your doctor. If you go to your friend's place and she lives in a building that has a swimming pool, then you just can;t use cuz people won't walk around carrying a note from their doctor.
But on the other hand, if it's a hotel, etc, then you can.

TB - that's great news!!! I know you still remain ever skeptical about the competence of the USCIS but still - it's a huge step forward after everything you have been through

I see people not wearing helmets while riding motorcycles as thinning out the gene pool...get rid of the stupids

As for the pool...I always get kind of grossed out swimming in public pools. I've seen wayyy too many floaters in my day to feel comfortable...and no they are not Baby Ruths either!

"Why, thank you, Dear, si man," he replied politely. It ain't USCIS, but DOS/the consulates at this point. Primary announcement has just been posted at: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=148430

Even if there were doctor checkups, I'd still never use a public swimming pool or water park. They just gross me out completely.

Dog pool parties? That's really effed up. People need to find better ways to make life more complete.

some peoples lives are only complete if there's a dog (or 2) in it.

My life would be complete if I had a mooseburger slathered with treacle. Si, man.

My life would be complete when it's over.

I wouldn't say it makes me complete only if I have one, but getting a dog is definitely on the list of things to do when I move to the US... I've lived with pets all my life and found it extremely hard when I moved towns.. ended up getting a hamster to look after. It's not pathetic, I just have a natural pull towards caring for animals and my life is better with them, overall.

but did you have a pool party for your hamster and all his friends?

No, but in one of the books I read about caring for a hamster, it DID specify (with pcitures!) that you should not put your hamster into a toy boat and put it into the tub!

Just in case you were considering!!

Now you tell me!!

Julez.



Ohmygoodness, I remember watching Hammy the Hamster tooling around in a radio-controlled motorboat! It was a Canadian kids show and I loved it. Tried to find a pic of that segment but this is all I could come up with:

Now I know what most of you are thinking. Just how entertaining can some rodents on a riverbank be? Well the charm lay not in the animals themselves but the props and the sets that they were put in. The animals lived in nifty houses, such as GP's mill with the water wheel and Hammy's boot house. The houses were fully furnished with rodent-sized furniture. Then, to make things extra exciting, Sutherland and Ellison would stuff the animals in remote control vehicles - such as motor boats and jeeps and planes and such.



Link


I would totally go to that party. LOL

*makes a note in preparation of Krikit's upcoming visit*

Wine - check!

Pool - check!

Hamsters....must go shopping....

Ooooh, I used to love that show. We had it in the UK and I had no idea it was Canadian. I think it was called 'Tales from the Riverbank' or something similar. I've come over all nostalgic.

I'll bring the Hamster Yummies!

I'm leaving in the morning, Julez. That'll have me in your area around Friday about 5:00pm or so. Going to hit the Wegman's before I cross the border. I'll give you a call (or you can call me) and we can try to hook up. If not, I'll catch you on the return trip, or sometime during my stay.



That's it! Oh, thank God someone else has seen it. You kind of feel an idiot talking about power-boating hamsters when no one's ever heard of them.

For hamster in a boat I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjcsFPiQq94

Or this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvXDWQdFTEA

Are Hamster Yummies like Weetabix? Can we cover them with treacle? Si, man?

The second one was cute. The first one was kinda creepy.



Yes! You should try some! They would be treacle-covered goodness. Yum.

That first one is AWFUL.

We used to watch Hammy Hamster all the time. I liked GP the best.

Yanno what I can't get used to down here? I dunno if they do this in other parts of the US, but for some unfathomable reason, "evening" starts at around 10AM here! I'm serious! Everyone starts saying "have a good evening" before lunchtime even! And they'll say stuff like "I have to go over to such and such this evening, around 1pm or so" It hurts my brain it does. Evening is after 6pm at least! There's no "afternoon" here. We go straight from elevenses to evening.

weirdness...

that would do my head in

You live in Nawth Keh'lahnah? I lived there for 200 years (1984-1986). It's a different world. When I found myself driving behind a man who was wearing a hat, I knew that I would grow old before I reached my destination. In Charlotte (named after an English queen, si man?), when the stoplights turned red, people rocked their cars back & forth over the pressure-plates in the pavement to try to get the lights to change. Also in Charlotte, you could come to the intersection of Queens Road & Queens Road. Carolinian English is less a dialect than it is a throat-disease.

Most tellingly, the temperature one night in Charlotte fell to 5 degrees F. (an all-time record). The next day, my acquaintances were saying "Ah nearly froze mah AY-ss off!" Having grown up in (and having moved from) Iowa, I was hard-put to keep from LAUGHING my ay-ss off, thinking "Is THIS as cold as it gets?"

Also, even the passing mention of a possible snowflake caused businesses to close, schools to be let out, and the "barbaric cottonheads" (secret Yanqui term for the natives) to rush to the supermarkets to clear the shelves of bread, milk, and Spam. (North Carolinians are the world's heaviest consumers of Spam, si man.) THAT was always funny. (For those unfamiliar with Spam, it's a canned glop that likely consists of meat by-products, moose-droppings, Hamster Yummies, and probably also a few hamsters themselves. Even slathering it in treacle would not much increase its palatability.)

My most lasting memory of Charlotte was when a buddy (from Philadelphia) & I were sitting in a trendy bar, nursing our drinks and sedately watching the social action go on around us. After several contemplative minutes, he turned to me and said, "You know what I would really like to encounter someday?" I asked, "What?" He said, "A Southern woman... with a MIND." I nodded solemnly, and we returned to our observation.

On the basis of my experience, the transgression of referring to morning or afternoon as "evening" is neither weighty nor out of character for North Carolina. However, it IS enough to drive one to drink. "Bartender! Tap me up a cold treacle and set it on the bar!" Si, man.

Actually, Hawaii eats the most Spam of any other state. Its the state food. I think its on their flag even.



Yeah, everyone freaks out about a little bit of snow here. Its hillarious, it really is. I haven't seen more than 2 inches of snow in all the 4 years I've been here. And there's been plenty of "snow days" in that time. Which is utterly rediculous. I mean really? Why shut down every business because there's half an inch of snow on the ground at 6 am, which will be all gone as soon as the sun comes up at 7am?

sheesh....Toronto could get 7 feet of snow and everyone still shows up to work! Maybe a little late from having to dig our cars out of the snowbanks, but yeah, we still have to go to work

Haha, I would have been out of that room so fast!! When I went to visit my fiance in Australia, I was traumatized by the roaches there, and they always appeared when I was alone. I literally got chased two different times by them (WTH, here they ran away from you, not AT you!!), and had one hover over the sink when I needed to brush my teeth before bed. The Aussie's acted like I was insane, apparently they're pretty damn common there. I could never live there for that reason alone. Probably why I'll never move to the southern US either, they're ridiculously big there as well. ~shudders~

Yes!! When I visited my Aussie they kept referring to bacon, but I kept seeing ham!! If I wanted ham, that's what I would buy!! And floppy greasy bacon rocks!! Mmmmm.....

finally someone on my side...

These are special USCIS roaches, sent to welcome you to America, si man.