My Pittsburgh Pantry

Before we moved away from Melbourne, I participated in an expat blogging challenge.  The goal was to post every day of the month of February based on a prompt provided by the talented organizer, Cristin over at Between Roots and Wings.  One of the most popular prompts was the one that asked us to write about our overseas pantry.  My post titled "Notes from my Australian Pantry" was a fun one to write, and as we filled the empty shelves of our Pittsburgh pantry, I began thinking about writing an updated version.  This morning at church a friend stopped me to ask if I was ever going to write about my American pantry--just the motivation I needed to sit down and put thoughts into words.

Here, Kim, and anyone else who may be interested, is what our pantry looks like at the moment.  For starters, it's much smaller.  But since we are in the middle of summer and able to fill our plates with fresh produce, that hasn't been a problem.  

The very first items I purchased were ones that were either impossible to obtain in Melbourne, or at least difficult.  They include canned black beans (I was able to find dry black beans at a few locations, but they require planning ahead of time for meals, which turned out to be a problem for me), steel cut oats, corn meal (for our favorite corn bread), bread and butter pickles, graham crackers and marshmallows that melt when roasted.

Perhaps the single ingredient that was impossible to substitute in any way were chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  I even looked up how to make my own adobo sauce (too complicated for my liking, and besides, I couldn't find many of the ingredients needed), and while the word chipotle began to appear in a few select ingredients such as a jarred salsa, it was still relatively uncommon in Australia when we left.

For a great recipe with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, try the Pioneer Woman's Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork.

 

Pickles are something that I didn't think too much about while we lived in Australia.  If I missed them, I didn't realize it, but even so, I headed straight to the pickle aisle to find a jar of bread and butter pickles during my first trip to the grocery store.  Australians often add a slice of beetroot (aka beets) where Americans layer on the pickles--in hamburgers, for instance.  My favorite place for the bread and butter pickle is on a sandwich with the classic Pittsburgh ingredient of Isaly's chipped ham.

The chipped ham sandwich is made by frying up a batch of the chipped ham.  When it is browned, place it on a bun with ketchup and bread and butter pickles.  This sandwich was a staple of my growing up years.  When we recreated the sandwich for our Australian guests in July, we made one change.  We buttered slices of Loafer's English muffin bread and popped the creation in our sandwich maker.  Delicious.

I have also included a photo with my big container of cinnamon, because it's an ingredient that is used much more often in Pittsburgh than Melbourne.  From applesauce to blueberry buckle, from french toast to snickerdoodles, and of course in our much-loved apple pie, cinnamon is a staple in the American pantry.

I could not do a pantry post without showing you the cupboard with our cereal boxes.  Yes, I know that cereal is a poor breakfast option.  It's loaded with processed ingredients and far too much sugar, but we have been making up for lost time with the favorites that we missed for four years:  Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Frosted Mini Wheats, Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Life, and Special K with Strawberries.  Yum, yum, and yum.  We just make sure to eat an egg or some yogurt alongside the sugary indulgence.

One major difference between the two pantries is something that I almost neglected to include in this post.  Our Australian pantry was packed with Heinz products.  In fact, shortly after we moved to Melbourne, I remember one of Ross's work colleagues rifling through everything in our pantry and threatening to throw out everything that was produced by a Heinz competitor. He was half joking/half serious.  I was mortified at how many products were there that belonged to competitors.  I hadn't been in Australia long enough to learn all of the brand names and which ones belonged to whom.  Our loyalties have changed now.  Except for ketchup, we do our best to avoid Heinz products, and I can confidently say that none of us is missing them.

And now for the ingredients that we do miss, the ones that we wish were adorning the shelves of our Pittsburgh pantry:

passion fruit pulp 

two minute noodles with all of their many, many varieties (missed by all the kids).

cans of tuna with various spices and additions (missed by R)

pouches and jars with sauces for dishes such as butter chicken, Thai massaman curry, beef korma and more

But ...

Hooray for Tim Tams, delivered to us in person by our dear friends the Browns (thanks to Julia for supplying a package as well!).  We have devoured one package, gifted another to friends who lived in Melbourne for ten years before relocating to Pittsburgh, and have been restraining ourselves from finishing off the remaining ones.  Long live Tim Tams.

I leave you a recipe for one of our current favorite foods: Overnight steel cut oats with blueberries.  Bring four cups of water to boil in a sauce pan.  Stir in one cup of oats and simmer for one minute.  Refrigerate overnight.  In the morning reheat over low heat, adding a pat of butter, brown sugar, a handful of blueberries and milk or cream to each bowlful.  It's the perfect way to start the day, and a healthier option to that evil sugary cereal I wrote about earlier in the post.  

 

 

 

Related articles

Resurfacing: A Taste of Home

Notes from my Australian Pantry

Comments

[Kim Haytock]

So fun to read!Thanks for the pantry update and would love to know what Tim Tam's are.

[Christie]

Glad you liked it Kim. A Tim Tam is a cross between a candy bar and a chocolate cookie---stop by and you can sample one! They are best eaten alongside a cup of coffee.

[Cristin]

Great follow up to the Australian pantry! I love all those terrible sugary cereals, as well. I think Graham crackers are the thing I miss most. Good to see you have a healthy stash of Tim Tams - nothing else like them!

[David]

What ? No vegemite? .....!!!!

We have one teenager with Cinamon Toast Crunch withdrawal symptoms

[Christie]

I really should have mentioned the lack of vegemite. It never occurred to me ... obviously we aren't missing it!