Since moving to the US, it is the weird things that this English Girl misses about England. They are generally unexpected pangs for unobtainable food items - they come at you from nowhere. For example in most recent memory, I got pangs for a chocolate biscuit called "Breakaway" which I probably hadn't eaten since I was 12 and they probably don't make anymore; mushy peas - another blindsider - which are only consumed with fish & chips or when we were little at fire works nights in cold muddy fields in England with mint sauce. But the thing I have found I missed the most has been custard.
Now probably like any other kid from my age group, custard was a staple part of my childhood. My mother would make at least three hot pudding desserts a week when we were little - always accompanied by a large jug of steaming yellow custard. I am not sure how she did it but my mother's custard was always perfect - never too runny, never any lumps and never enough for me and my brothers to fight over. However since growing up and moving out of home I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have personally made a dessert with custard - not to say that when I go home for the usual celebrations that I don't twist my mum's arm to make some.
Now probably like any other kid from my age group, custard was a staple part of my childhood. My mother would make at least three hot pudding desserts a week when we were little - always accompanied by a large jug of steaming yellow custard. I am not sure how she did it but my mother's custard was always perfect - never too runny, never any lumps and never enough for me and my brothers to fight over. However since growing up and moving out of home I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have personally made a dessert with custard - not to say that when I go home for the usual celebrations that I don't twist my mum's arm to make some.
Therefore imagine my surprise when my custard yearning arrived and I couldn't find anywhere in Los Angeles county that sold the wondrous powder required to make custard worthy of my mother's. It just isn't sold anywhere. I can't believe that the American childhood is not filled with the desserts I remember so fondly - bananas and custard; steamed pudding and custard; even apple pie with custard - each and many more "afters" were slathered with custard and are as part of English foods as meat pie, roast beef dinner and English breakfast. Just one instance of that which I call our cultural divide with Americans - but they just don't know what they are missing!
As a side note. I made a request of Cost Plus World Market to order some custard powder. I am pleased to report that they have begun stocking it. Unfortunately, for Cost Plus, after receiving enough to sink a battleship from a recent import from my cousin, of not one but three cans, I am unlikely to be relieving them of any of their stock until about say 2020.
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