Aside from school starting, we’ve all got to admit fall is a pretty awesome season. Especially fall in the good old USA. Hot apple cider and donuts, making s’mores over open bonfires, and Thanksgiving… Need I go on?
Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that a lot of the foods I took for granted at home aren’t available in Scotland. Studying abroad this fall has been particularly hard for me as I scroll through Instagram posts of people at home enjoying some of the best food America in autumn has to offer.
GIF courtesy of giphy.com
For all of you out there who feel me, here’s the ultimate bucket list of stuff you absolutely must eat when you get home. Cue the drooling.
1. Apple Cider Donuts
Every September, I’d go with my friends to the local apple orchard for apple picking. We’d never pick that many apples (we really only went to take Instagram pictures of one another), but we’d always pick up the freshly made hot apple cider donuts. When fresh, they’re crispy and sugar coated on the outside and buttery and soft on the inside. So, in short, basically heaven. Or you can make your own like this.
2. Apple Cider
To complement your apple cider donuts, this is a must have. Pick it up fresh at your local farmers market stand or buy it by gallon at your local supermarket — either way, it’s practically a fall necessity. And for those of you who say that Starbucks’s hot mulled apple is the same thing, I promise you, it’s not.
3. Pumpkin Pie
I was amazed to discover that pumpkin pie is not really a thing here, except on actual Thanksgiving, where the local restaurants attempt to make pumpkin pie to appease the Americans on campus. Do they succeed? Uh, no, not really. But you can make your own in a mug here.
4. Cranberry Sauce
Yeah, it’s kind of the food we love to hate on Thanksgiving, but when you don’t have a shot of finding it in the supermarket at all, you kind of start missing it. But don’t worry, you can make an even better homemade version here (that doesn’t come out of a can).
5. Clam Chowder
New Englanders, I feel you. I am going to non-stop chug this stuff when I get home.
6. Apple Cobbler and Ice Cream
In my opinion, this is the best complementary food combo that has ever existed. I crave it so badly.
7. S’mores
I learned the hard way that graham crackers aren’t a think in the United Kingdom. Ergo, neither are s’mores. They occasionally try to cook marshmallows and chocolate over open fires, but without the graham crackers, I can’t figure out how that even works. But as soon as you get home, whip up this s’mores dip and everything will be right with the world again.
8. Turkey
One of my favorite traditions is marinating and roasting the turkey on Thanksgiving. While they do eat turkeys in Scotland, it’s definitely not the same as we do it in America.
GIF courtesy of giphy.com
Scotland, you’re cool and all, but nobody does fall like home.