What am I forgetting?

[Krikit 1,163]

Oh. Kinda like coney fries. Don't know if anyone remembers those. They used to have them at A&W. They were yummy.

[Marilyn. 340]

Oh. Kinda like coney fries. Don't know if anyone remembers those. They used to have them at A&W. They were yummy.

coney fries have chili right? that is what I am getting when I do a search..

[JillA 2]

Yeah pizza fries are good.... just pizza sauce instead of gravy.... lots of ooey gooey cheese... I bet they'd taste better with curds but haven't tried them with curds, just shredded mozza

[Krikit 1,163]

Oh. Kinda like coney fries. Don't know if anyone remembers those. They used to have them at A&W. They were yummy.

coney fries have chili right? that is what I am getting when I do a search..

It's more like a spaghetti sauce than a chili sauce. I guess it's kind of in between chili sauce and spaghetti sauce, if that makes any sense. lol

[warlord 72]

Oh. Kinda like coney fries. Don't know if anyone remembers those. They used to have them at A&W. They were yummy.

coney fries have chili right? that is what I am getting when I do a search..

It's more like a spaghetti sauce than a chili sauce. I guess it's kind of in between chili sauce and spaghetti sauce, if that makes any sense. lol

I know Chilie Cheese Fries are very popular here. Though still don't know if I've ever actually seen what poutine or whatever really looks like in real life. Seen photos on here, but just don't think I've ever seen anyone actual eat it or any place that actually sold it other then the modern 2000 New York Fries in Canada. I don't recall them ever having it in the 90's, so thinking the popularity of it might have happened in the late 90's or something outside Quebec...

[suzukiwookie 1]

My sister and bother in law are driving down next week for a visit (it was supposed to be a surprise but I blew it! LOL)

I've got the usual suspects on my list: Timmy's coffee for the hubby, Shreddies (square and diamond ones ), Aero bars (for a friend), Smarties and Ketchup chips.

Anything else I should ask for - I'm having a brain fart.

btw, my grocery now carries Stoned Wheat Thin crackers. I find it quite funny that the box actually says "imported" on it.

I'm a chef from Toronto and I'm freaking out here!! I can't find 70% of the ingredients I was used to cooking with in Toronto. No Indian foods, or Asian foods to mention. Forget making butter chicken, or good Chinese dishes. And Floridians seem to think that Tilapia and Basa are premium fish... FYI, they sell for about $1.50 per pound in Toronto, and I wouldn't feed Tilapia to my dog. So I guess I'm thinking I'll probably have to fly up to New York and get some mail-order happening, since their food supply should be comparable to that of Toronto's (minus border hassles). Florida, so far, is all about over-priced seafood, and high fructose corn syrup with food colouring in different coloured packages. Vegetables are sold as museum pieces, and well, I'm done complaining. Atleast the beef is really good here!

[JillA 2]

My sister and bother in law are driving down next week for a visit (it was supposed to be a surprise but I blew it! LOL)

I've got the usual suspects on my list: Timmy's coffee for the hubby, Shreddies (square and diamond ones ), Aero bars (for a friend), Smarties and Ketchup chips.

Anything else I should ask for - I'm having a brain fart.

btw, my grocery now carries Stoned Wheat Thin crackers. I find it quite funny that the box actually says "imported" on it.

I'm a chef from Toronto and I'm freaking out here!! I can't find 70% of the ingredients I was used to cooking with in Toronto. No Indian foods, or Asian foods to mention. Forget making butter chicken, or good Chinese dishes. And Floridians seem to think that Tilapia and Basa are premium fish... FYI, they sell for about $1.50 per pound in Toronto, and I wouldn't feed Tilapia to my dog. So I guess I'm thinking I'll probably have to fly up to New York and get some mail-order happening, since their food supply should be comparable to that of Toronto's (minus border hassles). Florida, so far, is all about over-priced seafood, and high fructose corn syrup with food colouring in different coloured packages. Vegetables are sold as museum pieces, and well, I'm done complaining. Atleast the beef is really good here!

There must be asian/indian grocery/specialty stores in Florida area?

[Krikit 1,163]

I know Chilie Cheese Fries are very popular here. Though still don't know if I've ever actually seen what poutine or whatever really looks like in real life. Seen photos on here, but just don't think I've ever seen anyone actual eat it or any place that actually sold it other then the modern 2000 New York Fries in Canada. I don't recall them ever having it in the 90's, so thinking the popularity of it might have happened in the late 90's or something outside Quebec...

Yes, I think you're right, Warlord. I didn't really see poutine too much out of Quebec until sometime in the 90's.

I'm a chef from Toronto and I'm freaking out here!! I can't find 70% of the ingredients I was used to cooking with in Toronto. No Indian foods, or Asian foods to mention. Forget making butter chicken, or good Chinese dishes. And Floridians seem to think that Tilapia and Basa are premium fish... FYI, they sell for about $1.50 per pound in Toronto, and I wouldn't feed Tilapia to my dog. So I guess I'm thinking I'll probably have to fly up to New York and get some mail-order happening, since their food supply should be comparable to that of Toronto's (minus border hassles). Florida, so far, is all about over-priced seafood, and high fructose corn syrup with food colouring in different coloured packages. Vegetables are sold as museum pieces, and well, I'm done complaining. Atleast the beef is really good here!

I had the same freakout, Wookie. The unavailability of ingredients in Florida is mind-boggling. I am lucky enough to travel back to T.O. quite often so I tend to bring back what I need quite regularly. Not sure where you are in Florida but there's a pretty good Whole Foods in Orlando and the Fresh Markets aren't bad, either, though rather small.

Here's a link to find a Farmer's Market near you: LocalHarvest.org

Indian/Pakistani/Desi Food and Grocery Stores in Florida

There's also a new cheese shop (finally) in Winter Park, not far from the small Whole Foods in that area: The Cheese Shop on Park

If there's anything else you need let me know. I have a whole ton of stuff in stock that I can send you if you're desperate.

[suzukiwookie 1]

I know Chilie Cheese Fries are very popular here. Though still don't know if I've ever actually seen what poutine or whatever really looks like in real life. Seen photos on here, but just don't think I've ever seen anyone actual eat it or any place that actually sold it other then the modern 2000 New York Fries in Canada. I don't recall them ever having it in the 90's, so thinking the popularity of it might have happened in the late 90's or something outside Quebec...

Yes, I think you're right, Warlord. I didn't really see poutine too much out of Quebec until sometime in the 90's.

I'm a chef from Toronto and I'm freaking out here!! I can't find 70% of the ingredients I was used to cooking with in Toronto. No Indian foods, or Asian foods to mention. Forget making butter chicken, or good Chinese dishes. And Floridians seem to think that Tilapia and Basa are premium fish... FYI, they sell for about $1.50 per pound in Toronto, and I wouldn't feed Tilapia to my dog. So I guess I'm thinking I'll probably have to fly up to New York and get some mail-order happening, since their food supply should be comparable to that of Toronto's (minus border hassles). Florida, so far, is all about over-priced seafood, and high fructose corn syrup with food colouring in different coloured packages. Vegetables are sold as museum pieces, and well, I'm done complaining. Atleast the beef is really good here!

I had the same freakout, Wookie. The unavailability of ingredients in Florida is mind-boggling. I am lucky enough to travel back to T.O. quite often so I tend to bring back what I need quite regularly. Not sure where you are in Florida but there's a pretty good Whole Foods in Orlando and the Fresh Markets aren't bad, either, though rather small.

Here's a link to find a Farmer's Market near you: LocalHarvest.org

Indian/Pakistani/Desi Food and Grocery Stores in Florida

There's also a new cheese shop (finally) in Winter Park, not far from the small Whole Foods in that area: The Cheese Shop on Park

If there's anything else you need let me know. I have a whole ton of stuff in stock that I can send you if you're desperate.

Thanks for the info Krikit! My parents are coming down for our wedding in 2 weeks, so I will make sure to put in a tall order when they come down! lol Thanks for the links, I will check them out. We're in Clearwater, so there aren't any asian markets (that I have found), all Publix/Wal-Mart and Super Target which carry mostly american foods, and a little mexican. But I will check out your links. I'm hoping that Tampa may have more ethnic foods, but It would suck to have to drive all the way over the causeway every time I need to buy curry paste, or black bean sauce! As you can tell, I woke up in a complaining mood... Florida is bringing out the retiree in me! lol

We do have a fresh market here, and I like it cause they make good sushi too. But it's WAY overpriced for most things. And if Whole Foods is overpriced in Toronto, I'd hate to see how they are here.

I'm going to start to explore Tampa more and I may even post my discoveries here in VJ. The adventure continues... I miss being able to work.

[Krikit 1,163]

Thanks for the info Krikit! My parents are coming down for our wedding in 2 weeks, so I will make sure to put in a tall order when they come down! lol Thanks for the links, I will check them out. We're in Clearwater, so there aren't any asian markets (that I have found), all Publix/Wal-Mart and Super Target which carry mostly american foods, and a little mexican. But I will check out your links. I'm hoping that Tampa may have more ethnic foods, but It would suck to have to drive all the way over the causeway every time I need to buy curry paste, or black bean sauce! As you can tell, I woke up in a complaining mood... Florida is bringing out the retiree in me! lol

We do have a fresh market here, and I like it cause they make good sushi too. But it's WAY overpriced for most things. And if Whole Foods is overpriced in Toronto, I'd hate to see how they are here.

I'm going to start to explore Tampa more and I may even post my discoveries here in VJ. The adventure continues... I miss being able to work.

LOL @ the bolded bit.

Oh, you're so lucky! You live where all the great butcher/fish monger shops are! We have NONE around here. I've been to this one by you a couple of times..... The Chop Shop. They're great. I tell them I have a bit of a distance to travel and they pack everything in ice for me. I wish we had a butcher and a fish monger.

[warlord 72]

On the seafood thing, I have always noticed the closer you get to the coast the more seafood will cost. I gave up trying to cook at my friends in Florida or New Jersey or at my brothers in Rhode Island years back when I would visit because seafood was just outragous. Even in California it's just insane the prices. Meanwhile, one of the places in the middle of nowhere central US where I'm 14 hours from the closest body of water, seafood is really cheap.

I do most of mine at an oriental grocery store where I can get anything and everything my hearts desired for really cheap. We actually have two oriental grocery stores near each other, one is a regular sized grocery store and the other is a mega store where I can get all different types of squid, octopus, sushi grade seafood, fish, shrimp, shellfish, snails, sea slugs, sea urchin, tons of different types of crags in the shell, etc for cheap.

I don't see any selection in the Florida/New Jerery/California grocery stores either with seafood. I don't know why that is. And here talipia is regarded as the Walmart fish. The cheapest kind when no one wants to spend money to get anything else...

[Krikit 1,163]

That's awesome, Warlord. I wish we had that oriental grocery store here.

[DeadPoolX 9]

My wife has been down to the U.S. (mostly Houston, TX) several times and for the most part, she's said food tastes very similar. She did note that the ketchup might have tasted a little different, but nothing really worth noticing. She doesn't eat much junk food and prefers to cook items herself, so some of the products here she wouldn't know if they tasted different or not.

I haven't noticed anything tasting different. Maybe I don't eat enough junk food to notice it, either. However, two thing that do bug me are...

1. Why is iced tea automatically sweetened? I hate that! In Houston the iced tea was always served unsweetened and if you wanted it sweetened, you'd ask for "sweet tea" instead.

2. I was really shocked when I found out that restaurants don't automatically offer free refills. I discovered this one time when my wife and I were out somewhere and the waiter asked if my wife wanted a refill. My wife looked at me for some reason, and without thinking, I said yes. Why not, right? They're always free. So when the bill came, I was more than a little annoyed. I figured the waiter shouldn't have offered to get a refill if I had to pay for it or at the very least, he should have specified.

My wife said that unless the menu specifically states "free refills" then they don't offer it (which is why she was a little surprised when I immediately said "yes" to the refill). Before coming to Canada, I hadn't been to a place that didn't offer free refills since the 1980s. I didn't give the waiter a very good tip. Whether or not that's the norm in Canada, I felt that a waiter shouldn't offer to get someone something without stating it'll cost the patron.

[Krikit 1,163]

Haha. You were probably just as shocked about having to pay for a refill as we were all shocked that refills were free.

And I agree about the iced tea. Sometimes I prefer it not to be sweetened. I really like that they mostly make their tea from scratch here, rather than the tinned or bottled stuff with all the synthetic ingredients.

[Marilyn. 340]

Haha. You were probably just as shocked about having to pay for a refill as we were all shocked that refills were free.

And I agree about the iced tea. Sometimes I prefer it not to be sweetened. I really like that they mostly make their tea from scratch here, rather than the tinned or bottled stuff with all the synthetic ingredients.

yeah I know I was.. I remember the first time after I moved here that my hubby went to get a refill I was tugging on him telling him not to...lol

Edited March 31, 2009 by *Marilyn*