I am insanely craving an AERO bar!

They dont have them down here

They have them at Stop and Shop here in New England in the "Imported Food Aisles".. you might try looking there.. they cost 2$ but they are there!!

I dont think we have stop and shop in Jersey. I will look for imported foods though.


Speaking of shopping, I sure have gained a soft spot for trader joes...they sell amazing trail mixes.

I LOOOOOVE Trader Joes..

I'm currently REALLY loving their mango chutney mmmmmmm

Hooray for trailmix!!

Oh, me too. There's one about ten minutes away and we go there ALL THE TIME. Their chipotle hummus is amazing

Luckily I brought/smuggled a box of Coffee Crisp with me when I moved... so I'm not craving that at least!

I loves the hummus I do!! Have to try theirs.. Our Trader Joes is about 40 min away (one in Hartford, one in Milford) so we have to plan to go there.. but I LOVE the layout and feel of the store.. AND I love that when you BYO Bags that they give you a ballot for a draw!! It's like free lottery for being kind to the earth!!

Mmmmm. Aero and Coffee Crisp bars. I tried a KitKat here but it was awful. It didn't taste anything like a KitKat. bleh

I had my first Canadian Kit-Kat yesterday, and I could tell the difference, but I thought it was quite subtle.

I'm going to have to make sure I grab some Coffee Crisp and other Nestle ice creams when I move Kristy over here.

What is the difference? lol

Yeah. I think I have finely tuned taste buds so I tend to be pretty picky. Sorry. But I'm a gourmet cook so I've trained myself to identify ingredients in a dish at a restaurant so I can duplicate the recipe at home. It's also how I got my VJ name. We were talking about me being a food critic and it came out cricket (or Krikit). Anyway.... WAY more info than you were probably interested in. I'm off to the Fresh Market now.

HFCS, that fickle substitute to sugar

I've got some pretty sensitive tastebuds too and it's definitely not the same, imo. But that's just me

Quality of chocolate.. plus additives like High Fructose Corn Crap...

US Chocolate sucks a#*.. but then I'm biased

their cereals down here are somewhat different...like what I know as Sugarcrisp in Canada is Goldencrisp down here. ha I pointed and laughed and everyone stared at me funny. But I got a kick out of it.

Trader Joe's is irrefutable proof that God exists... and She loves me.
I am insane about their sweet potato chips and the green-bean snacks!!!! Bren swears by the cilantro hummus!!!

It's pretty easy to avoid HFCS once you get used to reading labels... just avoid packaged foods, junk food and crappy restaurants. Seriously, we don't ever eat or buy anything with HFCS.

I'm convinced it's one of the biggest cause of obesity in the US.. it's unreal what food HFCS is in.. it's even in bread.. BREAD for heaven's sake!

I love their Hawaiian style salt and vinegar chips. omg i am going to go out and get some tonight!


oh and their mango slices mMMMMM.

Or plain canned beans! But yeah, it just takes getting used to label reading to avoid it. I've been label reading for years now so I don't find it time-consuming. After awhile it takes just a second to quickly scan the ingredients list.

Or plain yogurt.

Seriously, I think we do most of our reading at the grocery store. Thank heavens for Whole Foods and TJs...

Ah thanks! LOL
Man, you guys are candy experts!!!

Yeah, I try not to think about it too much. Certainly I have been guilty of doing the same thing myself. But lord help Derek if he doesn't contact EACH AND EVERY one of his friends and family when he is back in Montreal or there is hell to pay.



Dunno if there is a World Market near you, but they have a really great imported foods section. My source for Hob Nobs! If you get really desperate PM me - Derek brings them home from the Embassy all the time. Personally, Aeros are OK, but I think Wonderbars are as close to heaven as you can get. Well, after Mallomars.

And I almost hate to say it, but we, uh, have at least 4 Trader Joe's within 15 minutes of us. I think my hair is addicted to their shampoo and conditioner!

Aero mint are orgasmic.

yes thats precisely what i wanted too.

a green mint aero.

Oh I have to feel the bubbles melt. I can taste it.

I'd mail you some!!!!! Can you do that? Mail food? Nick had never heard of butter tarts...ever..he had his first one when he came here in March...He loves them..I wanted to mail him some....

LOL every time we go in to the grocery store when I'm down in NJ he always looks in the bakery, pouts, looks at me and says "See, we suck, no butter tarts " LOL

Don't devlope a thicker skin that would take away who and what you are a good and wonderful person. People have better ways of dealing with their emotions. You are loved and lovable and developing a thicker skin isn't a Canadian caracteristic to my thinking. If you do need to develop something make it a broader smile.
Ron

Awww. Thanks Ron. You're so sweet. (((hugs)))

My son and his girlfriend left on Wednesday evening back to Canada I cried for about an hour straight after he left. I think it was worse this time, in comparison to after our wedding in April when he was down, because we had more one on one time. My heart is still aching. Anyway...before I start crying again...hehe I just thought I'd mention he brought me down some treats!

1 large can of Tim's
2 small cans of Nabob Full City
2 Coffee Crisp, 2 Rolo's, 2 boxes of Smarties
1 bag of Ketchup chips (large bag...) hehe
1 large jar of Cheez Whiz

Mmmmmmmmmmmm

Laura, the main thing for me that I've missed about chocolate bars, is that the chocolate in Canada is different. i.e. Rolo's here are gross in the US, they are made by Hershey's, and they have Hershey's chocolate on them. I don't like Hershey's...gosh, has anyone looked at how many things are made with Hershey's chocolate??? Rolo's in Canada are made with Nestles chocolate. That to me is the difference. My favourites back home were items made from Nestles or Cadbury's. Maybe it does have to do with the HFCS in the chocolate, but to me, anything made with Hershey's chocolate doesn't taste the same.

I hear you too about Butter Tarts. I make mine actually with walnuts or pecans and dried cranberries. They're REALLY good. Gene had never heard of "tarts" actually. Just small pies...

I can't find tart shells here at all, nor in Illinois. I've looked and looked. So now I just make my own.

Have been to a few bakeries here, and they have horrible stuff. In the grocery stores they have a horrible bakery department that seems to consist of "Twinkie" stuff! Hostess... geeesh. So, I'm baking my own bread now, and all sweet treats.

Carla

Awwwww, Carla. (((((((((BIG HUGS))))))))) Things like that break my heart, because I know how you feel. Try not to think about it and you'll be fine. In fact, take a break.... have a Coffee Crisp.

I agree with you about the Hershey's chocolate. It's horrible stuff. My husband and I stopped at the Hershey's chocolate factory when I moved down here. He wanted to take me. I kept joking "But I hate Hershey's chocolate."

Mmmmmm, butter tarts. Nobody here knows anything about them. And I can't find little tart shells either. Sheesh. You can't get date squares here, either. I think I'm going to open a Canadian products store. Though I did get excited last night when I was in the local grocery store and saw a couple of new items they'd never stocked before. When I turned them around to read the ingredients list I noticed THEY WERE MADE IN CANADA!! Yay! Of course I bought them. It's so nice to have simple ingredients without paragraphs of 24 letter words.

I have a really good recipe that my dad loves for butter tart squares.... they taste almost exactly like butter tarts but they are just square.... and a lot easier to make too...

Oooo! Oooo!! Can I have that recipe? Please?

sure...

Butter Tart Squares

Crust:
1/2 cup softened butter
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 - 1/2 cups flour

Cream together butter and sugar and then blend in the flour. Pat into a 9 by 9 inch square pan. Bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees.

Filling:
1 - 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup raisins

Combine the filling ingredients. Pour over base. Bake until set for about 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Marilyn, you always seems to have the best recipes!!!

I like collecting recipes and trying out new recipes ..

that butter tart one I found in a recipe book years ago and I have made it a bunch of times... it is really good

Fantastic Marilyn, thanks!!!!

I plan on baking a lot of my own stuff when I get down too...I love making bread from scratch (my Grandma taught me) and so I'll be doing that and I'll totally be trying this recipe!!!

Carla, that is so crappy about the chocolate...not that I plan on sitting around eating chocolate all day but still..I'll miss it. I don't like Hershey's either...ew!!!

Krikit, you should TOTALLY do that!
I'd drive to you and buy you out!!! LOL

Laura, if you do your own baking here, be warned -- US flour does not behave like Canadian flour -- it's processed differently. If I remember correctly, you have to buy cake flour to get the same results as Canadian all-purpose -- can't remember for sure. Marilyn, what type of flour do you use?

i just use normal flour but when I make bread I use bread flour... I really haven't had any problems with using the regular flour...

Ok cool. Just wanted Laura to have a head's up on the flour issue....when my aunt and uncle are in Florida in winter she always brings her own because she hates US flour!

WHOA gotta love that.
Came on to check what was up in here and Butter Tart squares are right in front of me!!
I'll give those a try if I ever get a stove..still have to put the tile down in the kitchen before I can get one..

Wedding on the 20th cancelled, changed to the 27th....nope someone else has a wedding, changed to Nov 3rd.. well, a close friend of his and everyone that was invited died Wed, funeral is on Nov 3rd.....soooooooo....

As to the flour, even Jim's grandmother was complaining that it's different then it use to be. Her baking isn't coming out the same.

I was going to ask that question, too, Cassie. lol

Thanks for the recipe, Marilyn! I'll let you know when I make it! mmmmm. butter tarts.

*wonders whether to look into opening a Canadian Stuff store*

wanders thru looking for ice

I am eating chili mango slices from trader joes. mmm.

I just buy the regular store brand flour not the name brand flour....... and I haven't noticed a difference in my baking

I do notice a difference in the store brought cake mixes though... whenever I make one for my Trifle, the cake never gets very high and I sometimes don't have enough cake for the trifle, whereas back in Canada I usually have leftover cake

Yeah, the flour issue. Canadian wheat contains higher amounts of gluten so recipes calling for "bread flour" you can use "all purpose" in Canada. In the U.S. you need to use bread flour for breadmaking.

Mmm... bread. I should make some this weekend.

Bee and I made madeleines yesterday before he headed to work for his evening shift. By that night all 40 of them were gone.

I honestly didn't notice the difference, but maybe that's because I was using a Williams-Sonoma recipe. I'm so happy that they turned out though, even though cleaning the pan was such a b*tch.

the only time I really noticed a difference is when you make bread but for other stuff like cookies and cake etc, there really isn't a difference....

Thanks for the heads up Cassie, I'll make sure I just bread flour for bread and regular flower for the other stuff...
You guys are the best

or

No Knead Bread: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

It is awesome but you need to plan ahead of time.