peanut butter and jelly

Today I had the best PB&J since I first arrived in Oxford. This is a hallmark of sorts for me.

When I first arrived, I went through a bit of shock as I tried to find foods that I recognized and the sort of stuff that I choose to make a part of my regular diet. Admittedly, I wasn’t entirely surprised since Cameron had done a good amount of food sleuthing for me when we visited last February. After making the rounds, he concluded, “Nicole, you are not going to be able to eat in Oxford.” In many ways, Cameron was right. I have found it difficult to eat in the same manner as I did before. I have resorted to eating a lot less fresh fruits and vegetables. Finding local foods has also been a bit of a challenge. There is a nice little market, but from what I’ve sampled the fruit and some of the green vegetables are not that fresh or tasty.

For the most part I’ve figured out how to eat in Oxford. I’ve been able to find good substitutes for what I miss most. And because I’m trying to cook and eat as simply as possible (i.e. not purchase tons of spices and such), I’m doing pretty well these days. There are only two items that are normally part of my diet that I still miss considerably – tofu and bread. Unfortunately, I have determined that finding good tofu is pretty much a lost cause. (What will I ever do when I move from Eugene permanently?!) Walmart is the only place that sells firm tofu and even that stuff isn’t all that tasty.

Bread has also been a troubling loss to my diet. Of course they have bread in Oxford, just not good bread. If I can make it to a local bakery/coffee shop/restaurant during their business hours, then I can purchase a locally made, fresh loaf of good bread. The trouble with that is I am rarely able to make it there during business hours. Fortunately for me, my landlord/friend/baker extraordinaire has offered to bake me bread when she is making some for herself. Yeah!

Now I am back to the beginning of my story. With a freshly baked loaf of Lauren’s 12-grain, I made myself a PB&J. Not only was the bread perfect, but the newly purchased peanut butter was tasty too. Whew! I’m finally finding brands I like too! So, now I can eat lunch in the land of Oxford.