# Any items that you think should be commonly available that are not?



## Adillo303 (Jan 4, 2009)

My daughter was here over the weekend and she went to the gorcery store and stocked up on coctail sauce. She says that it is hard to find where she lives. I have heard of someonehaving trouble finding cheerios.

How about y'all? Is ther an item in your area that you would think as commonly available or a staple food that you fing hard to get?

AC


----------



## LadyCook61 (Jan 4, 2009)

Taylor Ham , also known as Pork Roll would be hard to get other than in NJ and Pa. that I know about.


----------



## quicksilver (Jan 4, 2009)

Oh, that's funny, LC. I came here with the specific purpose of mentioning TAYLOR HAM!
My very fav thing! I can only get in 1 supermarket chain and they're not close.
Next, I would say, horseradish sauce by HEINZ. We carry their cocktail sauces, both regular and zesty, but not horseradish.
Great with turkey and roast beast.


----------



## kitchenelf (Jan 4, 2009)

Duck breasts...fresh.  REAL andouille sausage.


----------



## GB (Jan 4, 2009)

_Good_ cheese.


----------



## Katie H (Jan 4, 2009)

Lots of things here.  It's a very rural area here.  Puts a real crimp in cooking.


----------



## PieSusan (Jan 4, 2009)

It use to be hard to find key lime juice and gourmet baking chocolates. Now, I can.

The only thing that I wish that I could buy locally is first clear flour because shipping charges are so expensive at King Arthur Flour. Anyway, since I am allergic to rye flour, I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

I use to call my trips looking for specialty items or bakeware "my holy grails" and Andy use to also have a difficult time finding odd things. I recall that he was looking for herbes de Provence and I bought it for him when I saw it. 

We have gotten lots better than we use to be. I still have to buy bakeware online sometimes. In fact, I am awaiting a package that is going to be sent on Tuesday.


----------



## Toots (Jan 4, 2009)

Katie E said:


> Lots of things here.  It's a very rural area here.  Puts a real crimp in cooking.



The same here usually.  I have to make a special trip over to Cincinnati or the north burbs to get a special ingredient.


----------



## middie (Jan 4, 2009)

Key Limes, and Screaming Yellow Zonkers


----------



## Katie H (Jan 4, 2009)

middie said:


> Key Limes, and Screaming Yellow Zonkers



Omigosh!!!  I'd forgotten about Screaming Yellow Zonkers.  One of our sons practically lived on them when he was a teen.


----------



## Barbara L (Jan 4, 2009)

When I moved from California to South Carolina, I was surprised to find out that a lot of my favorite brands weren't sold here.  Three that I really miss are Del Monte pickles, Rosarita refried beans, and Bob's Big Boy Blue Cheese salad dressing.  

Barbara


----------



## ndnstarr (Jan 4, 2009)

fresh raw green peanuts.. i love to make boiled peanuts.. not many people in new mexico have heard of boiled peanuts.  my mom even goes as far is to shipping me the dang peanuts from florida.


----------



## PieSusan (Jan 4, 2009)

middie said:


> Key Limes, and Screaming Yellow Zonkers


 
I have seen key limes at Heinen's and the Miles Farmer's market as well as their juice.

Screaming Yellow Zonkers were discontinued. See
Screaming Yellow Zonkers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## sattie (Jan 4, 2009)

Tahini.... I'm still looking!


----------



## marigeorge (Jan 4, 2009)

Fresh fish/seafood..........no one in this area has a clue that what they sell as fresh, I wouldn't even dare give my kitties!


----------



## AllenOK (Jan 4, 2009)

Cable TV and Cable Internet!  I live 1,000 ft from the end of the cable line.  Cox refuses to extend the line to our house unless A)  We get a petition signed with 30 signatures of folks who will get cable, or B)  We cough up $20K.

That said, KE, I hear you on the decent Andouillie (sp?).  The stuff we get at work is OK, but the stuff available at the grocery stores is pretty junky.  I'd really like to find a Chorizo that I like.  I have gone so far as to go to a couple different Mexican grocery stores and tried their house-made bulk Chorizo.  Way to much white vinegar.  I'll probably have to make my own, using a recipe that calls for red wine vinegar.

While I was up in MI, I couldn't find gumbo file powder to save my life, until I talked to the spice vendor at the country club I worked at.

I have noticed that even within the Tulsa metro area, some grocery stores OF THE SAME CHAIN will carry items more suited to that locality.  The place we lived at when we first moved back has a booming Latino population, as well as a booming Asian population.  The Wally World in that area has a huge ethnic aisle.  I distinctly remember canned tomatillo puree.  I tried finding some at the Wally World in the small town we live in now, and nope, not there.  Heck, they are lucky to have FRESH tomatillos.  I can't even get a local beer at the local Wally World.  However, if I go to the Wally World on my way to work, they have it.  Go figure.....


----------



## Saphellae (Jan 4, 2009)

I used to be able to go down to the depanneur (aka convenience store) at the bottom of our building and pick up a couple bottles of our favorite wine when we lived in Montreal. The laws in Ontario are different and they only sell wine and alcohol at government run establishments called LCBO and the Beer Store.  In Montreal you could get wine and beer until 11pm at night. Here, 9-8pm.

Not that we're big drinkers... anyways lol. Nick managed to find me a vanilla bean at a big market in downtown Montreal when we lived there. I haven't had a chance to explore here yet, but I've seen a few butcher shops I'd like to check out.

The vanilla bean is currently sitting in a pot of sugar  Mmmmm. Vanilla Sugar!


----------



## RobsanX (Jan 4, 2009)

Adillo303 said:


> *My daughter was here over the weekend and she went to the gorcery store and stocked up on coctail sauce. She says that it is hard to find where she lives.* I have heard of someonehaving trouble finding cheerios.
> 
> How about y'all? Is ther an item in your area that you would think as commonly available or a staple food that you fing hard to get?
> 
> AC



Tell your daughter to buy a bottle of ketchup, a jar of horseradish, a bottle of Worcestershire sauce, and a bottle of Tabasco.

1/4 cup of ketchup
1/2 tsp horseradish
10 or so squirts of Worcestershire sauce
2-5 squirts of Tabasco

Stir well, and she'll never buy another bottle of cocktail sauce again...

Okra is hard to find in WI. I'm originally from Oklahoma, and fried okra is like it's own food group there. Within the last year or so, the local stores have started carrying frozen okra, and okra pickles. Okra pickles, yum!


----------



## deelady (Jan 4, 2009)

Freshly baked pits bread or flat bread


----------



## PanchoHambre (Jan 4, 2009)

PA has dreadful liquor laws so that....

and RIPE avocados.... in Texas they were like 4 for a buck... here you can get one baseball hard fruit that may or may not resemble an avocado for 4 bucks....

and cilantro that does not look like its been through the laundry.

oh and my annoyance for this weekend.... more than one type of Italian Rice... the only variety in the grocery was Arborio from Texas... not that theres anything wrong with Texas but I would like some variety.


----------



## toni1948 (Jan 4, 2009)

Lamb ribs, smoked pork spare ribs, and breast of veal. Also, a butcher shop where I could get real Polish Kielbasa.  A Kosher delicatessen where I could buy good chopped liver.


----------



## Adillo303 (Jan 5, 2009)

So far, very interesting,

I offered my daughter a recipe for coctail sauce and i would not buy it. Actually, I like your recipie a lot. Anyway, her family is so straight laced that when they have cranberry sauce, it must be in the shape of the can or the kids won't eat it.


----------



## Lefty7887 (Jan 5, 2009)

Goya products.


----------



## quicksilver (Jan 5, 2009)

Bakeries, hot dog joints, italian delis, all night diners, bodegas.


----------



## pdswife (Jan 5, 2009)

Veal...is hard to find at the real "store" but I can get it at the butchers.
For awhile for reasons that no one could understand our safeway stopped stocking chip dip!  It's back now because so many of us asked for it.  Real Greek yogart.


----------



## Jeekinz (Jan 5, 2009)

marigene said:


> Fresh fish/seafood..........no one in this area has a clue that what they sell as fresh, I wouldn't even dare give my kitties!


 
+1,000,000

How about American Gulf Shrimp....._fresh_!  I found only one fishery in the next county that sells head-on jumbo shrimp.


----------



## GhettoRacingKid (Jan 5, 2009)

Wow.

do I feel lucky at this point.

I cant think of a single thing that I wish I was able to get on a often basis.

So far 1 thing I was looking for was sausage casings but I knew where to get it and took a road trip with a freind to Cabelas in PA not to far from my hosue out there and now im looking for Rennet locally but I think i know where I can get it since I know of a supermarket that makes there mutz fresh daily.


----------



## JoeV (Jan 5, 2009)

ndnstarr said:


> fresh raw green peanuts.. i love to make boiled peanuts.. not many people in new mexico have heard of boiled peanuts.  my mom even goes as far is to shipping me the dang peanuts from florida.



Not sure where you live in NM, but when I lived in Clovis & Portales (1972-73), we used to steal the peanuts from the field when they turned them over ready for harvest. We'd take them home and either boil or roast the. Peanuts are all over the Eastern part of the state.


----------



## PieSusan (Jan 5, 2009)

Goya products are finally easier to find where I live. I use to bring them home from S. Fla. They are wonderful!


----------



## Lefty7887 (Jan 5, 2009)

PieSusan said:


> Goya products are finally easier to find where I live. I use to bring them home from S. Fla. They are wonderful!



Yes, I agree and inexpensive and always great quality.


----------



## quicksilver (Jan 5, 2009)

Jeeks, try the portuguese section of Newark for gulf shrimp with heads on.
For those who don't know, shrimp with the heads are much, much more tasty than without.
I don't know why, but I learned this in the area above
in the late '80s.
Good luck Jeekinz


----------



## AllenOK (Jan 5, 2009)

If you cook shrimp with the head on, there's a nugget of shrimp fat between the head and tail.  That fat is full of flavor, and it leaks out into the sauce when it's cooked.

A year and a half ago, we got some head-on Hawaiian blue shrimp flown in.  We did some Cajun BBQ'd shrimp with them.  They were awesome!  Only problem was, to many of the "ladies" at the club were so straight-laced that they told the GM that "real ladies shouldn't have to touch shrimp before they eat it."  And that is a quote!  Sadly, we can't do anything with head-on shrimp anymore.

When I was up in MI, I missed decent BBQ so much that I taught myself how to make it at home.  The town I lived it, if you said you were going to have BBQ, your neighbors automatically asked what kind of steaks were you cooking, and how many hotdogs and hamburgers you were going to cook.


----------



## RobsanX (Jan 5, 2009)

AllenOK said:


> When I was up in MI, I missed decent BBQ so much that I taught myself how to make it at home.  The town I lived it, if you said you were going to have BBQ, your neighbors automatically asked what kind of steaks were you cooking, and how many hotdogs and hamburgers you were going to cook.



What, no brats?!  I know what you mean. I grew up in Tulsa, and moved to WI 5-1/2 years ago to go to school. There is not a decent BBQ place within 100 miles (or more). I went back to Tulsa last year for my wedding, and we had our rehearsal dinner at Elmer's on Peoria. It Be Bad!


----------



## PanchoHambre (Jan 5, 2009)

AllenOK said:


> "ladies" at the club were so straight-laced that they told the GM that "real ladies shouldn't have to touch shrimp before they eat it."  And that is a quote!  Sadly, we can't do anything with head-on shrimp anymore.
> 
> When I was up in MI, I missed decent BBQ so much that I taught myself how to make it at home.  The town I lived it, if you said you were going to have BBQ, your neighbors automatically asked what kind of steaks were you cooking, and how many hotdogs and hamburgers you were going to cook.




LOL! That quote just made my day.... I can just picture them.

Real ladies probably don't eat crawfish or lobster or fried chicken legs either... real ladies are missing out!

Growing up in the Northeast "BBQ" was just the same term as cookout..or grilling.. I had NO IDEA what BBQ really was until I moved to Texas... life has never been the same


----------



## HMGgal (Jan 5, 2009)

Lefty7887 said:


> Goya products.


YES!!! I was in Vermont, of all places, and my brother turned me on to this great marinade (mojillo or something like that--bitter orange, and the usual suspects in a marinade). I live in the SF Bay Area and you would think that this would be easily available--not so. I went to Philly and they had it. I wrapped up a few bottles and put in my luggage (risky, I know, but I LOVE this stuff). Other than getting the stank eye from security, it survived the 3K mile journey just fine.


----------



## qmax (Jan 5, 2009)

Pork cheeks.

I have successfully found sources locally for everything from duck fat to sweetbreads, but I can't locate pork cheeks.


----------



## GB (Jan 5, 2009)

qmax said:


> I can't locate pork cheeks.


They keep em right on the pigs face between the chin and the forehead.


----------



## Maverick2272 (Jan 5, 2009)

Buttermilk and Cookies BBQ sauce. Buttermilk is a real pain to find around here, and no where can I get Cookies BBQ sauce.
They also don't have any Sonic, Hardees, or Godfathers Pizza out here. When I first moved here I was like huh? Oh, and Casey's General Store (gas station) with their pizza shop inside. Love their BBQ chicken pizza.
One thing they have started carrying out here in the last 5 years or so is Blue Bunny ice cream... which is way cool!


----------



## CharlieD (Jan 5, 2009)

We can't find raspberry frozen turnovers from Pepperidge farm here, so we have my m.i.l. bring us some when she comes for visit from CA. On the way back she buys jalapeño peppers in jars that she cannot get there.


----------



## qmax (Jan 5, 2009)

GB said:


> They keep em right on the pigs face between the chin and the forehead.



Cheeky!


----------



## Barbara L (Jan 5, 2009)

AllenOK said:


> Cable TV and Cable Internet! I live 1,000 ft from the end of the cable line. Cox refuses to extend the line to our house unless A) We get a petition signed with 30 signatures of folks who will get cable, or B) We cough up $20K...


Our last apartment was the last house that could get cable!  The woman next door couldn't.  I don't think we can get it where we live now, but we have DISH (which we will lose soon for money reasons, so thank goodness we have a lot of DVDs!).

Barbara


----------



## elaine l (Jan 5, 2009)

My daughter can't get graham crackers or jolly rancher candies.  I think I just sent my last shipment to her since the price of shipping overseas was WAY more than the cost of the contents of the package.


----------



## Barbara L (Jan 5, 2009)

When I visited my daughter in March, I brought about 12 boxes of Luzianne tea, since she can't get it there (Vista, CA).  One store sold it there years ago (which is when we learned to love it), but it went out of business.

Barbara


----------



## ndnstarr (Jan 5, 2009)

JoeV said:


> Not sure where you live in NM, but when I lived in Clovis & Portales (1972-73), we used to steal the peanuts from the field when they turned them over ready for harvest. We'd take them home and either boil or roast the. Peanuts are all over the Eastern part of the state.


 
i live outside of albuquerque.  my fiance goes to clovis often though.. i might just have to get him to get me some.  i really miss boiled peanuts.. they are one of the frst things i get when i get off the plane when i go backto florida to visit.  my mom sometimes buys them for me on the way to the airport so i can eat them on the way to her house..


----------



## babetoo (Jan 5, 2009)

lady fingers , and yes if they were easier to find would use a lot.only one market here ever has them and then not all the time.


----------



## quicksilver (Jan 5, 2009)

babetoo said:


> lady fingers , and yes if they were easier to find would use a lot.only one market here ever has them and then not all the time.


 
Oh babetoo, I haven't thought about them for years. I love them. But even up north, I only saw them in the summer when strawberries were in the markets.
My grandma did some kind of cake with the 2 and whipped cream.


----------



## Maidrite (Jan 6, 2009)

*Pants that Fit A Plumber's RUMP!!!! *
*A good flush beats a full house every time!*
Ok heres a game too...Plumber Game


----------



## PieSusan (Jan 6, 2009)

babetoo said:


> lady fingers , and yes if they were easier to find would use a lot.only one market here ever has them and then not all the time.


 
This is the website of the company that still makes ladyfingers for most markets in the US.

Specialty Bakers, Inc.

In addition, if there are things that you want your local grocery store to carry may I suggest that you ask them to do so. Heinens and The Miles Farmer Market in my area are willing to do so. So is Publix in South Florida.


----------



## lifesaver (Jan 6, 2009)

Maidrite, That's funny. I just find it extremely discusting when i  see people (men/women) in public with their pants soooooooooooooo lowwwwwwwwwwww.


----------



## sattie (Jan 6, 2009)

Taco flavored Doritos!


----------



## lifesaver (Jan 6, 2009)

popcorn flavored pringles and chilli filled oscarmeyer weiners


----------



## Maverick2272 (Jan 6, 2009)

sattie said:


> Taco flavored Doritos!



They disappeared around here as well, just not popular I guess but I liked em!


----------



## Fisher's Mom (Jan 6, 2009)

I have trouble finding plain old Cheerios, too. They seem to have been replaced with Honey Nut Cheerios.


----------



## qmax (Jan 6, 2009)

Maidrite said:


> *Pants that Fit A Plumber's RUMP!!!! *
> *A good flush beats a full house every time!*
> Ok heres a game too...Plumber Game



Eeewww!  Say NO to crack.


----------



## quicksilver (Jan 6, 2009)

qmax said:


> Eeewww! Say NO to crack.


 






*Crack Spackle Bucket contains one Longtail T*

An ideal gag gift, the "Crack Spackle" bucket contains our Short-sleeve Longtail T® which has gained worldwide attention as the solution to Plumber's Butt. The 6.8-oz. 100% cotton T-shirt is 3" longer than most, keeping everything completely covered, even when bending over. Complete instructions on how to use the Longtail T® included. "Love the Crack Spackle. Funniest **** thing!" wrote one delighted Duluth customer. A sure hit for any holiday or birthday.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	





*At a glance:*


Hilarious (but useful!) gag gift for any hardworking guy
Contains 1 Short Sleeve Longtail T, the solution to Plumber's Butt
Comes in authentic looking plastic "spackle bucket"
Imported









NOTE: "Spackle" is a Registered Trademark of The Muralo Company.


----------



## quicksilver (Jan 6, 2009)

And 2 of today's WEIRD news stories:

*Bummer: Man's bottom bared in Colo ski-lift mishap* A guy who dangled upside down from a ski lift with his bare bottom exposed probably doesn't want to hear any "ski bum" jokes. Officials at Vail Resorts in Colorado say the 48-year-old man was trying to get on the Blue Ski basin lift on New Year's Day. They haven't said what went wrong.
*Utah woman spends day stuck headfirst down vent* Talk about deep cleaning. An woman was recovering after spending more than a day lodged inside a vent at her home after falling in while vacuuming it. Ogden police Lt. Scott Sangberg said they came to the 55-year-old woman's house after family members called police to say they hadn't heard from her in more than a day.


----------



## Maverick2272 (Jan 7, 2009)

Fisher's Mom said:


> I have trouble finding plain old Cheerios, too. They seem to have been replaced with Honey Nut Cheerios.



That's my fault, I love Honey Nut Cherios!


----------

