First of all, I'd like to talk about potatoes. Specifically, "croquettes."

You've probably heard of salmon croquettes, but have you ever heard of plain old "croquettes"? I've had these in Belgium, and I guess one way to describe them is that they are a cross between a tater-tot and a french fry. No, that does them no justice. Hm, well, they take mashed potatoes, add an egg to keep the potatoes stuck together, roll them into a log, cut them in little sections, then roll them in bread crumbs and fry them. Does that sound good? Maybe not. Well, in my carb-loving opinion, they are a delicious side dish, and I've never found them here in the States.

On this last visit, my sister-in-law held out her package of frozen croquettes and exclaimed, with a hint of disgust, "These are made by an American company, McCain. You look, and I'm sure you'll find them." I've gotten home from previous visits and looked, but never found them.

Until now. I'm pleased to announce that I found a bag of the closest thing to croquettes I've ever found, and they are indeed McCain. To market them to Americans, they called them "Mash-bites," and cut them smaller, more tater-tot sized than true croquettes-sized, but they taste pretty close.

I feel like I did the first time Nutella appeared on the grocery store shelf next to the jam, and the Petit Ecolier cookies showed up in the Imported section of the cookies and crackers. Or the time I discovered some of my husband's favorite Belgian beers at a specialty store in town. I don't know how to describe the feeling; maybe that Belgium doesn't seem as far away as it did before.