Thursday May 5th (aka 5 Of Mayonnaise)
 

Afternoon! |waves|

Had a rough night sleeping, so went back to bed after I updated & now I'm here. Just work planned for today...

Finished my adult work earlier this morning. Then reformated an external drive that was having issues on my home's Mac server. Now it's errands time.

Election day here today. Voting for the new Mayor of London. Shit choice, basically either "the slimy oily dishonest prick" or the "shady, terrorist sympathiser cock". I really wanted a "none of the above" option. I am not exaggerating when I say that if, as a third option, we could have had Donald Trump, I would have voted for Trump, the real candidates are that bad!!!!!

We had an amazing soccer result a couple of days back and most people over here are still in awe of the result. Basically the major British soccer championship was won by a no hoper outsider team. In Britain where off course betting is legal countrywide, most bookies will also take bets on the most ridiculous things (eg Aliens landing on the White House lawn, Richard Dawkins converting to Christianity, etc). Anyone betting on this soccer result was lumped in with that lot. And the odds showed that the bookies thought it was five times more likely that Elvis would be found alive this year, than Leicester City winning the Premiership. But they did.

So I now got all my old albums out and am waiting for Elvis to come and sign them!

Bleah... can't sleep. Updated until way too late, now we have a pheasant outside our window squawking. World Championship Ice Hockey begins tonight in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and we are in the same pool with the US and Canada (We play the US on the 9th). Not that it has much meaning in the US, but this is like our football playoffs. A good majority of the people will be glued to the TVs tonight to watch. To say the Finns are ice hockey crazy is to put it mildly.

I am getting close to being able to start building sites again, probably next week. I've been cleaning out dead links from the lists and need new material. I'm still trying to get it through my head that I am now officially retired. I don't have to go to school any more or look for work. I've told my husband that it is now time to start doing all those things I have wanted to do, "When I retire..." Reviving my porn empire is at the top of the list.

Ah well, I either need to try to sleep or start working for the day... (and since I haven't really slept yet, I still consider this the 5th. Man, do I miss all the Tex-Mex food back home!

I don't know the situation where you are, but in Britain if you want American food (either the ingredients to cook your own or ready meals) you can get what you need on the Internets. And if there are no companies in Finland who provide this service, I've no doubt some of the British companies will post to Finland.

Or try eBay. On eBay UK, a lot of people import small quantities of US food foe ex-pat Americans, and for Brits who like American food. They are a bit expensive when they sell it on eBay (probably because of the small scale they import) but worth it for the occasional treat. You will probably find some people locally who do this (or failing that you probably again find that many British sellers will post to Finland).

And Amazon is a good place to try too. Not Amazon itself, but the dealers who sell on Amazon. Plenty of grocers sell via Amazon. And Amazon will let you buy from Amazon.com (US Amazon) and import to other countries. I buy a hell of a lot of American stuff via Amazon, they are very helpful.

Finland is a whole different world. We do get some things here, but what we do get is very very limited and very very expensive. The small 2 piece package of Reese's peanut butter cups is over $2 here - *if* you can find it. Kellogg's corn flakes - $6 for the mid-size box. Similar story for a small non-brand poor quality peanut butter. Many of our goods do come to us from the UK. But I miss silly things like the red enchilada sauce (gotta make my own), or buffalo meat or even turkey. I have never seen whole chicken here in the store, or even cut up pieces but we do get the tender cuts. And don't even think about finding most of the steaks you are used to in the store. No skirt steak for making fajitas! Funny, but I miss the cottage cheese! Ours here is just dry curds, and no nice creamy texture. I'm also out in the country in a small town of about 10,000 instead of living in a big city. I really would not have it any other way either.

It isn't a poor place at all. We are just rich in other things like fresh fish, mushrooms and incredible berries. The berries and mushrooms are also things you can go pick anywhere - even private property. I don't think my mother-in-law has ever bought blueberries in the store! She picks and freezes them.

It's also a place that has very strict laws on what can be added to the foods. Many of the preservatives and additives that are so common in the US foods are banned here. I am not complaining about that at all. That yellow-orange color common in cheese based foods is not allowed here.

Just differences. I think everyone longs for the foods of back home at some point or another. Some things can be found, others not. Some things you can make from scratch, others you can't even get the base ingredients.

Before they were available over her I used to buy Reese's Cups from a guy who sold military collectibles. He had deals with guys in American army and air force bases over here to supply him with stuff to sell (i.e. steal it for him). He used to get the Reese's Cups (and Butterfingers, and Baby Ruths, and Hersey chocolate, none of which were available in Britain then) from an army base canteen, and they cost me a fortune.

Last time I had Reese's Cups, I got the big five cup pack from a pound shop (a pound is just under one and a half US dollars). The shop had loads of different US candies at that price. So if things can change that much here, they may one day change in Finland too.



P.S. Junk food is one of the things America does brilliantly. Reese's Cups and Corn Dogs are the food of the Gods, and "spray on cheese" is a brilliant Nobel Prize worthy invention. And don't get me started on Crackerjack. Popcorn and peanuts together is a brilliant idea as it stands, but to go one step further and add a toy - pure genius.

(Although Twinkies are the food of the devil, and should be kicked into the nearest black hole.)


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Actually, I kind of hope it doesn't change that much here. We have this wonderful wonderful chocolate made right here called Fazer. I don't even miss Hershey's, Nestle's, or even Ghirardelli and they don't even come close to this delicious stuff. I do send some back to the US to my mom from time to time. I do miss the baking chips, though. Snickers we can get at the local grocery store, and even M&Ms. My old standby jellybeans? Nope. Some stores have them in bulk, but none in bags in this ares. Now licorice... so many kinds and flavors. I have also seen CrackerJack from time to time. I do need to get some for my husband so he has that experience. I've also been looking for Fritos so that he can have a Frito-pie. Really do miss those things.

Dang it.. I miss the Butterfingers (or anything peanut butter!) and Baby Ruths. We are going into town next week, so I will keep my eyes open. Maybe that larger store in the bigger city will have them this time.