Hmmm, something must be wrong on my end. I open the spreadsheet, and firstly, there are no numbers, so I don't know how I can reference #56? Still shows few very things. I can see "Drinks", with Coffee, Tim Horton's listed, that's about it.

Yeah, I remember that melt in your mouth, not in your hand commercial as well. That's why I loved Smarties though! I loved that they melted in my hand as well. Actually, I don't know that I've had an M&M even melt in my mouth! Candy coating is too hard and thick for my liking.

Little girls loved Smarties (haha I'm projecting here because I DID THIS!), so that we could melt the Smartie coating and use it to pretend to put on lipstick! With the Red colour of course!

Ha ha. We did that too!

Okay, not sure what's going wrong with the spreadsheet. Must be something I'm doing wrong on my end. Let me work on it.

Try it now, Carla. I think it's maybe because I didn't republish it after I made changes.

OMG - let me invest when you do. We have a Whole Foods Market in Fairfax http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ . Beautiful store, excellent organic produce etc etc. Pricey of course and yes it is in the 'up-scale' area. No bulk spices though, back in Kitchener, the regular grocery store (Zehrs) had that.

Does anyone else find it odd that as an average family with average income, if you're only shopping at the local grocery store, you really aren't getting the best quality stuff? Giant does have the Nature's promise brand for some things but it's just not enough. And yet there are aisle upon aisle of processed goods.

I am extremely disappointed in the quality of the fresh items (meats, seafood, fruit & veg) in our local grocery stores. Not only that, everything is packaged in bulk format so that you can't pick and choose each item. Plus I have no need for 5 or 10 lb bags of anything. I like to purchase my ingredients as I need them so they are fresh. There are no butchers or delis in my area. There is a fruit & vegetable "market" a few miles from here, but the quality of the items is deplorable, and it's a dump. Honestly. If you're going to specialize in something you would think you would want the highest quality available, and display it in an appealing manner. And keep the place clean. I honestly think that people don't cook here. The restaurants are jam packed every day of the week, morning noon and night. And everyone's shopping carts are filled with pre-packaged food. It's scary.

I waaaant to win the lotteryyyyyy.

Oh I SO agree with you guys! I would love to invest in a fresh market as well. There is a farmers market here, in Soulard. It's been going on since the 1700's. Very historical, and more like hmmm... Knob Hill Farms if you know what that is. The veggies and fruit are fresh in season, but there are like casings, dead leaves, rotten fruit, either on the ground or in the air. I have a meat market, butcher not too far that I go to. No bakeries that you can speak of. I miss my bakeries! The local grocery store I buy at, has a not too bad meat area, and the fruit and veggies are so-so. I mentioned to Gene once that I'd like to speak to the meat manager but I can never find anyone around. He said...the meat manager??? What the heck is that? I thought every food store had a meat manager. Not here! LOTS of prepared foods here, about 6 rows of frozen prepared foods. I never buy any of that stuff. I make my own things. Cheeses, well, not that many choices! I loved though when I vacationed in Wisconsin and there was like ROWS of cheeses! I know that Wisconsin is the cheese state, buy why doesn't Missouri get more selection of cheeses from Wisconsin then??

I'd prefer to buy fresh goods, go shopping several days a week. Maybe you don't need to win a lottery to open something like that. I'd be interested in doing something like that here, but truly, I don't know that there is the market for that where I live. I don't mean the specific area of St. Louis, I mean St. Louis in general. Fast food, frozen foods, seem to be a huge part of life here, and I don't know that will change anytime soon.

I wondered if there was a market for that here, also, but the Whole Foods here (an hour away) is always jammed so I'm "guessing" there is. You made me LOL at the meat manager. I looked for one too. LOL. Now I just buy all my meat and seafood at the Fresh Market (an hour away, but in the other direction from the Whole Foods). There is a lovely German bakery about a half hour from here. They sell the most amazing pastries. For good cheese I have to go to Whole Foods. But one of Emancipation's links lead me to a brand new gourmet cheese shop that opened up near the Whole Foods, so I'm thinking field trip.

But I have to ask.... see highlighted area.... rotten fruit "in the air"?

P.S. Does the spreadsheet display properly now?

OMG, I am in hysterics here. LOL I meant the smell of rotten fruit in the air. LOL The dead dry outter leaves and mashed bruised fruit is on the ground. Gosh, this is even hard to type I'm laughing so hard and tears are streaming down my face. Yes, whatever you did the page is displaying great!!! Thank you Krikit, you're the best!

Looks like we are going to Charleston, then maybe Savannah, before heading over to St. George Island, so that means we'll be bypassing your area Kritkit, perhaps another time. I'd LOVE to meet you girl!

Okay, that makes more sense now. I'm sure I sat here with one of these looks on my face while I tried to imagine a scenario where rotten fruit would be hanging in the air. Too funny.

I'll catch you on the next go-round, Carla! When are you heading down?

That was one thing I really liked in New Zealand, there was pretty much a butcher in every little area of shops close by to the neighbourhoods - even in some of the malls.

I prefer steaks to not be thick, so a while ago I asked the meat guy at - Safeway I think it is if he could cut it in half (since that is what we normally do with a thick rib eye) - no, he can't do it blah blah.

So once again I go home and do it, which begs the question, if I can do it how come he can't!

That's too funny as well trailmix! I always shopped at Safeway in Saskatoon, and the meat managers were great there. Don't know why he wouldn't do it, maybe he'd cleaned the cutting machine and was due to leave in 2 min. What a brat!

Maybe what we should consider is once trailmix and Emancipation move down to Florida, I'll fly down for a "girl's" weekend! I think we're leaving the 9th or 10th of February. The conference in SC is the 12th and 13th and will take a few days to get there. We'll probably stay an extra day, then maybe a day in Savannah? Then toodle on over to St. George Island. I'm looking forward to getting away. I've been a bit cooped up here in the city, and I"m looking forward to some warmer weather.

Click to view attachment Party at my place, girls!!! Click to view attachment

sounds good!

There are a number of stores that carry HP Sauce including Wegmans and Hanaford, but I'm sure I've also seen it at more mundane places like ShopRite.

Yes, the American version is available, but the ingredients are different and so is the taste. This spreadsheet only focuses on the items which are not the same in the US as they are in Canada, or are unavailable or difficult to find in the US.

I think it all depends on where you live... here in the LA area we have a lot of fresh produce and fresh meat etc...

What about Vegemite, only available at Brit shops or?

I agree with you, Marilyn. In upstate NY and PA they have fabulous shops. Where he was in Maryland and down here in Florida.... abysmal.


Hmmm. I haven't actually looked for Vegemite. Or Marmite. I'll put them on the list just in case.

It's available at Super Walmart and HEB down here.....Vegemite, Marmite and HP Sauce are available in Whole Foods and Fiesta Supermarket here too....yes, the British HP Sauce

hmmm, I tried doing search for the Kraft pizza on the US Kraft Foods site and nothing came up...

Wow. I'll put them on the list. Thank you.

so there were some things that i knew about
ketchup chips (my 2 bestfriends promised to take care of that)
pizza pops

but dill pickle chips?
for real?
this is just getting painfull

thought that was Australian




also not to come off like a Dick


but do yall really like #### like kraft pizza sauce in a box? is it that good you are trying to hunt them down?


or are yall just scared people will look at you of less of a canadian?

I really MISS dill pickle chips.

It is, my parents tried to get me to eat sandwiches with Vegemite on them for school when we lived in Australia but I just couldn't do it. Stuff is freaking nasty...

We have several types of dill pickle chips.

Why would you want to eat that?

A couple I used to associate with came back from Australia with some of that junk and told me how I needed to try it. "It's great," they say. "You'll love it," they say.

PS - anyone that tells another person to try vegemite should be kicked in the shin.

Great! Where can you get them, and I'll add it to the list.

I really didn't know it was an issue to get them. You can walk into just about any store down here, convenience stores included, and buy a bag of them.

I prefer Zapp's Cajun Dill, by the way.

Ive never seen it in person, just pictures... Cant say that I ever want to try it...

I don't know if this is already on the list, but what about perogies? It's next to impossible to find them here in Georgia and when I have found them, theres about a dozen in the box and they cost almost $5. Whats up with that?

Mary

I live in a big city so there are a lot of Eastern European people (Ukranian) to hold up the perogie market. Every grocery store sells them. Potato and Onion, Potato and cheese, Potato and etc. Yes the grocery store are in the box, you can get them in a bag too. Try looking for Ukranian/Russian grocery stores and you should find a lot better variety...

yeah, I have found perogies hard to come by too... I have found them but they are few and far between...

and hubby didn't even know what they were until he met me...

LOL my husband was the same way, plus he didn't even like them, but he likes dumplings. Go figure lol.

They're hard to find here too. And so is kielbassa. I finally found a Polish Deli about 30 miles from here, so my husband stops by there for me on his way home from work. (Yay.) Can you find a Polish community quasi close to you? They usually have home cooking sales for great prices. Plus they have a great network of service providers too. (hair, esthetics, car repairs, home repairs, etc)

They like to do that to the uninitiated

I don't know where or when I first tried it, probably as a child in Australia, then in NZ, it's something you neeeeed to have - if you like it of course

My kielbasa sausage has just got to perform. NOW GET IT ON!

I had never heard of them either until I was introduced by my then girlfriend in college in Canada. She had Ukranian ancestory so her grandmother would make them all the time. Only people (even in Canada) I that I ever found that knew about them were Ukranian blooded people...

I know about them and I don't even know any Ukrainian people - they are in every freezer section in every grocery store

I'm Ukranian blooded and I'm craving them badly lol. I've been to several grocery stores in my area and I can't even find them. My niece tried making them, but I wasn't able to try hers. I guess I'm going to have to learn how to make them myself lol.

I wouldn't know how to make them from scratch, but seems like it would be fun to try. I take it (I like potato and onions myself). I'd boil some potatos and then mix that up with some cooked onions or something and then that's where I get stuck. How would I make the doughy part? Flour and water and ? As you can tell I've never really baked or made things from scratch before. But this might be kind of fun to try...

i have made perogies a bunch of times from scratch.. actually the first preoegies my hubby ever tasted were ones I made...

if anyone wants the recipe I get give it to you...

What is Nabob? There's a road named Nabob out in the country near me and I thought it was a person's last name that the road was named after. This is a food?

it is a brand of Coffee....

Ahhhh, thank you.

here is the perogie recipe if anyone is interested...

Dough: mix 1 cup of flour, 1/2 small egg and about 1/4 cup of margarine together with a pastry blender. then add about 1/2 tablespoon sour cream and about 1/4 cup water. Knead until blended. Let dough rest about 30 minutes.

Filling: Boil and mash 5 medium-large potatoes and mix with about 1/4 cup of cheese whiz or shredded cheddar cheese, 1 onion, chopped fine and salt and pepper to taste... Let cool...

Roll out dough on a floured surface, very thin. Cut out round shapes and fill with about a tablespoon of filling, fold in half and pinch closed. Drop perogies 4 or 5 at a time into a pot of boiling salted and oiled water. Stir carefully. when the water boils again and they rise to the top (3 to 5 minutes) they are done. Remove and drain. Drop them into melted 1/4 cup of margarine, flip throughly to coat. Keep them warm in the oven. Serve with sour cream...

Same as on the other thread incase you don't see it. What in hell is a pastry blender? Can I just use a regular bowl or something instead?

this is a pastry blender...


if you don't have one two forks work fine...

I jsut got a HUGE bag of perogies from a frozen food truck service called Schwann's. If they're in your area, check them out.

chef boyardee (sp.?) makes one. i've been in canada for 5 years, though, so who knows if they still make it anymore. last time i bought it, i bought it at save a lot/more for less, whatever it's called now. they had it in stock all the time.