2089 What do you bring from England?

Custard powder, Bistos....

Last year we searched everywhere for parsnips - this year they are on their way. Mum also posts christmas crackers and we bring mango chutney and cranberry sauce and mincemeat for pies. Sad really.... but our Italian friends love the crackers and our home made mince pies.

Porridge and oatcakes - but that would be a Scottish parcel :D
I also bring back things like teabags, Branston pickle and other chutneys and crunchy peanut butter. If you like making Indian, Chinese or Thai foods it can be harder to get ingredients for those like coconut milk, creamed coconut, red/green curry paste etc.

"Last year we searched everywhere for parsnips - this year they are on their way"
I've searched as well but they don't seem to exist here (I love curried parsnip soup!)- I've got something sitting in my fridge that's like a massive big long parsnip but is called barbe bianche. I bought it thinking it might be like parsnip but I have a funny feeling I'm going to be disappointed! Oh well boyfriend's in for another "interesting" dinner tonight!

Oh, almost forgot the most important thing - Chocolate - Cadbury's of course!

Baked beans.

Smoked bacon.

Walls Sausages.

Black Pudding.

Then you can have a good old English fry up for the first time in ages after perhaps too much sherry over Christmas :p yummmm oh and Dandelion and Burdock from Sainsburys if you are stuck on where to get it :D

Don't like Cadburys milk chocolate, parsnips we have seen and a friend grows them, branston pickle, peanut butter never use. why not make your own. Coconut milk, creamed coconut, curry pastes all available. Porridge and oatcakes do not use. Tea agree nothing beats an English cuppa but at least you can by Twinings teas here and the selection of fruit teas is great. Do not like Mince pies or Christmas Pud. Do not use custard powder or bistos. You can buy icing sugar and brussel sprouts, had some last week! Jaffa Cakes well have eaten and like them, but do not miss them!!! In fact reading all this we are thinking we must be very unusual as we do not seem to miss any foodstuffs!! In fact our jar of Marmite lasted a year. We will buy tea and marmite next time we are in UK but when we are away from Italy we find we miss the fresh food we eat here!

How do you make Marmite last a year?, I'll have to bring a case.
Going to the local Indian supermarket soon to stock up on spices etc before we come over.
Got a problem bringing a large enough case of Cheddar Cheese, I know there are gorgeous cheeses there but will miss my marmite soldiers and Cheddar.

Dave

Stribs it was a big jar!! Never got the urge for Marmite during the summer months either. Try Pecorino(spelling?)fresca with your marmite soldiers!

Don't forget the oxo cubes. We also have friends who would kill for bakes beans - the genuine article!!

[QUOTE=KATHY THOMSON]Don't forget the oxo cubes. We also have friends who would kill for bakes beans - the genuine article!![/QUOTE]

Re: 'baked beans'.In my case the Italians I take them to, and I too when in Italy would eat them straight from the tin,wheras in the UK I would always heat them through and wouldn't think of serving them cold.

Recently we received an e-mail from Ryanair laying down the rules for flights over the Christmas period. Crackers and party poppers are absolutely banned - they were specifically mentioned in big letters so don't bother asking anyone to bring them over as they risk being confiscated. Seems like they will be doing specifc checks!

As for other things, our children love Branston pickle and cheddar cheese sandwiches so cheese and pickle are always on their wish list. They also enjoy the occasional can of the dreaded baked beans, they are available locally but cost over a £1 so I refuse to buy them. As to other things there is not really anything that we miss. However, every so often I have to put in a request for spices as the selcetion here is so limited. Specifically for Christmas we usually ask for cranberry sauce, mincemeat, Christmas pud and a small British type Christmas cake. We used to make our own, but as we cannot buy most of the ingredients here in Italy have to resort to shop bought.
Icing sugar is available in small 125g packets - it is called 'Zucchero al Velo' and there is a type of biscuit available very similar to a Jaffa cake, sorry cannot remember its name, but you can usually get them in the larger supermarkets.

Enjoy your parcel when it arrives!

We have regular parcels sent in from 'friends on the outside'
Branston as above
Tetley t bags
Cadburys (the choc here is rubbish)
Porridge oats
custard and bisto
And although nothing to do with food has anyone seen blu tak in Italy?

Blu Tak, now you mention it,no! Must have a look.

[QUOTE=herealready]And although nothing to do with food has anyone seen blu tak in Italy?[/QUOTE]

UHU do a version called 'UHU Tac', (gomma adesiva rimovibile), it can be found in cartolerie type shops. It is in a yellow packet and comes in the form of little pre cut squares. I have never seen actual Blue Tac but this works just as well. Ironically it is made in the UK!!!

What is Blu Tac and what do you use it for?:o

It's tacky and it's blue and you use it to stick things up on yor walls.

I have found Blu Tak at the large B&Q type store called Leroy Merlin at the mall outside of Florence (I Gigli).

Blu tak is a type of tape that you can use to cover frames, outlets etc. so when you paint they do not get paint on them as well as when you take off the tape it does not remove the tape. I have also used it for decorative painting of differnet colors. If you cannot get blu tak, get regular masking tape and take a bit of the sticky part off my attaching it to your clothes and then removing it. The results are pretty much the same.

Maybe what I calòl blu tak is different as I have never heard of it being used to attach things but it is a great idea, especially for kids rooms!

I was going to say its the non sticky sticky stuff, but think that was the logo for Pritstick. Here it is

Yes thats the stuff I mean, Thanks, I think the Italian equivelent would do tho as its only to stick my ad in the local shop window.

Proper smoked back bacon. Me and Elaine attempted to make bacon butties with pancetta. Not quite the same effect.

Oh and Cristina, what you think of as blu tak is NOTHING like what I think of as Blu Tak. Your stuff sounds just like masking tape whereas Blu Tak is like a blue putty like substance than you just stick things up with like Sue said.

Not just foodstuffs!!!!!!

I grew up under the influence of two cultures so when at home in Italy ( My Parents home)I do like seeing English paraphenalia about eg. -books, mags etc.Likewise in my home here I indulge in my daily espresso's and am surrounded by some 'Italianey' things.

When Mum was alive I used to send her a weekly Woman's magazine plus literature to liven up the English lessons she gave.

But now I must call up Luciana my Sister in law and wish her 'Un Buon Compleanno!'

[QUOTE=elainecraig]Baked beans.

Smoked bacon.

Walls Sausages.

Black Pudding.

Then you can have a good old English fry up for the first time in ages after perhaps too much sherry over Christmas :p yummmm oh and Dandelion and Burdock from Sainsburys if you are stuck on where to get it :D[/QUOTE]

do you remember when sainsbury's was still a kind of deli store rather than a supermarket? when the bacon was smoked and sold in sides sliced at the moment..well thats the bacon you can buy widely in italy so no need to bring home the bacon we make our own sarnies using 100% quality pork salt and pepper (no bread,herbs,garlic or other in them) we've experimented using our own borlotti beans in home made tomatoe sauce WITHOUT SUGAR and the result is great and in certain parts of the country you can even get a similar local equivalent to black pudding though not everywhere.so you can save luggage allowance in the long term...

[QUOTE=Sebastiano]do you remember when sainsbury's was still a kind of deli store rather than a supermarket? when the bacon was smoked and sold in sides sliced at the moment..well thats the bacon you can buy widely in italy so no need to bring home the bacon we make our own sarnies using 100% quality pork salt and pepper (no bread,herbs,garlic or other in them) we've experimented using our own borlotti beans in home made tomatoe sauce WITHOUT SUGAR and the result is great and in certain parts of the country you can even get a similar local equivalent to black pudding though not everywhere.so you can save luggage allowance in the long term...[/QUOTE]

Sebastiano, you are showing your age :) I can indeed remember when Sainsbury's was still a kind of deli store (but by golly I was a young kid). A single sized store with individual counters and assistants catering for different goods i.e. hand cut bacon, cheese, butter, biscuits etc. and you queued up for each item. And when you paid they put the money into a kind of little 'whizzing' canisters thingy that flew off to 'who knows where', to return a few minutes later with your receipt and change. I used to love that bit as a kid. Whoosh, whizz :rolleyes:

As for the tins of baked beans. 30 odd years ago it was impossible to find them in Italy and I used to make my own as follows:

2 cloves garlic, chopped and gently fried in olive oil. Then add -
1 tin tomatoes (chopped)
1 jar of cooked cannellini beans
Squeeze of tomato puree
Sprinkle of sugar
Salt and black pepper
Slurp of while wine
Slurp of milk
Sprinkle of Thyme

Gently cook all without a lid until texture is like baked beans.

I used to serve these with fried Italian sausage and mashed potatoes.

Not exactly 'haute cuisine' but very satisfying if 'one' happens to be suffering from a hang-over, which 'one' invariably did from time to time in those days :o

Anyone else interested in an anthropology lesson please P.M. I'm sure I have a recipe that I once used on the Mayflower tucked away somewhere :rolleyes:

On a completely different note, the other thing we occasionally ask for are the simple medicines such as aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen etc and for the children calpol/paediatric ibuprofen. Much, much cheaper in the UK than here in Italy ie packet of 24 ibuprofen (own brand) in Tescos approx 80p, in our local farmacy, same size packet & same dose, E8.50!!! Quite a difference.

Uncle Joe's mintballs and Winter nips :(

You mean there was a time when Sainburys wasnt the size of a airport hanger!!! It cant be true :eek: That must have been pre-Jamie? By the way cooked the oven oorasted lemons and the sausage and pasta dish from jamies new cook book really delicious, he is good. AND I'VE CRACKED PIZZAS at long last :p

[QUOTE=elainecraig]You mean there was a time when Sainburys wasnt the size of a airport hanger!!! It cant be true :eek: That must have been pre-Jamie? By the way cooked the oven oorasted lemons and the sausage and pasta dish from jamies new cook book really delicious, he is good. AND I'VE CRACKED PIZZAS at long last :p[/QUOTE]

Congrats! Is the the mozzarella stuffed lemons you are referring to? They did look interesting.

I only cracked making pizzas when I bought a pizza stone (sadly cracked a few months back). Made cooking the critters a lot easier!

HP Sauce !!

I tried the Jamie Oliver stuffed lemon - fiddly and not particularly good. Maybe I need real Italian lemons not Tescos.
So, I can't bring Christmas crackers on the plane. That means I'll have to bring them this summer in the car, ready for Christmas when I come back on the plane. Apart from 2 left from last Christmas - where can I buy crackers in the Summer? I can see that far greater planning is needed here....

[QUOTE=Jacki]
So, I can't bring Christmas crackers on the plane. That means I'll have to bring them this summer in the car, ready for Christmas when I come back on the plane. Apart from 2 left from last Christmas - where can I buy crackers in the Summer? I can see that far greater planning is needed here....[/QUOTE]

I was reading the small print on the booking conditions from one of the airlines a few weeks ago[can't remember but think it was easyjet or ryanair] - saw there that you could take crackers.

From memory, [I wasn't looking for crackers - so just glanced], you could take 2 packs as long as they were still sealed up [but not wrapped in Xmas paper - so they could be seen to be still sealed].They may have had to go in the hold - but I'm not sure. Think there was also something about the contents of the crackers being listed on the box [ but even less sure about that

So - it could be worth re-reading the booking conditions.

Postscript - Just checked a couple of 'baggage conditions' on the web - ryanair doesn't allow crackers - but easyjet doesn't seem to list them as a 'prohibited item'.

[I wonder which airline's conditions I read that did specifically allow them?]

Thanks Alan. Easyjet is my 'local' so hopefully it'll be okay. Of course, I suppose it is possible to have Christmas without crackers.................

OK...essentials...Marmite,Green and Blacks chocolate,smoked bacon,baked beans,english butter,Soreen malt bread,large white toastie loaf,HP sauce,Branston pickle,Colmans english mustard,crumbly lancashire cheese...oh and Jacobs crackers,thats it,cheers,Andy.

Just as an aside - most Italian bread is hard - just ask for Pane morbido (sounds like death) but the bread is soft(er).