Yesterday two of our friends from Argyll came to visit us, the first of our friends to visit us at our home. They are a lovely couple – two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet – and because they are so lovely they took a day out of their vacation in Baltimore to come and see us. Aside from being friends, J and B have earned brownie points galore with us. When I was the manager of a local childcare charity, J was my right-hand woman. I seriously could not have functioned in that role without her knowledge and diligence. And B once removed Mr Pict’s tooth* while the four Pictlings swarmed around the room on not-their-best-behaviour. To further endear themselves to us, they brought with them gifts of salad cream for Mr Pict and the two youngest boys (who are addicted to the stuff) and lashings of chocolate for the kids and me. I have not had a morsel of British chocolate in 18 months. I could have devoured a whole family size bar in one sitting but I am going to be good and ration it out. Maybe. We had a lovely day of chatting over news from home, their trip to America and lots of geekniess all accompanied by cups of tea. Catching up with friends makes me simultaneously homesick and quells the homesickness but we feel very lucky and glad to have friends who want to come and visit us in Pennsylvania.
*B is a dentist and not a sadist.
A Pict in PA 
wheww I am so glad he was a dentist!! Lovely post of friendship Laura!!
Thank you.
How wonderful for you all Laura. Old friends are the best. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to live in another community much less another country. I think my own homesickness wouldn’t let me leave though, so I commend you all on your bravery and perseverance. It sounds like the visit was a lot of fun :)) I’m curious though, what is different about British chocolate, and why so long without it? Can you order it online, or is that cheating? lol Thanks for sharing this story. I enjoyed reading it very much ❤
Thank you for your lovely comment, Patricia. To answer your question, British chocolate has a much creamier texture and milliner taste (for milk chocolate anyway) whereas I find American chocolate to be waxy and not as sweet. It’s not that one is better than the other (and I actually think Belgian chocolate is the best) but it’s just what my palate is used to. I could order it online from Canada (the U.S. does versions of UK chocolate but they are not right) but that gets expensive and I’m too thrifty for that malarkey. I ate some of the chocolate my friends brought last night and it was like eating happiness.
lol, I can understand completely. I don’t eat any American chocolate and have a penchant for the Swiss variety so when I do get it at my local whole foods store, it’s rationed mercilessly ;)) I love how we can associate such simple things with happy memories.
Swiss chocolate is fabulous too. In terms of European chocolate, British chocolate is considered junk. Still delicious junk though.
Awww Laura what a nice post! It was really great catching up with you and it was our pleasure to bring you salad cream and British chocolate. Our two can’t wait to tear in to the American chocolate you gave us! Thanks again for having us (we made it home to the Gilp today) xx
Your two are very welcome. I hope they enjoy it. I’ve already devoured an entire bar of Galaxy but I’m going to be good and ration the rest. Thanks again for the visit and the gifts.