"Born in the U.S.A."

Off we went to the good old U.S. of A this past Saturday! My ma and pa and I had ourselves a trio reunion as we rode in the BMW down to Ogdensburg, NY for some cross-border shopping! I sat in the front of the car, which was a deviation from the usual trio set-up of me riding in the back. You may recall that this was the case for those 4 summers in between school years when I didn't have a car, nor was I driving.

Anyway, the goal of this day trip was to load up on stuff at good prices as the dollar was near parity and Dad needed a tank of gas. I had in mind the wonderful soda pop and breakfast cereals that the Americans seemed to stock so much of. Specifically, I was seeking Black Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke and if I was real lucky with the Gods smiling down on me, I would find Tahiti Treat or Tahitian Treat or C-Plus Fruit Frenzy (what it was re-branded as in the end).

Upon arrival in Ogie, NY, we headed immediately for the Price Chopper. This was a prudent move in hindsight as we were still early enough to capture an item that had not even crossed my mind. This one thing had pre-occupied much of my spare time in 2009, so it was relatively surprising that I was taken for a surprise that Sat morning. Staring me at the face in the Bakery section of Price Chopper was freshly made, large donuts, in all the flavours and concepts one could dream of. Just rows and rows of the gooey soft dough shapes protected in freshness by glass cases! It was then that I exclaimed to myself, "America, land of the donut; these Americans don't f*** around when it comes to satisfying their fried dough cravings." All at once, I felt shame for being associated with a culture that endeared itself to people for serving coffee and donuts, while turning around and selling partially baked, flash-frozen baked goods at all their establishments. Yes, I am calling you out Tim Hortons, you bastion of corporate greed and excessive concentration of the donut market. So a big up yours to Tim Hortons and grocery stores in Ottawa who chose to get out of the fresh donut business and give me old, stale donuts baked in Southern Ontario Central Bakery Warehouses that are already 3 days old when reaching my local stores.

And kudos to American Chain Price Chopper. Now, there is a Price Chopper that exists in Ontario but the association between the two is not clear. For instances, on the Price Chopper website (.ca), it says they are Sobeys owned. The reason this matters is that I am trying to determine if this is the same store as it pertains to product offerings and departments - of most interest to me is, you guessed it: Bakery for the donuts.

After spending $40 at Price Chopper, we went over to the local Wal-Mart where we enjoyed ravaging American capitalism in the form of processed foods even more. There I was to find lots more breakfast cereals than our equivalent Wal-Mart had. Also, I loaded up on the pop I had described above. I noticed overall the store was better laid out than the Canadian Wal-Marts. Things were labelled and clear and there was more space between aisles and such. Now, you may say that Ogdensburg is a small town with cheap land, but I will reply by saying that Barrhaven isn't exactly the priciest piece of land around.

I also splurged on the $1 travel items section, where I found such things as toothpaste, hand sanitizer and first aid kid plastic cases. Only in America, baby.
You will see some enclosed pictures of my exploits. Unfortunately for my audience, the donuts were long gone before I realized I should have documented them with a photo. They were just so goooood!

As for the soft drinks, the appeal here was not the price (although cheaper than back home), as it was more of a situation of availability. You see, cherry and vanilla coke are not sold back home. IN the end I struck out on 2 of my wishes as I couldn't locate the Tahiti Treat and the Vanilla Coke was all sold out at Price Chopper and not available at Wal-Mart.

Actually, the truth is that my first stop at Price Chopper at noon saw lots of Vanilla Coke on the shelves. I tried to play it to smooth, however, by saying I'll come back for it after seeing what Wal-Mart offered, knowing that their prices were better. Well their prices were better but they didn't stock the Vanilla Coke.
So, I had to haggle a bit with the other 2 members of the trio to go back to Price Chopper. Reluctantly we went, as my mom and dad lectured me on the merits of being healthy, and not drinking so much bad soft drinks. I am not sure my mom understood the concept of stocking up; I was not going to go home to drink this all in one shot.
Anyway so I sashayed myself up to the store confidently only to discover an empty shelf. I returned with a s***-eating grin on my face and proclaimed to my wide-eyed parents, "Well, the people of Ogdensburg have spoken - there was no more Vanilla Coke."

As for the breakfast cereals, I splurged. In my cart was the foreign to Canada, Rice Krispie Treats (known as 'squares' when they were in Canada) Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Fruity Pebbles, Shredded Wheat squares with frosting, Apple Jacks etc. Yummy
Pa was getting restless and ma had just dropped big coin on clothes for the toddlers so to close out the day in Ogie, NY, we went to the cool place in town - McDonalds. Now, even here, the race between Canada and USA wasn't close. Not only did I get bigger portions for my Chicken Nugget combo meal, but I got it all for less than $7.
It was damn good too.

We drove back and I was a happy lark with all my stuff. In conclusion, I really do value the American experience when it comes to eating and shopping. Good job USA.
I also would like to say the people are quite polite and friendly. I am not sure if this is a small town effect or what but people are just generally very chill. I detest the negative stereotypes that the media tries to perpetuate about the spirit of Americans. Perhaps I have not seen them at their worst, but these people at their best are just dandy.

I will be back to Ogie, NY! My first time was a full-fledged success.

p.s. THe cereals I came home with were: Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Shredded Wheat (lightly frosted), Apple Jacks and my most beloved, Rice Krispie Treats.

On the left and right side of the Macaroni Cheese is the Canadian version and American version respectively. They taste different too