how to make an american expat in italy happy

44 CommentsTuesday • January 6, 2009 • by michelle

Show her a store (hello Lidl!) where she can buy:

• Sour cream and onion chips
• Apple juice
• BACON!!!!
• Orangish cheese slices great for melting
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Sweet pickles
• Baked beans

Can you guess what I had for breakfast the next day?

The bacon is actually, seriously, real bacon–and P *loves* it (not that I had any doubt). And yes, I did use some of that cheese in my eggs.

The sweet pickles are rather amazing as well. You’ll notice half the jar is already gone. Again, P was a big fan too. Love those Germans!

Speaking of which, can you see that there is a little plastic ring near the lid of the pickle jar? It’s a contraption that lets you pull up the pickles and leave the juice behind so you don’t have to stick your fingers or a fork inside to try to fish out the “cornichons.” How cool!

The baked beans are good, but I have to doctor them up like Mom taught me to get them *really* good with ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, maple syrup (all of the above sent from Mom as Heinz and French’s are simply the best and the latter two are exceedingly hard to find here).

Also? I didn’t realize how much I missed apple juice until I had a glass of this stuff. YUM! I have no idea why it’s not made here, but it’s a dang shame.

Oh and the cookies and chips are good too–neither are my favorites so I wouldn’t even normally buy them in the States, but I couldn’t resist when I saw them at Lidl.

Expats, share your “found food” experiences please!

And for expats and non-expats alike, what foods make you as happy as this has made me?