Leave it to Anna: What I Brought Back from America Edition
This week I break down all of the things I brought back from America to London. Yes, I’m a member of the “bring an empty suitcase” club.
Flying back to the U.S. is always a whirlwind. Time well-spent visiting with family and friends but also stocking up on items that are not easily available abroad. Every expat has that list of things that can only be found at home. What is it about American peanut butter that just hits different? For me, it’s Trader Joe’s almond butter that can’t be replicated by overseas versions. For my daughter, it’s the TJs frozen chocolate lava cakes (unfortunately not packable) and for my husband it’s any product that contains peanut butter and chocolate. Read on to find out what fit into my checked suitcase this time around.
Here is the roundup of the food items that I squirreled away in my luggage to bring back to London.
— TJs Almond Butter - always crunchy, never smooth.
— Jif To Go Peanut Butter Packs - my SIL got these per my daughter’s request to add some protein to her school lunches
— TJs Just Chicken Freeze-Dried Treats - our cats ask for these every time.
— Wegman’s Basting Oil - Another SIL rec for roasting veggies.
— Penzeys Spices - My in-laws love this progressive company and have stocked our cupboard with fun spices, such as Justice and Outrage.
— TJs pastel mini totes - not a food item per se, but a viral find thanks to my in-laws.
Next up, Home Goods. It’s truly my happy place. This time I found a front door wreath to bring back to London (yes, it fit into my suitcase) and some melamine plates to use while dining al fresco in our back garden. The plates have a large TikTok following as they resemble a famous MacKenzie-Childs Royal Check pattern. If you have a Home Goods near you, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to find the checkered canisters as well.
It wouldn’t be a trip back to Virginia without checking out the current fashion trends. My SIL and I went to Georgetown and visited The Phoenix, a local fashion boutique with a curated selection of high quality threads. The pièce de résistance of the shopping trip was this Kinross Cashmere coat for 50 percent off regular price. It’s cozy, soft, and perfect for the cool London climate. (In fact, it’s high 50s in London today and I wore this camel hair beauty out on a garden visit today.) I also picked up this Mirth dress on sale to add some color into my summer wardrobe. An honorable mention goes to these JCrew Factory jeans that are full length on me - according to the cool kids, capri length pants are out. And finally, the COS white t-shirt deserves a shoutout - it’s the perfect weight, looks more dressy than a regular t-shirt, and I like the more boxy silhouette.
And finally, what did I do on that long plane ride? On the way to the States I watched the first season of Matlock, the 2024 spin-off the original legal drama from the 1980s that stars Kathy Bates as a a 75-year-old woman, who returns to practicing law after a 30 year hiatus. I binged all of the episodes and really enjoyed the well-written banter and legal intrigue. On the way back, I watched The Conclave, a movie about the selection of the Pope that is very relevant today. I also finished Emily Henry’s new book, Great Big Beautiful Life, which was entertaining, as always (a great NYT primer on all of EmHen books here).
Hope that you enjoyed this post and I will see you here on the Stack again next Sunday! Until then, you can follow Leave it to Anna on Instagram or Facebook. If you think your friends will like the recommendations that I sent your way, please share my newsletter. Leave it to Anna is also on Threads, so thread along here.