Food, restaurants and supermarkets...

Growing up in New York, I have been eating food from around the world for years. Everything from basic staples as bologna and American cheese (sliced thin please). Fruit and Veggies from South American influences, Goya beans galore, how many white beans ARE there? Condiments such as ketchup taken for granted and often tossed. Huge Ethnic influences, from everywhere, from Croatia, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Greece and many other countries have influenced the flavour of NYC and it's food, whether it's in a supermarket or a restaurant.They have Kraft "singles" but that's the only sliced "American" cheese you can find. I'm searching all over the place for sliced to order cold cuts. I want sliced cheese, cut to my specifications, I want my ham the same way, not sitting in piles behind the glass case, drying out. I think the deli thing is my biggest pet peeve, we are on a mission to find a proper deli, I want 250g of ham and Swiss sliced not too thin. I want sliced provolone cheese to go with my hot soppressa (soppressata to everyone outside AU). I don't want to buy a chunk of cheese, to then slice it and put that in a sandwich. Speaking of sandwiches, the way a deli is set up in the US is SO NOT the way they are set up here, you don't go into a deli and say I want a ham and cheese sandwich, you need to go to a cafe and get one that's pre-made unless you go to Adams (Croatian small goods store - LOVE this place). Sliced to order EVERYTHING, but it's a 45 minute drive away. Kraft Whipped Peanut Butter, OMG, so yummy. The bread here is to die for, baked fresh and cut to the thickness of your choice. I love this one called a Cape Seed Loaf it's really good but it's $6 for a large loaf from Baker's Delight ( a franchise). Brumby's (another chain) have a multi-grain whole meal (wheat) bread that's only $4 for a large loaf so we have the Cape Seed only on special occasions. Yoplait is here too, but other than vanilla all the flavours are different. There is no Jello, and the faux Jello they do sell, has been banned by the FDA in the US. We have Pepsi, Dorito's,Cheetos, Coca Cola but in their line-up only Diet Coca Cola and Coke Zero are available to diabetics. There is no Fanta Zero, but I did see Sprite Zero once. I can go to the movies and get Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Coca Cola is the soda of choice in malls and movie theatres, but there is no extra butter or salt (which could be a good thing). Quaker Oats is coming in now, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Special K, All Bran, Rice Krispies (Rice Bubbles here) among other's I can't remember clearly are already here. My Special K cereal bars are here too, though not my favourite chocolate covered pretzel, at least they have the same amount of carbs and calories. Lindt chocolate we bought the other day on sale for $1.99 and that's a great price even for NY so here it's a great price. 


 Asian food here is very popular as it is the closest country to here. Thai, Malaysian, Chinese, Sushi are just a few of the many Asian style eateries. Fast food: McDonalds, called Maccas here, in the US we called it Mickey D's. Burger King is here but it's called Hungry Jacks, we have Domino's pizza and KFC. We actually have Sizzler which I can't wait to see what their buffet offers. Starbucks is here too, but the cappuccino's in Australia are made properly not a tiny bit of coffee and a whole cup of foam like in NY. Tonight we're having Thai, at this place called Thai Chada. We had Thai last Friday and it was pretty good at a place called Thai Kitchen. The Kookaburra Cafe has some really good pizza, with toppings unheard of in NY, but delicious, they even sell slices (rare to find here) at $4.50 a slice. The Smoke Restaurant has really good ribs, American style and I can't wait to go back and try their buffalo wings. Carolina Kitchen also has ribs and wings, the ribs were great the wings, eh. I can make them better and I will. 


I have baked a few things so far. Banana walnut bread, a fave of my husband and father-in-law as there were second helpings. I baked peanut butter cookies and my husband never had them before and he LOVED them. I tried making Anzac cookies and they were gone within a few days and I made 38 cookies. Since I'm working I don't have that much time to bake or cook the way I want to but I will make new things and I want to bake the Anzac cookies and bring them to work.