Thursday, June 16, 2011

Random Things I Miss About America

We know the big ones - English, Family, and Old Navy, but sometimes, it's not about the Big Ones, it's about...

....baby carrots. Not baby food carrots, I'm talking about those little pre-peeled, bite-sized carrots that come in bags. My kids enjoy eating carrots, but frankly, I find cutting them a pain. Unlike a cucumber, which you can just slice over their plates as they're eating dinner ("Mom! Stop dropping cucumbers on my head!"), carrots require a peeler. And unless you have superhuman thumbs, you can't cut them without a cutting board. So now you've had to drag the peeler AND the cutting board. Who has time for this? (And if you say something chirpy and cheerful and helpful like, "Cut a big bag of carrots in the beginning of the week and then you'll have them all week long!" I will bop you on the head with my cutting board. But it's flimsy plastic, so don't worry, it won't really hurt.)

....free coffee refills. Especially because I spend many of my days working at a cafe, where I spend anywhere from NIS 12-16 for a "large" coffee. (Yes, you heard me right, at Cafe Joe, coffee is SIXTEEN shekel). And after about three minutes, the coffee is finished and the cup is just sitting there sadly on your table. But no more coffee for you, unless you'd like to shell out another 12-16 shekel.

....Carvel Ice Cream cake. Especially that ice creamy frosting stuff on top. And the chocolate crunchies. I miss those crunchies.

....free library books, as many as you want. I had to pay a one-time deposit of NIS 35/book, for as many books as I wanted to have out at any one time. So I opted for 5 books (2 for Yaakov, 3 for Ariella), which are finished in about 2 days.

....camps that run for 6 weeks.

....over-the-counter medications. Good ones. That are not BEHIND the counter, necessitating you to wait in line even though you don't have a prescription. Even better, I miss OTC medications that you could buy in the grocery store. Very efficient.

....also, automatic RX refills. (Oooh....idea! Idea! Coffee refills that are both free and automatic. That is the kind of innovation we need!)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have half of a Carvel ice cream cake with crunchies and weird sugary frosting stuff in our freezer, left over from Uncle Abie's birthday party.

DADZ will mail it to you with the next shipment of People.

Eliana said...

We love the library. I think it will be hard for us to give that up. Although, I am currently #213 for a book I'm waiting for so I will probably buy it vs. wait two years :) If it makes you feel any better though, if you were spending your days at Whole Foods coffee bar or Starbucks or whatever they wouldn't give you free coffee refills either.

Eliana said...

OK==so I have to amend my comment b/d today I was at Starbucks and I asked them about refills and apparently they are only 57 cents for plain coffee so definitely much less than 16 shekel.

Cheryl said...

Yummy Carvel cakes! I'll bring you baby carrots next time I come!