venerdì 11 aprile 2008

A taste of England

The parents are in for the weekend, and as always happens when they come to visit, it's raining. Hard. This meant that the usual pre-parent dash this morning involving shopping, cleaning, car valeting and general panic, made for a rather damp experience. Not that the weather makes any difference to their sheer delight in spending precious time with their (only) little girl; along with her 'mum-zilla' attitude when it comes to me, my mum also has a very Under the Tuscan Sun view of Italy, so no amount of rain, traffic, rudeness, public urination, or anything else will spoil the trip. I'm hoping some of this positive energy rubs off on me - at least enough to last me until the next visit!
However, whilst dashing through the puddles in the centre this morning, late for a doctors appointment, I happened to come across what might just be my salvation - a shop called A Taste of England. At least I think that was the name - I was too busy standing gawping at the place with my mouth open to properly take anything in. This is not your bog-standard Union Jack Teapot / Princess Diana Mug shop. This place has everything. I can't believe I've lived in Milan for over two years and never knew about it - slow or what??
So if I'm feeling particularly nostalgic and have some cash to splash (it's not cheap by anybody's standards!), that is where I shall be: PG Tips, Cadburys Dairy Milk, Branston Pickle, Salad Cream, BAKED BEANS, Dr Pepper (for our American buddies).... My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Time to take the folks out for pizza I think....

4 commenti:

Anne in Oxfordshire ha detto...

Hope you have a great time with your mum...

Someone else mentioned that shop, can;t think who now, but someone who was missing things from England...strange I miss things from Italy and have never lived there...as for english items, I think the only thing would be my cup of tea, in the mornings only..my husband would as well as long with his marmite !!! Happy shopping...oh yes forgot to mention you can now get your English Chocolate :-)

Kataroma ha detto...

Wow - that's fantastic!

There are certain things I just really miss from Australia and also from when I lived in New York. And it's hard for anyone who hasn't been an expat to understand - a lot of it is just really banal everyday stuff.

In my case, a lot of it is Asian food (which I gorged on back in Sydney in January) - good sushi, Vietnamese food, Shanghai soup dumplings, yum cha etc. But also some Aussie stuff like vitaweet biscuits, meat pies with sauce, shortbread biscuits with strong tea, fresh, cheap fish (it's so expensive here!), eggs benedict, caramello koalas, non-overly sweet muesli, cocktails like the proper martinis I used to have in NY (when I'm not pregnant), bagels with lox (also from NYC).

I've managed to find: golden syrup and rolled oats (for making ANZACs), worcestershire sauce for my eggs and I make my own drip filter coffee in the mornings so in general I'm ok here. But there are just certain things which you miss from home. Oh and I found one other key thing was to avoid eating pasta too often. Too much starch and I start feeling sluggish and put on weight.

Emmina ha detto...

Anne,
Had a lovely weekend thanks. The strange thing is, as time goes by I miss English things more and more. In the beginning I was quite happy to eat, drink and sleep all things Italian. Now I find myself craving pickles and ketchup - things which I never really ate much in England anyway! What do you miss about Italy?

Kataroma,
Your list made me hungry! It's true that the variety of foods on offer here is pretty limited - fresh local produce is fine for a while but there comes a point where I would do anything for a decent curry / Chinese / fish and chips!!! I even bought baked beans the other day and ate them on toast, much to Luca's disgust!

Anne in Oxfordshire ha detto...

I miss all the variety in the shops..I have been to supermarkets in France, Spain, Sicily and Italy...I miss the freshness of the fruit and veg,,especially the salad items...the great fish counters, the cold meat counters, and more..

Oh how much would my husband miss his curry!!! :-)