A Package From America

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
From The Four Loves By C.S. Lewis

So this morning I opened my door and found a student's most favorite thing: A package! (Okay, really, don't we all just love getting packages? I've actually considered ordering more things on-line just for the thrill of getting the chance to tear through the tape to discover what's inside) Often the greatest part of a package is not knowing what's inside. But I knew what was in this box and that only increased my excitement.

To explain, let me backtrack a little bit. I love living in England but there are some things that this country hasn't caught on to yet. Most of them are food related. You've heard my rant before (for a more detailed description of the fun I've had shopping, and not finding what I'm looking for, check out my Adventures in Shopping post). But now that I've been out of American food contact for seven months I'm starting to have epic cravings for the strangest things.

This isn't saying that I haven't had momentary urges for American food all along; Allison and I have sat and batted restaurant names back and forth drooling over eating there (Red Robin has featured in almost every one of these conversations, if you have one near you, please go there for me and have the Guacamole Bacon Burger - oh, oh - or the Blue Ribbon Burger! With a Freckled Lemonade and bottomless steak fries. Thank you). But in general eating here hasn't been that different because, let's be honest, vegetables are vegetables no matter what country you are in and I eat a lot of veggies in a valiant attempt to be healthy (the Ben & Jerry's, Mochas, and cookies off-set this, but at least I make an attempt, right?). Yet the longer I'm away the more I notice the little things that are missing. I mean, they might be somewhere in the UK, I'm not saying that these items are impossible to buy, but they are either extremely rare or extremely expensive (online one of those large bags of Peanut Butter M&Ms - 50oz - costs almost £30 including shipping!At Tesco you can by Lucky Charms for what equals almost $10! WTF?) So I've had to do without some of my usual staples and treats.

What, you may ask, has this to do with my package? If you're smart, you'll already have caught the drift. Yes, in this package there was food from America. Two things really: Baker's Sweet Chocolate and spinach tortillas. They came from my good friend Caitlin and she spent way too much on the post but it was extremely sweet of her and it totally made my day. nothing makes a person feel more important than someone paying money to send you something that you don't need but really want. 

So what am I going to do with these American treasures? The tortillas are self explanatory and will be a lovely treat. It's the chocolate that my British friends should be most excited about because I'm going to make my famous fudge (based on a 'secret' recipe from my mom's side of the family). Now all I have to accomplish is finding marshmallow fluff - which, according to resent research, is available at a regular market here. Wish me luck (but since I'm very motivated I will succeed). Tonight my flat is going to smell like a chocolate shop. I can't wait.