Realization of the Day:

Jalapeños are not chiles.
Well, they are, but I was looking for a can of Ortega chiles for my dinner of Chicken and White Bean Chili. Needless to say, the random jar of 'marinated peppers' from Old El Paso (apparently the only brand of Latin American food to cross the pond) made my chili rather spicy. Grrrr. Another perfect meal ruined (or at least made less palpable) by the differences between British and American English.

Here are some other things I've noticed about British grocery stores:

• Umm, yes Virginia, apparently beans come in Curry.
• The eggs are not refrigerated. They can be found next to the bread on a normal shelf. This is all kinds of bizarre.
• It took me about 20 minutes to find chicken stock today. It doesn't come in cans. The only brand is Knorr's and it's in what resembles a big capri-sun container.
  
• Grapes are in the 'exotic' fruit section. That's right Dad, you worked with exotic fruit!
  
• There are two giant aisles for pre-made dinners. Think Trader Joe's, but somehow less appealing. Apparently one can pick up a date if one browses long enough.
• The fresh-pickled beets have become a staple of my weekly diet. They're pickled whole and are the perfect size!
• Iceberg lettuce is the only lettuce that isn't pre-bagged. The other Americans on my floor have been bemoaning the lack of salads, and now I understand completely. What I wouldn't give for a giant American salad right about now.
  
• The sliced cheese here is....real. No really. No Sargento's or 'American' cheese crap. There's sharp English Farmhouse Cheddar that's pre-sliced! (Incidentally, it goes really well in a tuna melt.)
• Butter comes in different shapes here. It's much more square and it doesn't have the handy 'cut here' measurements.

I know these are little changes, but this coupled with every package looking different makes grocery shopping a daunting task. I've been making a big pot of XXX at the beginning of the week and working through it. Filling in nutritional gaps with yogurt with grape-nuts, apples, beets, and the occasional tuna melt.